Featured Stories
Smithsonian STARS Begins Arizona Rollout With Yuma County
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 30 -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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Smithsonian STARS Begins Arizona Rollout with Yuma County
10.29.26
This October, five rural schools across Yuma County partnered with Smithsonian STARS (Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools) to bring hands-on astronomy learning into their classrooms, marking the first phase of the program's statewide Arizona rollout.
The participating schools are Dateland Elementary School in Dateland, Mohawk Valley School in Roll, Antelope Union High School and Wellton Elementary
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CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts, Oct. 30 -- The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics issued the following news release:
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Smithsonian STARS Begins Arizona Rollout with Yuma County
10.29.26
This October, five rural schools across Yuma County partnered with Smithsonian STARS (Scientists Taking Astronomy to Rural Schools) to bring hands-on astronomy learning into their classrooms, marking the first phase of the program's statewide Arizona rollout.
The participating schools are Dateland Elementary School in Dateland, Mohawk Valley School in Roll, Antelope Union High School and Wellton ElementarySchool in Wellton, and JD Price Elementary School at Yuma Proving Ground.
Through STARS, the participating schools received a Celestron NexStar 6SE telescope, standards-aligned K-12 lessons and educator training to help bring astronomy instruction into their classrooms. During visits to the schools from October 13-16, the STARS team worked alongside educators to familiarize them with the telescopes and conduct hands-on astronomy activities with students. Following the visits, STARS will continue to support participating educators as they incorporate the program's lessons and telescope activities into their classrooms.
Across the five schools, approximately 300 students and seven educators took part in activities during the visits. As educators begin using the telescopes, lessons and other resources at their schools, nearly 700 students will have opportunities to participate in astronomy learning.
"I'm so excited and happy for this opportunity," said Brenda Findley, a third through fifth grade teacher at JD Price Elementary school. "When the telescope came to the classroom, we were able to put it together. The students couldn't wait to use it."
For students in Yuma County, the program offers an opportunity to connect classroom science with the night sky around them by exploring objects such as the Moon, planets, stars, galaxies and nebulae using real astronomical equipment.
"Astronomy has a remarkable ability to spark curiosity and inspire students to explore broader STEM learning," said Dr. Emma Marcucci, Executive Director of Smithsonian STARS. "Rural Arizona's clear, dark skies are a tremendous natural resource. With the right support, these skies can turn into classrooms for discovery. Our goal is to empower educators to create meaningful, hands-on science experiences rooted in the remarkable skies that students can see from their own communities."
Beyond the school visits, members of the STARS team also participated in an evening star party hosted by the Yuma Astronomy Club. The event drew around 75 attendees, which included students, educators, and members of the local community. Attendees had the opportunity to explore the night sky and observe the Moon and other celestial objects through a STARS telescope.
Arizona: The First Chapter
Arizona is the first state in the country where Smithsonian STARS has launched. Following a pilot with schools in Southeast Arizona in spring 2026, the program began the first phase of its statewide Arizona rollout with Yuma County. STARS is expected to expand to additional counties across Arizona in the coming months.
Following its work in Arizona, Smithsonian STARS plans to launch operations in Delaware and Rhode Island later this school year, with additional states to follow as the program grows. Its long-term goal is to reach rural schools in every state across the country.
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Original text here: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/news/smithsonian-stars-begins-arizona-rollout-yuma-county
SBA Offers Relief to South Dakota Businesses, Nonprofits, Residents Affected by Adverse Weather
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance issued the following news release:
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SBA Offers Relief to South Dakota Businesses, Nonprofits, Residents Affected by Adverse Weather
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the availability of low-interest federal disaster loans to South Dakota businesses, nonprofits, and residents affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding occurring June 28 - July 3. The SBA issued a disaster declaration in response to an Oct. 26 request from Governor Larry Rhoden.
The
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Small Business Administration Office of Disaster Assistance issued the following news release:
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SBA Offers Relief to South Dakota Businesses, Nonprofits, Residents Affected by Adverse Weather
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WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Small Business Administration announced the availability of low-interest federal disaster loans to South Dakota businesses, nonprofits, and residents affected by severe storms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, and flooding occurring June 28 - July 3. The SBA issued a disaster declaration in response to an Oct. 26 request from Governor Larry Rhoden.
Thedeclaration covers Hyde County.
Businesses and nonprofits are eligible to apply for physical disaster loans and may borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace disaster-damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery and equipment, inventory, and other business assets.
