Futures Exhibit at the Arts and Industries Building

Next to the Smithsonian Castle on the National Mall is the Arts and Industries Building. It hadn’t been open for quite a while. It was undergoing major building renovation and is supposed to have even more done. It’s a distinguished looking building. Currently there is an exhibit called Futures on display now. So we decided to check it out after walking past the signs so many times. It sounded like an interesting subject and we really wanted to like it. For whatever reason it just fell flat. Perhaps it was the set up, or things got lost against the competing backdrop. The dome of the building was more interesting than the contents below it. There was quite a bit of foot traffic and some of the younger visitors seemed to enjoy the interactive elements. One of the weirder items was a tree that encased an eco minded root like casket below it - a different way to consider burials. We walked through the entire area and just didn’t get inspired about much. Perhaps we just expected more from the Smithsonian? Or perhaps these sorts of things just don’t have the lure they used to. I’m glad we stopped in - if not for the glass surrounding the front of the building.