Home > Newsroom > Golden Triangle, Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery Collaborate to Bring ‘Burning Man’ Art to DC Streets
Washington, DC (March 29, 2018) — Artworks from the legendary desert event known as Burning Man can now be found on the streets and in the parks of Washington, DC’s central business district for the first time, through a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery and the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID). No Spectators: Beyond the Renwick, presents six public art installations by noted Burning Man artists. The unique partnership marks the first time the Renwick Gallery has expanded beyond its walls into the surrounding Golden Triangle neighborhood.
The project is an outdoor extension of the Renwick Gallery’s building-wide exhibition No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man, which features large-scale, immersive artworks that are the hallmark of the annual celebration in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert. Burning Man is an influential phenomenon in contemporary art, as well as a cultural movement. The exhibition is on view from March 30, 2018, through January 21, 2019, with the outdoor portion on display through December 2018.
“After months of coordination and hard work, we are excited to present No Spectators: Beyond the Renwick to the public, in the heart of DC’s central business district,” said Leona Agouridis, Executive Director of the Golden Triangle BID. “This project has further established our longstanding commitment to meaningful public art, something that’s been engrained in the Golden Triangle’s identity since inception. Each day, the art will enrich the public space for the neighborhood’s nearly 90,000 workers and for millions of visitors throughout the year.”
“We are excited to expand this exhibition beyond the walls of the Renwick Gallery, in partnership with the Golden Triangle BID,” said Stephanie Stebich, The Margaret and Terry Stent Director of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. “This collaboration will surprise and delight the public in the vibrant neighborhood that the Renwick Gallery calls home through unexpected encounters with the astonishing work produced at Burning Man.”
The six locations for the artworks include activations of Pennsylvania Avenue west of the White House and major corridors such as Connecticut Avenue. The artworks, artists and locations include:
The Renwick Gallery and the Golden Triangle BID will present related programming around the neighborhood to further engage audiences with the art and spirit of Burning Man. This includes walking tours, along with other participatory and community activities. More information is available online at americanart.si.edu/nospectators and goldentriangledc.com/renwick. A map can be picked up at the Renwick and at the various locations of the outdoor artworks, to help in planning self-guided tours of the outdoor installations.
Nora Atkinson, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Lloyd Herman Curator of Craft, curated the exhibition and collaborated with the Golden Triangle BID on the outdoor artwork selections. The BID worked with the artists and neighborhood stakeholders to produce the outdoor extension. The museum and the BID also collaborated with Burning Man Project, the nonprofit organization responsible for producing the annual Burning Man event and for facilitating and extending its culture into the wider world. The outdoor exhibition was made possible with support from Lyft.
“We are proud to partner with the Golden Triangle BID on No Spectators: Beyond the Renwick,” said Steve Taylor, GM, Mid-Atlantic for Lyft. “Lyft is committed to effecting positive change for the future of our cities and our support of this exhibition is a powerful way to realize this commitment. We’re excited to help provide greater access to these artworks for those who live, work, and play in Washington, DC.”
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About the Golden Triangle Business Improvement District
The Golden Triangle Business Improvement District (BID) works to enhance Washington, DC’s central business district, the 43-square-block neighborhood stretching from The White House to Dupont Circle. Home to more than 3,400 businesses, the BID’s primary focus is to provide a clean, safe, and vibrant environment for hundreds of thousands of area workers and residents, and millions of visitors, and to encourage economic development through capital improvement projects, and innovative public art, sustainability and events programs. Follow the BID on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. More information: (202) 463-3400. goldentriangledc.com.
About the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s Renwick Gallery
The Smithsonian American Art Museum celebrates the vision and creativity of Americans with artworks in all media spanning more than four centuries. The Renwick Gallery is the museum’s branch for contemporary craft and decorative arts. The Renwick is located on Pennsylvania Avenue at 17th Street N.W. and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. Follow the museum on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube. Smithsonian information: (202) 633-1000. Museum information (recorded): (202) 633-7970. americanart.si.edu.