Applicants may also be eligible for a loan increase of up to 20% of their physical damage, as verified by SBA, for mitigation purposes. Eligible mitigation improvements include strengthening structures to protect against storm damage, upgrading to wind rated garage doors, and installing a safe room or storm shelter to help protect property and occupants from future damage.
"Through a rural declaration, SBA provides financial assistance to help rural communities recover," said Chris Stallings, Associate Administrator of the Office of Disaster Recovery at SBA. "We offer disaster loans to homeowners, renters, businesses and private nonprofits affected by the disaster."
The SBA's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program is available to eligible small businesses, small agricultural cooperatives, and private nonprofit organizations -- including faith-based organizations -- impacted by financial losses directly related to this disaster. The SBA is unable to provide disaster loans to agricultural producers, farmers, or ranchers, except for aquaculture enterprises.
Economic Injury Disaster Loans are for working capital needs caused by the disaster and are available even if the small business or private nonprofit did not suffer any physical damage. The loans may be used to pay fixed debts, payroll, accounts payable, and other bills which could not be paid due to the disaster.
Interest rates are as low as 4% for businesses, 3.625% for nonprofits, and 2.875% for homeowners and renters, with terms up to 30 years. Interest does not begin to accrue, and payments are not due until 12 months from the date of the first loan disbursement. The SBA determines eligibility and sets loan amounts and terms based on each applicant's financial condition.
To apply online, visit sba.gov/disaster. Applicants may also call SBA's National Support Network Center at (866) SBA-HELP or email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov for more information on SBA disaster assistance. For people who are deaf, hard of hearing, or have a speech disability, please dial 7-1-1 to access telecommunications relay services.
The deadline to return physical damage applications is Dec. 28. The deadline to return economic injury applications is July 29, 2027.
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Original text here: https://www.sba.gov/article/2026/10/30/sba-offers-relief-south-dakota-businesses-nonprofits-residents-affected-adverse-weather
NASA-funded Study Details One of Oldest Mars Meteorites Ever Found
PASADENA, California, Oct. 30 (TNSjou) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA-funded Study Details One of Oldest Mars Meteorites Ever Found
Oct. 29, 2026
Called Teghaza 001, the rock is from a piece of Mars that formed more than 4.1 billion years ago.
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When a rose-colored meteorite was found in the Sahara Desert in 2022, no one knew how old it was or where it came from. Not until NASA-funded scientists age-dated its minerals did they realize the nearly 2-pound (800-gram) rock was a piece of Mars that formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one of
... Show Full Article
PASADENA, California, Oct. 30 (TNSjou) -- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory issued the following news:
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NASA-funded Study Details One of Oldest Mars Meteorites Ever Found
Oct. 29, 2026
Called Teghaza 001, the rock is from a piece of Mars that formed more than 4.1 billion years ago.
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When a rose-colored meteorite was found in the Sahara Desert in 2022, no one knew how old it was or where it came from. Not until NASA-funded scientists age-dated its minerals did they realize the nearly 2-pound (800-gram) rock was a piece of Mars that formed more than 4.1 billion years ago, making it one ofthe oldest Martian meteorites ever found. Named Teghaza 001 after the salt plain in Mali where it was discovered, the meteorite is one of roughly 435 from the Red Planet.
In a paper published (https://www.science.org/eprint/6FRMXEUFASPRPAFJRZ64/full?activationRedirect=/doi/full/10.1126/science.adz5646) Thursday in Science, researchers offered an initial characterization of Teghaza 001, providing a rare snapshot of Mars' ancient crust and formation. What scientists learn from future studies could help answer many questions, including how water and rocks interacted on ancient Mars. A separate paper published in Science Advances in June detailed the meteorite's water content, offering a look at how water shaped the early planet's surface.
"It was only after we started looking closely that we realized this meteorite is really unique," said the paper's lead author, Yang Liu of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "One of the paper's reviewers called it a Rosetta Stone for Mars."
Rose-colored stone
What sets Teghaza 001 apart from other Martian meteorites is its texture and age as well as the uniqueness of its igneous, or volcanic, minerals. It is one of the three most ancient Martian meteorites found on Earth. While invaluable, the others provide more limited glimpses of Mars' geological history. They include ALH84001, which is composed almost entirely of one mineral and is similar in age to Teghaza 001. The other meteorite, nicknamed "Black Beauty," formed about 2.1 billion years ago and is composed of small, volcanic rock fragments.
