Smithsonian.com

The award-winning bubble design structure at the Hirshhorn Museum. Image courtesy of Diller Scofidio + Renfro

It’s awards season, and, as such, it’s only fitting that one of the Smithsonian museum’s most innovative construction projects gets recognized. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has been honored by Architect, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects, for its seasonal expansion project—a translucent inflatable bubble structure—designed by the New York architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro.

This year’s judges decided that the 58th Annual Progressive Architecture Awards should “return to the program’s original purpose: identifying projects that push the envelope of progessive design, regardless of the building type.” One of two awardees, the Hirshhorn bubble, a temporary 14,000-square-foot space designed to increase public engagement through its educational programming and creative use of space, fits the bill.

“In terms of the innovation, the freshness of the idea, the sustainable aspects, and the presentation, it’s just delicious,” juror Dan Rockhill enthused, according to Architect.

Updates to the structure’s design can be seen on the museum’s web site.

Tony Conrad Conserves 1679 Painting (1976). Image courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Monday, February 28: Ira Aldridge: The African Roscius

Tonight’s Cultures in Motion performance pays tribute to the life of celebrated 19th-century Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge. The play examines the life of an African American who was forced to emigrate to Europe in the early 1800s in order to practice his craft and who defied all the odds and soared to the highest heights of his profession. Free. National Portrait Gallery, 7:00 PM.

Tuesday, March 1: Tour: New on View

This continually changing tour is a great way to keep up with the Freer and Sackler Galleries’ ever-expanding holdings, and today, take an in-depth look at the newly reinstalled galleries of ancient Chinese jades and bronzes in the Freer. Free. Freer Gallery, 2:00 PM

Wednesday, March 2: Behind-the-Scenes Introduction to the Lunder Conservation Center

The Lunder Conservation Center is a special facility of several laboratories shared by the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery where visitors can watch behind glass walls conservators examining, treating, and preserving artwork.

Today, get a behind-the-scenes look at the Lunder Conservation Center—the special laboratory facility where visitors can watch conservators examine, treat and preserve artwork—learn how museum conservators use science, art history, and skilled hands to preserve objects in both museums’ collections. Free, but please register at the Luce Foundation Center information desk (3rd floor, west wing, mezzanine) before 3 PM on the day of the program. Participants also meet here. This event repeats most Wednesdays year-round. American Art Museum/National Portrait Gallery, 3:00-3:30 PM.

Thursday, March 3: Composers of the Caucasus: Continuum

Tonight, the New York-based ensemble Continuum performs rarely heard gems by composers from Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Republic of Georgia. The full concert program includes Oleg Felzer’s Vestige, for clarinet, violin, and piano; Faradzh Karayev’s Postludium II, for piano; Franghiz Ali-Zadeh’s Three Watercolors, for soprano, flute, and prepared piano; Alexander Aslamazov’s Napyev, for clarinet solo; Suren Zakarian’s In Statu nascendi—Seven Miniatures for String Quartet; Josef Bardanashvili’s Metamorphoses; Zurab Nadareishvili’s Cadenza for Viola; Sulkhan Tsintzadze’s Quartet Miniatures; and Giya Kancheli’s Psalm 23, for soprano and ensemble. Free, but tickets are required. Freer Gallery, 7:30 PM.

Friday, March 4: Historic Theater: Time Trials of Benedict Arnold

Benedict Arnold is generally remembered as a traitor—but has popular opinion clouded historical fact? Take a spot on the jury panel, meet Benedict Arnold and decide if this infamous Revolutionary War figure was a patriot or a total rat fink. These 20-minute interactive performances reveal the people behind the objects on view and the emotions in their stories. Free. American History Museum, 11:00 AM. This performance will repeat today at 1:00, 2:30 and  4:00 PM.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com

“We didn’t need dialogue, we had faces!” Norma Desmond, the forgotten movie star, famously snarled in the 1950 film noir classic Sunset Boulevard. And come Oscar night, we really want to hear fewer words—especially in the form of overextended acceptance speeches—and instead revel in the glitz and glamour of Hollywood’s biggest night of the year. But you don’t need one of those coveted seats at the Kodak Theater to get in on the fun. Instead, come get star struck at the National Portrait Gallery with these pieces pertaining to some of the greatest faces of the silver screen.

