After years behind construction fencing, the Hirshhorn’s sculpture garden finally has a reopening date: Oct. 31. The National Mall art space is coming back with more sculpture, easier access and a design that aims to make the garden feel less like a sunken enclosure and more like an active public destination.
The reopening follows a major overhaul that will nearly double the number of works on display to 60, while adding new areas for performances and contemplation. The Washington Post reports that the broader, multi-phase Hirshhorn revitalization has already replaced the building’s concrete exterior, with interior renovations planned for a later phase that does not yet have a start date.
A Wider Welcome On The National Mall
Artist and architect Hiroshi Sugimoto designed the reimagined garden, which the Smithsonian Institution describes as a new setting for modernist icons, contemporary work and fresh commissions. The museum’s Mall-side entrance will be more visible, and the garden will reconnect with the Hirshhorn’s plaza through an underground passageway that had been part of the original 1974 plans.
The project also arrives during a leadership transition. Melissa Chiu, who led the Hirshhorn for 12 years and helped lay the groundwork for the garden’s revitalization, is scheduled to leave Aug. 31 for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, according to a Smithsonian news release; Deputy Director Aaron Seeto will serve as interim director.
More Art, More Water And A Place To Perform
The redesign restores a 60-foot-wide entrance, adds two accessibility ramps and keeps the original reflecting pool while expanding the water feature with a U-shaped pool. When drained, that new section can become a performance area with seating — meaning the garden’s centerpiece will occasionally trade reflection for live action, as The Washington Post details.
The west lawn will operate as a rotating exhibition space, opening with three large Yoshitomo Nara figures in the artist’s 'Sentinels of Stillness' series. On the east side, visitors will move through the collection chronologically, from Auguste Rodin and 'The Burghers of Calais' to works by Henry Moore, Joan Miró, Barbara Hepworth and Yoko Ono, alongside newer pieces by Pedro Reyes, Kaws and Chatchai Puipia.
Destination DC describes the effort as a $68 million revitalization of the Smithsonian’s outdoor contemporary-art venue, with programming planned around sculpture, performances, education and public gathering. For Washington residents and visitors who have spent years walking past a fenced-off hole in the Mall, the Oct. 31 reopening should offer a much more satisfying answer to the question of what, exactly, is going on down there.
