The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is located on New York’s Upper East Side in the Carnegie Mansion. Constructed in 1902, the historic home was converted to a museum in 1967 and now houses the national design collection. Field Guide has provided design services for exhibitions throughout the museum since 2017.
Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection examines how new work is acquired to better reflect current events and design’s evolving role in society. Featuring more than 150 objects, the exhibition reviews the museum’s historical collecting legacy and considers new directions forged since 2017.
Installed in multiple rooms across the museum’s second floor, the show required a unifying visual identity. We suggested that a color be deployed liberally, and in unexpected places, in order to drive home the connections across thematic groupings and disparate galleries.
After mocking up multiple color options, the team settled on the iconic International Klein Blue (IKB), a shade of pure ultramarine that artist Yves Klein developed and and trademarked in the late 1950s.
In addition to giving the show a strong visual identity, IKB calls to mind the history of design, supporting the conceptual aims of the exhibition.
At the show’s geographic center, a blue platform is juxtaposed with a large red poster and crisp white walls, reminding the visitor that this is our national design collection.
The exhibition opens with a special case highlighting the collection’s oldest and newest objects: a glazed cup from ancient Egypt and a 3D-printed model of the COVID-19 virus.
Because these small objects required a strong visual presence, we showcased them within a projecting blue element, with internal lighting for added visual prominence.
Nearby, a bespoke wall case juxtaposes 19th century Delft tiles with a modern wallcovering inspired by the historic object. By combining these items in a single case, with the text panels immediately adjacent, the story of the exhibition is more clear.
Within the exhibition’s central gallery, two niches offer peek-through views of the south gallery beyond. In each niche, the blue color combines with the selected objects to create a striking composition.
One niche falls within a larger installation of iconic posters from the Peruvian Revolution, the blue color of the niche picking up on similar notes within the posters.
The blue color is also utilized for display decks, including this installation of 17th century Rembrandt etchings and a contemporary wearable object inspired by those works.
Faith Ringgold’s seminal posters share a wall with another pop of blue from the nearby niche.
As with all our projects, the exhibition was designed in 3D and utilized realistic visualizations to ensure that the show was clearly understood by all stakeholders.
Once the design was established, detailed technical documents ensured a smooth delivery and installation.
Photo by Elliot Goldstein, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
On view in spring and summer of 2024, the show was designed by Field Guide with our longtime NYC collaborator, Castro Watson.
Photo by Elliot Goldstein, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution
The exhibition was organized by Maria Nicanor, Director; Matilda McQuaid, Acting Director of Curatorial; Christina De León, Acting Deputy Director of Curatorial and Associate Curator of Latino Design; Cynthia Trope, Associate Curator, Product Design and Decorative Arts; and Sophia Gebara, Curatorial Assistant. The show was expertly built and delivered by the museum in house team, including Yvonne Gomez-Durand, Molly Engleman and Dillon Goldschlag. Graphic design was by Kelly Sung.
All photographs, including this epic view of the museum’s grand staircase, are by Sean Hemmerle, unless noted otherwise.
