More than 150 historic Shaker objects and contemporary installations have landed at the Milwaukee Art Museum, filling its galleries with pine benches, wool cloaks, stoves and irons alongside newly commissioned artwork. The Shakers: A World in the Making opened Friday, September 25, and runs through January 31, 2027, offering Milwaukee a rare, close-up look at a religious sect whose radically simple designs still echo through modern furniture and architecture.
According to the Milwaukee Art Museum, the show features roughly 90 historic decorative art objects paired with seven contemporary installations, all organized into four thematic sections covering communal living, material culture, innovation, spirituality and creative expression. As Urban Milwaukee reports, the museum describes it as the first major traveling exhibition to showcase Shaker furniture, tools, textiles and domestic items directly alongside work by contemporary artists and designers.
The Shakers built their entire way of life around faith, equality, communal living, craftsmanship and intentional design, according to the museum. They were known for celibacy, pacifism and charismatic worship, and they practiced equality among members.
A Bench Built for Worship, a Room Reimagined in Blue
Among the historic pieces on view is a meetinghouse bench from Canterbury or Enfield, New Hampshire, dating to around 1855.
Sitting apart from those historic works is Meetinghouse 2, a 2025 installation by artist Amie Cunat. It is a walk-in reinterpretation of a Shaker meeting house, according to the museum's exhibition page, designed so visitors experience it collectively rather than pass through alone. It sits alongside historic textiles including wool cloaks and Joseph Becker's 1873 work The Shakers of New Lebanon, threading nearly a century and a half of material history into a single gallery experience.
Domestic Life, Stoves and Stairs, and the Sound of Hymns
Beyond furniture, the exhibition includes Shaker stoves, irons, chairs, tables and even a set of stairs, according to Urban Milwaukee's account of the show. Domestic objects and textiles help trace Shaker history from the movement's inception to the present day.
The Milwaukee Art Museum's director, Kim Sajet, said the exhibition's power extends beyond the beauty of its objects. Per her comments relayed by Urban Milwaukee, the show connects historic craft with contemporary conversations about sustainability, community, labor and how people want to live now. That framing echoes the museum's own description of the exhibition as one that links Shaker material culture to present-day concerns including community, labor, sustainability, spirituality, accessibility and the search for more intentional ways of living, as stated on the museum's exhibitions page.
A Design Pedigree Stretching From Vitra to the Rust Belt
The show was designed by the Milan-based studio Formafantasma, according to the Vitra Design Museum, which notes that the exhibition examines Shaker design's continuing relevance through commissions addressing gender, inclusion and sustainability. That German institution and the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia hosted earlier presentations before the show arrived in Milwaukee. The exhibition is organized by the Vitra Design Museum, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia and the Wüstenrot Foundation, in collaboration with the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York. After its run in Milwaukee, the exhibition is scheduled to travel to the Carnegie Museum of Art in the spring of 2027.
Contemporary artists and designers featured throughout the galleries include Amie Cunat, David Hartt, Finnegan Shannon, Christien Meindertsma, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Reggie Wilson and the Fist and Heel Performance Group, Chris Liljenberg Halstrøm and the collective Furnishing Utopia, according to the museum. Their installations, sculpture, photography, performance and design work sit in direct dialogue with the historic Shaker pieces, reflecting on ideas central to Shaker life rather than simply illustrating it.
The Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia has framed its own presentation of the show similarly, noting that it pairs original Shaker-made pieces with work by contemporary artists influenced by the movement's aesthetic and philosophy, according to the ICA Philadelphia. The Milwaukee Art Museum has said it plans gallery talks, performances and tours tied to the exhibition during its run, which continues through January 31, 2027.
