Chicago
The Sky Room at the Obama Presidential Center, located at the top of the facility, is designed for visitors to take in the breathtaking views. The vistas include Chicago’s South and West Sides, along with the deep blue expanse of Lake Michigan. Furthermore, it offers a moment to reflect after traversing multiple floors filled with history and Barack Obama’s political journey — memories that are still fresh for many.
A significant installation by artist Idris Khan hangs above, creating an illusion of upward movement. The piece features overlapping phrases from President Obama’s notable speeches in Selma, Alabama, ascending in a blue gradient until they reach a bright edge. In Selma and other venues, the former president frequently discussed the collective effort to shape the future, which resonates throughout the museum experience, symbolizing an unwritten, open future.
The much-anticipated center is set to welcome the public on June 19, aligning with Juneteenth. This project has been in development for over ten years, accumulating a construction cost of $850 million, making it the most expensive presidential library ever built.
It comprises more than just a single structure. Rather, it is an expansive campus designed by architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, featuring 28 unique installations from some of today’s foremost artists. This design transforms the conventional presidential library concept into a vast 19.3-acre campus that incorporates a museum, community spaces, a garden for fruits and vegetables, an NBA-sized basketball court, and a new branch of the Chicago Public Library.
Ahead of the opening, the former president has engaged in various promotional activities, including playing Wordle with Stephen Colbert, addressing his previous disagreement with NBA player Anthony Edwards (for the time being); and celebrating Star Wars Day with actor Mark Hamill (who played Luke Skywalker) outside the center — possibly a playful nod to one of its nicknames, the “Death Star.” The museum’s substantial granite structure has also been referred to as the “Obamalisk,” in both a humorous and affectionate manner.
During a soft opening this week, USdaily received an exclusive preview of the center, which welcomed community members as its initial visitors. The campus was already buzzing with energy, even as final touches were being made to construction, landscaping, and art displays. School groups visited on field trips, and attendees formed lines for the exhibitions, ascending the escalators past the vivid, 83-foot-tall vertical window created by abstract artist Julie Mehretu.
Tsien expressed her emotions upon seeing visitors populating the campus. “You can sense when people enter, they look upwards and feel a connection, as though it belongs to them,” she remarked in an interview at the center’s Forum building.
Major transformations
Despite the vibrant comparisons, Williams and Tsien derived the museum’s form from the concept of four hands coming together, symbolizing the collaborative nature of community building. “I’m not concerned with the names,” Williams stated. “What matters most is what it represents, its function, and what it will become in the future.”
“We envision it as a structure that will last 500 years, thus every choice made was aimed at creating something that feels enduring and timeless,” Tsien elaborated.
Regardless of perceptions of the Brutalist-style structure, the center is set to emerge as a significant cultural institution and attraction. Departing from tradition, it will be managed privately by the Obama Foundation rather than the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). The presidential archive, overseen by NARA, will be fully digitized for the first time, involving the digitization of around 30 million pages, according to the Obama Foundation. Selected portions of the archive will be exhibited in the museum.
Not all alterations and the associated costs have been welcomed. There are ongoing concerns regarding its role in gentrifying the South Side, with disputes surrounding its location. Nestled within the historic Jackson Park, this choice faced legal challenges after an environmental group sued the City of Chicago for permitting a private project on public land. Ultimately, the lawsuit was dismissed.
Although the center expanded the park by 3.7 acres, parts of it were also affected by construction, including the removal of hundreds of trees and the historic Women’s Garden from 1937, which was demolished but has been reimagined for the new campus. At a presentation at the center, Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett highlighted the outdoor recreational opportunities offered from the outset, including an athletic field established before the main plazas and buildings, along with gardens and other green spaces (including a sledding hill) that have been developed since.
“We’ve conducted thousands of community meetings to guarantee that this campus will integrate into the urban landscape, ensuring that nearby residents feel a sense of ownership and actively engage with us in shaping its plans,” she explained.
Markers of the Obama era
Within the museum, exhibitions showcase the former president’s political contributions, the public initiatives of the former first lady, and significant historical movements like Civil Rights and Women’s Suffrage that influenced them. Displays feature campaign materials and memorabilia, ranging from Shepard Fairey’s iconic HOPE poster to children’s drawings. A video chronicling the grassroots efforts during the 2008 election includes campaign trail footage highlighting the work of volunteers.
Visitors will also discover how the Obamas have impacted design, culture, and style. This includes some of Michelle Obama’s memorable outfits, such as the greenish-gold coat and dress designed by the late Isabel Toledo for her Inauguration Day in 2009, as well as the gown she wore while being painted by Amy Sherald for the National Portrait Gallery. (Notably absent is the former president’s famous tan suit, which Jarrett mentioned he donated).
A full-scale replica of the Oval Office is also part of the experience, allowing visitors to sit at the desk. Although Obama is not the first to include such a replica in a presidential library, with predecessors like George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, and Jimmy Carter having done so, this version stands out amid significant stylistic changes in the current Oval Office. It has transitioned from understated aesthetics to an opulent style during the Trump administration.
During the construction phase, former White House interior designer Michael Smith was deeply moved when he saw it for the first time in March, as captured in a video shared by the Obama Foundation.
“I didn’t expect to feel emotional,” he admitted, taking a moment to absorb the experience.
Ambitious art everywhere
Throughout the campus, a collection of 30 artists have produced an impressive range of site-specific permanent artworks, a feat that would challenge even leading contemporary art institutions.
Curated by Virginia Shore, former deputy director of Arts in Embassies, this collection fosters dialogue among both prominent and lesser-known contemporary artists, many of whom have strong ties to Chicago. Several pieces are grand in scale, including Mark Bradford’s massive tactile painting depicting the city, Nick Cave and Marie Watt’s nearly two-story tapestry adorned with beads and jingles; and Martin Puryear’s sweeping outdoor sculpture honoring Martin Luther King Jr.
Other artworks provide unexpected encounters, like Richard Hunt’s sculpture depicting a bird soaring from a book in a tranquil courtyard by the library, or a mosaic by Rashid Johnson adjacent to the center’s Teaching Kitchen, beside a garden with fruits and vegetables.
Artist Theaster Gates, who has celebrated Black culture and beauty within the Forum building through a frieze of archival images from Ebony and Jet magazines, is also a neighbor of the center, actively involved in cultural revitalization projects through the Rebuild Foundation. In an exclusive interview last year, he expressed to USdaily: “I hope that when people come to the center they arrive with an open heart regarding the future of democracy, collective imagination, collective storytelling, and collective belief.”
Collectively, the artists “effectively narrate a story about community, gathering, and the transformative power of art to inspire and energize individuals,” stated the museum’s director, Louise Bernard.
“This has provided them an opportunity to elevate a sense of hope that resonates within their art, showcasing pieces that are truly captivating in their essence,” she added. “These works reflect the power and significance of Chicago, the convergence of diverse voices and practices, and the ability of color to transport people to different realms.”
Video by Jordan Guzzardo.