See all four of Katharine Hepburn Oscars at the National Portrait Gallery. Photo courtesy of the museum

1. Katherine Hepburn
Hepburn, known for playing very independent-minded characters, was nominated 12 times and with four wins, she still holds the record for the most Best Actress Oscars. She took home the gold for her performances in Morning Glory (1933), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968) and On Golden Pond (1981). You can get an up-close look at her statuettes on display on the museum’s third floor, along with a 1982 portrait by artist Everett Raymond Kinstler.

2. Grace Kelly
For all those fashionistas out there, you absolutely must familiarize yourself with the indomitable aesthetic of Grace Kelly.  The 1983 bronze sculpture illuminates her timeless beauty and effortless style. Kelly is perhaps best known for her roles in films like The Country Girl (1954), To Catch a Thief (1955) and Mogambo (1953), for which she received an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress.  Hollywood royalty became real-life royalty when she married Prince Ranier III of Monaco and was given the title of Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco, or more familiarly, “Princess Grace.”

3. Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor is regarded as one of America’s greatest actresses. Starting out as a child star in films such as Lassie Come Home (1943) and National Velvet (1944), she was able to make the often-difficult transition to grown-up roles where her talent and rare beauty were allowed to shine. Taylor won two Best Actress Oscars for her roles in Butterfield 8 (1960) and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). You can find her in the “20th Century Americans” exhibition on the third floor by way of a 1955 photograph by Sid Avery.

4. Tom Hanks
There is no contemporary actor more widely recognized and respected than Tom Hanks.  Though he received early recognition for his ability to play average people in extraordinary situations, it wasn’t until his portrayal as a lawyer with AIDS in Philadelphia (1993) and his astounding role as the title character in Forrest Gump (1994) that he received his back-to-back Best Actor Oscars.  Located in the National Portrait Gallery’s “Americans Now” exhibit on the first floor, this portrait, a digital print by Dan Winters, speaks to Hanks’ ability to portray the average Joe.

5. George Clooney
George Clooney personifies style and masculinity to the point that women want him and men want to be him. Clooney has been acting in film and television for more than 30 years with a successful turn in the 90s series E.R., which he followed up with the Ocean’s Eleven films and an Oscar-winning performance in Syriana (2005), for which he won the Best Supporting Actor statuettte.  In a state-of-the-art video installment of multiple American figures in the “Americans Now” exhibit, artist Lincoln Schatz plies his craft to create an unconventional video portrait of the actor.

An artist's rendering of the 3D digitally reconstructed north, east and south altars of the South Cave in Northern Xiangtanshan, Image by Jason Salavon and Travis Saul

Discover the treasures of the Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan. Once scattered around the world, these artifacts were recently brought together for the first time in almost a century in “Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan,” a multi-sensory exhibit, featuring a pioneering 3D installation that opens tomorrow at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of Art.

Located southwest of Beijing, in China’s present-day southern Hebei province, are a group of limestone caves called, Xiangtangshan (pronounced shahng-tahng-shahn) or the “Mountain of Echoing Halls.” The caves are the site of one of the most important groups of Buddhist devotional worship, and were once home to a magnificent array of sculptures, monumental Buddhas, divine attendant figures and crouching monsters framed by floral motifs that represent the “crowning cultural achievement of the sixth-century Northern Qi dynasty (550-577 CE).”

But sadly between 1910 and 1930, the temples were irreparably damaged, when sculptures and fragments were removed from the caves and sold on the international black market.

The show, a traveling exhibition that originated at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art, is a collaborative effort of an international team of experts, and marks the culmination of years of scholarship, research, innovation and international cooperation. The magnificent works haven’t been seen together in almost a century.

