Modern and contemporary

Washington DC is a remarkable city to grow up near—even more so to live in. People come from all over the world just to see what there is to see. The Smithsonian Institution is a big part of why.

Of all the museums that make up the Smithsonian, if you asked me which was my favorite, I’d have to say the Hirshhorn.

Before I knew the Hirshhorn as a museum, I knew it as a strange building. I would go past it, on the stretch between my dad’s office in L’Enfant Plaza and the MCI Center in Chinatown (on my way to a Caps game), and wonder What the heck is that?

On the outside, there are no windows. It’s just a big brutalist donut (aka “a large piece of functional sculpture”). One of the first times modern architecture seriously captured my curiosity.

On the inside, it’s all post-WWII modern and contemporary visual art, each floor a continuous loop of gallery space. And then on the top (publicly-accessible) floor, one of the galleries has a balcony overlooking the National Mall.

Something about the novelty of the subject matter and my malleable state of mind at the time, but certain exhibitions are just seared into my being.

• The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image – Part I: Dreams and Part II: Realisms (February–September 2008)
• Strange Bodies: Figurative Works from the Hirshhorn Collection (December 2008–November 2009)
• Louise Bourgeois (February–May 2009)
• Colorforms (Mar 2010–January 2012)
• Doug Aitken: SONG 1 (March–May 2012)
• Ai Weiwei – Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (April 2012–March 2013) and According to What? (October 2012–February 2013)
• Barbara Kruger: Belief+Doubt (August 2012–ongoing)

A view from the eye of the storm

My wife and I look back fondly on Doug Aitken’s SONG 1, especially, having picnicked on a little spot of grass one warm Spring evening, watching the projection on the side of the building over and over as sunlight faded from the sky.

I went to art school at the Corcoran College of Art and Design. At the time the school was only one of two or three programs in the country affiliated with a gallery or museum. The Corcoran Gallery itself was housed in this beaux arts building just off the ellipse. We had classes in the basement.

I lived downtown during the school year in some school-sanctioned student apartments in Foggy Bottom, right on the edge of George Washington University territory. I bought a used bike off Craigslist, white with red accents and drop down handle bars. Went to the bike shop on the corner, bought foot holds and new grip tape for the handle bars. I rode that bike up and down Pennsylvania Avenue. After dark, if I was feeling particularly restless, I rode down and circled the National Mall, rolling under and through and between the light of the street lamps.

Say what you will about DC, but it is quite a tidy city. And the museums are free.

This post is part of the IndieWeb carnival for March 2026 hosted by James on the topic of “museum memories”.