What’s On

In conjunction with our latest exhibition, Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, we invite Cooper Hewitt members to join us for an evening with award-winning designers and weavers Helena Hernmarck and Elizabeth Whelan. In conversation with Acting Director of Curatorial, Matilda McQuaid, Hernmarck and Whelan will discuss the innovations and inspirations which define their practices. A light... View full event details here.

In this curator guided tour of Give Me a Sign: The Language of Symbols, visitors will discover the stories behind symbols from the STOP sign to the laugh-cry emoji and learn about how symbols play a critical and ubiquitous role in everyday life. As communication tools designed to break language barriers, symbols instruct, protect, entertain,... View full event details here.

Explore Cooper Hewitt’s historic mansion and design your own dream house! Built for Andrew Carnegie from 1899-1902, follow a self-guided scavenger hunt to learn more about the museum when it was a family home that included a conservatory, a billiard room, and a cellar coal car traveling over a miniature train track. See the original floor plans and use them as inspiration to draw your own plans for a luxurious abode. View full event details here.

This panel discussion explores the ways in which collections–both personal and institutional–express value systems, mark cultural shifts, and provide frameworks for organizing, understanding, and critiquing complex ideas as they are expressed by objects. Organized in conjunction with the exhibition, Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, this program gathers experts from a range of collecting roles to discuss how and why they collect.   View full event details here.