“The project is really about, first of all, identifying objects that come from this site and then trying to place them back into their original context,” says Keith Wilson, associate director and curator of ancient Chinese art at the Freer and Sackler galleries.“The goal is to help people understand this place and its design and its Buddhist meaning.”

Five years ago, researchers at the Center for East Asia at the University of Chicago began examining fragments long thought to have come originally from Xiangtangshan. The fragments, bought and sold decades before international laws prohibited such trade and housed in collections and museums all over the world, were photographed and then scanned using 3D imaging technology. (All of the pieces in the exhibition, almost three-dozen sculptures originally created for the site, are from museums in either the United States or the United Kingdom.) In order to contextualize the data, the team collaborated with site managers at Xiangtangshan itself to digitally scan the caves as well. “These two scans provide the basis for the virtual reconstruction of the man-made cave temples today,” says Wilson. The sculptures and recreations help complete the picture.

“I think the exhibition really transports you both in place and time,” Wilson says, “Visitors are invited into the kind of research that has gone into reconstructing the site.” Touch-screen kiosks located throughout the gallery help explain the significance of each piece in greater detail and allow visitors to both explore the site and the artifacts more closely.

The first and second galleries contain sculptures and artifacts from the northern caves, which were the earliest imperially-sponsored creations at the site, finished in the 550s. This is followed by a monographic treatment of the southern cave, represented by the “Digital Cave,” a 3D installation (above) that gives viewers the impression of being transported back to the actual site. “This immersive experiential installation is meant to bring you to the site and share the place with you at different moments in its past, bringing you all the way up to the 21st-century digital imaging,” Wilson says.  The exhibition ends with artifacts from the latest commission (finished in the 570s) which comes from a separate site, southern Xiangtangshan.

In the adjoining Charles Lang Freer Gallery, two monumental reliefs from Xiangtangshan are installed in gallery 17.

“The show attempts to address the relative obscurity of the site,” says Wilson. “Hopefully, as a result of the exhibition, the importance of Xiangtangshan will become more universally recognized.”

“Echoes of the Past,” on display at the Sackler Gallery until July 31, will also travel to the Meadows Museum of Southern Methodist University in Dallas (September 11, 2011- January 8, 2012) and then to the San Diego Museum of Art (February 18-May 27, 2012).

Portfolio of Eight Washington Photographers by Allen Appel. Image courtesy of the American Art Museum.

Friday, February 25: Bahcall Lecture: Revealing the Crab Nebula with the Hubble, Chandra and Fermi Space Telescopes

Ever since its discovery in the 18th century, the Crab Nebula has surprised astronomers and taught astrophysicists much of what they have come to take for granted about the universe. Today, astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Roger Blandford discusses what we have learned about the Crab Nebula through observations made by the Hubble, Chandra, and Fermi space telescopes. Free, but tickets are required. To reserve your spot, use either the online ticket request form or call 202-633-2398. Air and Space Museum, 7:30 PM.

Saturday, February 26: 2011 Orchid Exhibit Family Day

With spring on the horizon, come celebrate one of the most famous families of flowers: orchids. Enjoy stamp art and calligraphy, have your photo taken with a human-sized orchid and learn how to pot an orchid to take home. Orchid experts from the Smithsonian and U.S. Botanic Garden are available all day to answer questions and to discuss unique plants from their collections that will be on display for this one day only. For those of you unable to attend, a selection of the museum’s vast collection of orchid plants will be on display until April 24, 2011. Free. Natural History Museum, 11:00-3:00

Sunday, February 27: Wild Orchids

If you haven’t yet had your fill of orchids after attending the Natural History Museum’s flower-themed event, come see calligrapher John Wang demonstrate painting orchids and try your hand with a paintbrush to render flowers and leaves. And while you’re here, be sure to tour the related exhibition The Orchid in Chinese Painting. Free. Sackler, 2:00 PM.

For updates on all exhibitions and events, visit our companion site goSmithsonian.com