Unlike its ancient peers, Teghaza 001 has a mix of igneous minerals that tells a story about how the planet's crust formed from cooling magma before it was eventually altered by subsurface water. The meteorite's distinctive mineralogy matches what NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has observed in the planet's cratered southern highlands. No one will ever know exactly where the meteorite originated on Mars, but the paper identifies several potential locations that match Teghaza 001's mineralogy and chemistry.
"This is really our first piece of Martian crust from a part of Mars we've never had a sample of before," said the new paper's second author, Lee Saper, who conducted the research while at JPL as a postdoctoral scholar. Lee now is a scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley. "It records interactions of water and rock and maybe even an imprint of the Martian atmosphere as it was losing water."
Although the Mars meteorites found on Earth differ from one another, they share a common history, having been blasted off the Red Planet's surface by an impact, followed by a trajectory that eventually placed them on Earth and into the hands of scientists. Meteorites are often found by collectors in deserts or snowy plains, where they stand out from the rest of the barren landscape. Scientists can verify a meteorite as Martian by matching its mineral and chemical components to data collected by NASA's Mars missions, including the Viking landers as well as the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers.
Signs of water
When Liu was first asked to look at Teghaza 001, she almost passed on the opportunity.
Researchers at the University of New Mexico had already identified it as Martian based on its oxygen isotopes, which serve as geochemical fingerprints for different planetary bodies. In this case, the researchers matched the meteorite's oxygen isotopes to those seen in other Martian meteorites. Teghaza 001 appeared to be a shergottite which is the most common class of meteorite from the Red Planet. As an expert in planetary samples, Liu has seen plenty of those, but she decided to take a peek, anyway.
At the very least, there were odd textures and unusual minerals she hadn't seen before. Liu and her colleagues discovered zircon crystals in Teghaza 001, which record clues to a rock's formation and can be used by geologists to precisely age-date a sample. Further analysis revealed when Teghaza 001 formed and when certain changes, like water alteration, occurred.
Caltech coauthor Francois Tissot helped the researchers utilize a novel age-dating method pioneered by his team. Compared with bulk-analysis techniques, where a sample is entirely dissolved and analyzed, Tissot's in-situ rubidium-strontium age-dating used a piece of Teghaza 001 that was smaller than a fingernail, analyzing single mineral grains on its surface. Besides its extreme precision and speed, the technique preserves rare samples like Martian meteorites for future studies.
"Right now, we are one of very few labs in the world able to perform this kind of age-dating, and the first to date such an ancient Martian meteorite," Tissot said. "Our hope is to pave the way for dating even more Martian meteorites, or samples returned from other planets, their moons, and asteroids."
When the age-dating results came back, Liu was shocked: This rock had been altered by Martian water sometime around 4.1 billion years ago, suggesting it originally formed even earlier. Clues within the oxygen isotopes, texture, and chemistry of Teghaza 001 minerals point to a much more dynamic water cycle on early Mars.
This year's papers are just the start. Liu and her co-authors are eager to see what the rest of the scientific community can learn from Teghaza 001.
"We've only scratched the surface," Liu said.
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Original text here: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/nasa-funded-study-details-one-of-oldest-mars-meteorites-ever-found/
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Understanding the Evolution of Agricultural Productivity in Colombia'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Understanding the Evolution of Agricultural Productivity in Colombia."
Here are excerpts:
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Colombia has favorable agroecological conditions but continues to face low agricultural productivity. This paper examines total factor productivity (TFP) between 2015 and 2023 using stochastic frontier analysis on household- and municipal-level panel data. We decompose productivity growth and assess the effects of climate shocks, access to credit, rural public investment,
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Understanding the Evolution of Agricultural Productivity in Colombia."
Here are excerpts:
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Colombia has favorable agroecological conditions but continues to face low agricultural productivity. This paper examines total factor productivity (TFP) between 2015 and 2023 using stochastic frontier analysis on household- and municipal-level panel data. We decompose productivity growth and assess the effects of climate shocks, access to credit, rural public investment,and the peace agreement with FARC. Results show that output growth has been driven mainly by input expansion, with TFP increasing by less than 1% annually. Rural road infrastructure and low-interest credit are consistently linked to productivity gains, while input delivery and service programs show no measurable impact. Climate variability remains a major source of productivity fluctuations, highlighting sectoral vulnerability. The 2014 ceasefire with FARC produced heterogeneous effects: household-level productivity rose in previously affected areas, but municipal-level averages declined possibly due to land expansion into less productive zones. Findings underscore the need to shift from input-based support to connectivity, rural finance, and climate-resilient investments.
