Art and Ideals:
President John F. Kennedy

Arts and Ideals: President John F. Kennedy is a permanent exhibition in the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ atrium that showcases JFK’s advocacy for and prioritization of the arts throughout his political career. It tells the story of his presidency through the lens of the arts, examining how the Kennedy Center, initially proposed as the National Cultural Center by Kennedy himself, both continues and celebrates this legacy. 

b+r collaborated with the Kennedy Center, architecture firm KieranTimberlake, and exhibit designer Pentagram, as well as ISG Productions, exhibition narrative, Studio TheGreenEyl, interactive media design, and Threshold, acoustics and AV, on the media concepting, design, production, and installation of carefully-choreographed stories that are displayed through striking digital experiences that support the narrative of the exhibition and its physical design. Nine digital media pieces, including a 300-foot-long, wraparound LED frieze, immerse visitors in the space, all while ensuring a sense of cohesion with the exhibition’s themes and varying mediums. The frieze also serves to enhance the contemporary design of the exhibition, a lovely counterbalance to its display of archival materials. The multimedia and interactive pieces help tie together the storyline of the exhibition while embracing the digital as an art form in its own right. 

Photos courtesy of © Alan Karchmer / OTTO and The Kennedy Center