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Arts Intel Report

Big Things for Big Rooms

Sam Gilliam, Light Depth, 1969.

Nov 21, 2025 – July 4, 2027
Independence Ave SW &, 7th St SW, Washington, DC 20560, United States

Loosely rooted in Allan Kaprow’s 1958 concept of “Environments”—a term, according to the Tate, describing “his own large-scale artworks which transformed interior spaces”—this exhibition traces the evolution of the form across decades. It opens with the inaugural presentation of Sam Gilliam’s Light Depth (1969), followed by nine immersive works that each claim their own space. Highlights include the work of Light and Space artists Dan Flavin, Sam Gilliam, and Robert Irwin, site-responsive pieces by Lygia Pape and Rashid Johnson, as well as a shipping container-turned-screening room by Mika Rottenberg. Divided into two sections, the show draws a line from the pioneering installation artists of the 1960s to the contemporary voices building on their legacy today. —Charlie St John

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Gift from the Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Museum Purchase, Gallery Fund), 2018