Activist

May 03, 2023

In its seventh iteration, the National Building Museum's Summer Block Party welcomes its newest installation, LOOK HERE by artist and architect Suchi Reddy, founder and principal architect of the New York–based firm Reddymade Architecture and Design.

Summer Block Party a summer long installation at Washington, D.C.'s National Building Museum is accompanied by workshops, performances, and other programming. In past years the much anticipated installation has taken on unique forms; in 2021 Lisa Marie Thalhammer's Equilateral Network staged interactive lawn murals outside the museum and Rockwell Group's Lawn furnished an artificial green space with hammocks in 2019.

This year's installation titled LOOK HERE is in line with Reddy's research and justice-minded practice. When installed it will fill the Center Court of the Museum's Great Hall with a large oval ramp and "fortune teller"–shaped objects that dangle from the ceiling.

"My mantra is form follows feeling," Reddy said in a press release. "I believe that architecture, environments, and experiences play an essential role in shaping an understanding of ourselves as humans with agency, equity, and empathy."

The hanging "fractals" are reflective and show the viewer themselves while also mirroring the museum's interior, most notably the eight Corinthian columns standing in the Great Hall. Some faces of the objects will display activist gatherings in Washington, D.C., such as the 1964 Civil Rights March on Washington. The intended effect invites viewers to contemplate the place of activism in democracy through the architecture of the museum.

The rounded platform will be equipped with reclined padded seating so visitors can look up through through the warped architectural elements.

"Summer Block Party is back, and Suchi Reddy's design is intriguing, peaceful, and playful," said Aileen Fuchs, president and executive director of the National Building Museum in a statement. "By transforming our Great Hall into an abstract ‘Hall of Mirrors,’ we hope our visitors will come to appreciate the Museum's unique architectural details and D.C.'s important activist history through an entirely new lens. We know our visitors are eagerly awaiting this hugely popular annual installation and we can't wait to welcome them in to experience LOOK HERE!"

Reddy's LOOK HERE installation will open on Saturday, July 1, and will be on view through the summer until Labor Day, Monday, September 4. Throughout the summer the museum will host a number of programs to coincide with the installation including a talk with Ruddy on the design, workshops, and meditation and sound bath classes.