Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center has art at its core

Chicago’s Obama Presidential Center, an eight-storey museum devoted to former US president Barack Obama’s legacy, is scheduled to open on Juneteenth, 19 June, on the city’s South Side. The $850m project broke ground in 2021 and was designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects with Interactive Design Architects, with landscape work integrating it into a 19.3-acre Jackson Park campus that also includes the Obama Foundation and a new Chicago Public Library branch. Museum director Louise Bernard and curator Virginia Shore said the institution has commissioned more than 25 site-specific artworks—many by artists with close ties to Chicago—balancing established figures with emerging artists such as Tyanna J. Buie and Nekisha Durrett. Highlighted works include Julie Mehretu’s monumental painted-glass window Uprising of the Sun, visible on the north façade, and Jack Pierson’s Hope sculpture made from found letters installed inside.

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