Exhibits

A selective guide to the many Smithsonian exhibitions currently on view. For a complete listing, please visit our calendar.

Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)

April 24, 2008 - Indefinitely
National Air and Space Museum
First Floor, West End, Gallery 104
On view are 6 aircraft -- Military Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) -- that represent a cross-section of modern unmanned flight systems technology. These aircraft are commonly used by all four military services around the globe to perform many types of missions, including reconnaissance, surveillance, target acquisition, bomb damage assessment, and attack. The evolution of unmanned military aircraft began during World War I and continues today.
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Separate and Unequaled: Black Baseball in the District of Columbia

May 18, 2008 - October 5, 2008
Anacostia Community Museum
Historical Society of Washington, 801 K St., NW (near 9th St.)
Please Note: This exhibition is at the off-site venue the Historical Society of D.C. For directions to this off-site venue, call the Historical Society at 202-383-1850 or visit Web site http://www.historydc.org/. The Historical Society hours are Tuesday-Saturday, 10 AM-5 PM.

This exhibition discusses the history of social relations from Reconstruction to the second half of the 20th century through the prism of baseball. It features such personalities as Josh Gibson and "Buck" Leonard, star players of the Homestead Grays. The exhibition also highlights community teams that gave rise to the various amateur, collegiate, and semi-pro black baseball teams and leagues.

Accompanying the museum's exhibition is Discovering Greatness, a traveling exhibition developed by the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. It provides a timeline on the history of black baseball through photographs and memorabilia. Both exhibitions are cosponsored with the Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
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The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality,and the Moving Image: Part II - Realisms

June 19, 2008 - September 7, 2008
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
2nd Level
In this unprecedented 2-part exhibition The Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality, and the Moving Image, the Hirshhorn takes an in-depth look at moving-image art works by a range of influential and emerging international artists who use film language to explore the ever-increasing impact of the cinematic on our perceptions on what is real and what is illusion.

In Part II - Realism, it explores the phenomenon that in an age when capturing real life in real time becomes ever easier, the line between fact and fiction is increasingly complicated.

Related catalogue: $65 (cloth)
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Herblock's Presidents: "Puncturing Pomposity"

May 2, 2008 - November 30, 2008
National Portrait Gallery
2nd Floor, West Side
On view are 44 of Herbert Lawrence Block's presidential cartoons that appeared in The Washington Post for 56 years and include depictions of Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. The exhibition offers an opportunity for visitors to see how one of America's greatest political cartoonists viewed the American presidency for most of the 20th century. Block, who drew under the pen-name Herblock, appeared in American newspapers for more than seven decades.

An interactive kiosk allows visitors to view over 100 additional cartoons not in the exhibition.
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El Anatsui: Gawu

March 12, 2008 - September 2, 2008
National Museum of African Art
Sublevel 1, Sylvia H. Williams Gallery
This is the first solo exhibition of works by El Anatsui, one of Africa's leading contemporary artists, who was originally from Ghana and has lived in Nigeria since 1975. Having experimented with a variety of media, his most recent focus is on the use of discarded metal objects -- tops from food tins or wrappers from flattened metal liquor bottles -- hundreds or even thousands of which are joined together to resemble weavings that both reflect the tradition of Ghanaian strip cloths and the abstraction of modernist paintings. El Anatsui indicates that the word gawu (derived from Ewe, his native language) has several potential meanings, including "metal" and "a fashioned cloak." The term, therefore, manages to encapsulate the medium, process, and format of the works that will be on view, reflecting the artist's transformation of discarded materials into objects of striking beauty and originality.

Related publication: $35.95 (paper)
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Dig It! The Secrets of Soil

July 19, 2008 - January 3, 2010
National Museum of Natural History
2nd floor, Northeast Wing, Special Exhibit Gallery (Hall 23)
Through dioramas; cultural artifacts; and soil cross-sections from each state, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, this exhibition introduces the study of soil science and demonstrates the vital role soil plays in sustaining human welfare, assuring future agricultural productivity, and environmental sustainability.

Hands-On Interactive Components Theater: 10-minute detective story about soil (runs continuously)

See August 2008 Smithsonian magazine, p. 30 Related publication: $40 (cloth)
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Discover What Your Favorite Museum Has to Offer

Whether it's your first visit, or your 51st, there's always something new to see. Don't miss these featured exhibits - and check each museum for their complete schedule of special collections.