Last year, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum opened “Big Things for Big Rooms,” an exhibition tracing the development of immersive large-scale artworks since the late 1960s. The presentation of 10 artworks—five on view for the first time at the Museum—is drawn largely from the Hirshhorn’s collection. “Big Things for Big Rooms” will offer a multisensorial examination of how artists create installation works that expand the boundaries of an artwork and the role of the visitor.
“Big Things for Big Rooms” is organized into two parts. The first introduces the development of “Environments,” expansive installations by pioneering artists such as Robert Irwin, whose work defined the Light and Space movement, and Land artist Richard Long. The second half demonstrates how contemporary artists like Paul Chan, Olafur Eliasson, and Mika Rottenberg are expanding upon these foundational ideas in different ways, often using everyday materials.
While conveying a massive quantity of rocks into the gallery or museum differs from the transitory, solitary process of walking (which Long considers to be the actual work of art), "Carrara Line", the work shown in the exhibition, evokes the route and duration of a journey, offers an index of place, and poses a stark contrast to Classical marble figurative sculptures.
The exhibition is organized by the Hirshhorn’s head curator, Evelyn C. Hankins, with the support of curatorial assistant CJ Greenhill Caldera.
Image credit: Richard Long, "Carrara Line," 1985. Marble.
Photography: Rick Coulby
© 2026 Richard Long. All Rights Reserved, DACS, London / ARS, New York. Joseph H. Hirshhorn Purchase Fund, 2007. The Panza Collection.
