The Obama Foundation has commissioned 10 artists to create site-specific works for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. The artists—Nick Cave, Nekisha Durrett, Jenny Holzer, Jules Julien, Idris Khan, Aliza Nisenbaum, Jack Pierson, Alison Saar, Kiki Smith, and Marie Watt—join a roster that already includes Lindsay Adams, Spencer Finch, Richard Hunt, Maya Lin, and Julie Mehretu. The center, based in the south side of Chicago, is scheduled to open in spring 2026.
“Art has the power to reflect who we are and to shape who we aspire to become,” Valerie Jarrett, CEO of the Obama Foundation, said in a statement. “President and Mrs. Obama have always believed in the ability of artists to help us see our common humanity and imagine a more just future.”
The commissions are part of the Center’s plan to present more than 25 permanent installations across its 19.3-acre campus, which will feature a museum, public library, athletic center, gardens, and outdoor spaces. The “vast majority” of the campus will be free and accessible to the public, the Center noted.
The Center also revealed details about the commissions. These included:
- Cave and Watt’s collaboration, This Land, Share Sky, a multimedia textile piece designed for the lobby that will incorporate beaded nets and sculptural jingle elements.
- Durret’s Hem of Heaven, planned for the Harriet Tubman Courtyard. The work will be a sculpture composed of thousands of ceramic tiles referencing Tubman’s shawl.
- A text-based painting byHolzer that will reference FBI files on civil rights activists, the Freedom Riders.A “dot-based- mural by Julien in the Civics Gallery, illustrating collective democratic action.
- Khan’s stamped-word installation in the Center’s Skyroom, Sky of Hope, which will reference President Obama’s Selma speech.
- A mural by Nisenbaum in the library’s reading room that will depict community gatherings..
- A large word sculpture spelling “HOPE” at the museum’s entry pavilion by Pierson.
- Saar’s Torch Song, a bronze figure raising a gilded flame that will stand in the Women’s Garde.
- Smith’s bronze sculpture with celestial motifs, Receive, will be installed in the Hope & Change Lobby.
“These extraordinary commissions will not only enrich the Obama Presidential Center, but they will also invite every visitor to feel inspired, respected, and connected,” said Jarrett. “These remarkable pieces will undoubtedly leave people feeling hope in their own ability to make the change they want to see in the world.”
Last fall, the Obama Foundation revealed that Mehretu will design the North façade for the Center, with a work titled Uprising of the Sun. The work will span 83 feet by 25 feet and features 35 painted glass panels, inspired by Obama’s speech in 2015 commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Selma marches in Alabama.
“Each of these commissions is a meditation on civic life,” Dr. Louise Bernard, founding director of the Obama Presidential Center Museum, said in a statement. “From the intimacy of painting to the scale of public sculpture, these works speak to themes at the heart of the Center: resilience, memory, identity, and hope. Together, they create a deeply textured cultural landscape that reflects our past, animates the present, and gestures toward the future.”