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View full text here: publications.iadb.org/en/understanding-evolution-agricultural-productivity-colombia
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Long-Term Care Benefits and Functional Deterioration in Older Adults - Evidence From the Catalan/Spanish SAAD Registry (2015-2024)'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Long-Term Care Benefits and Functional Deterioration in Older Adults: Evidence from the Catalan/Spanish SAAD Registry (2015-2024)."
Here are excerpts:
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Population ageing is raising the demand for long-term care (LTC), leading many countries to develop publicly funded LTC systems. However, little is known about whether the benefits these systems provide help preserve the functional autonomy of the people who receive them. We use the administrative registry of
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WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Long-Term Care Benefits and Functional Deterioration in Older Adults: Evidence from the Catalan/Spanish SAAD Registry (2015-2024)."
Here are excerpts:
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Population ageing is raising the demand for long-term care (LTC), leading many countries to develop publicly funded LTC systems. However, little is known about whether the benefits these systems provide help preserve the functional autonomy of the people who receive them. We use the administrative registry ofthe Catalan LTC system, covering 320,618 individuals aged 60 or over who entered between 2015 and 2024, and follow them for two, three, five and seven years. Because applicants are assessed and reassessed with the same standardised instrument (the BVD), we observe repeated, comparable measures of functional capacity, down to the level of individual daily-living tasks. We proceed in three steps. First, we estimate how the intensity of exposure to each benefit (informal home care, formal home care, day centre care and institutional care) is associated with death, grade deterioration and within-grade deterioration. Second, we compute life-years and deterioration-free years gained using regression-standardised survival curves. Third, we analyse the size and composition of functional decline among survivors. Greater benefit intensity is associated with lower mortality: full exposure to each benefit is associated with between 0.36 (institutional care) and 1.40 (informal home care) additional life-years over seven years, relative to no benefit. Among survivors, higher intensity is also associated with a greater probability of recorded deterioration, most markedly in institutional care. This pattern is consistent with survival-deterioration selection and with benefits responding to need, rather than with care causing decline. Losses in indoor mobility, changing body position and continence/toileting are most strongly associated with institutional care. Estimates are associations, not causal effects. The results show the value of routine functional assessment data for evaluating LTC policy in ageing societies.
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View full text here: publications.iadb.org/en/long-term-care-benefits-and-functional-deterioration-older-adults-evidence-catalanspanish-saad
[Category: IADB]
Inter-American Development Bank: 'Does Generative AI Narrow Education-based Productivity Gaps? Evidence From a Randomized Experiment'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Does Generative AI Narrow Education-based Productivity Gaps? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment."
Here are excerpts:
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Does generative artificial intelligence (AI) reinforce or reduce productivity differences across workers? Existing evidence largely studies AI within firms and occupations, where organizational selection compresses educational heterogeneity, leaving unclear whether AI narrows productivity gaps across individuals with different levels of education.
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 (TNSLrpt) -- The Inter-American Development Bank issued the following white paper on Oct. 30, 2026, entitled "Does Generative AI Narrow Education-based Productivity Gaps? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment."
Here are excerpts:
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Does generative artificial intelligence (AI) reinforce or reduce productivity differences across workers? Existing evidence largely studies AI within firms and occupations, where organizational selection compresses educational heterogeneity, leaving unclear whether AI narrows productivity gaps across individuals with different levels of education.A related question is whether the productivity gains from AI reflect productive use of the tool or mere delegation, fading once AI is unavailable, and whether the answer differs across education groups. We address both questions using a randomized online experiment outside firms, in which 1,174 adults aged 2545 complete an incentivized, workplacestyle business problem-solving task with or without a generative-AI assistant, followed by a non-AI-assisted follow-up module. AI increases performance for all participants, with substantially larger gains for lower-education individuals. In the control group without AI, higher-education participants outperform lower-education participants by 0.548 standard deviations; with AI, this gap falls to 0.139 standard deviations, closing about three-quarters of the initial gap. Chat-log measures explain both why this gap narrows and why it does not disappear: lower-education participants successfully obtain substantial assistance from AI, while higher-education participants use the tool somewhat more effectively across several margins. The follow-up results showthat these gains are not purely driven by delegation; treated participants do not perform worse than controls once AI is removed, and lower-education participants retain part of their gain, although a sizable education gap re-emerges. Consistent with this interpretation, intensive use of the assistant produces strong task performance regardless of how much time and effort participants devote themselves, but follow-up performance is substantially higher only when intensive AI use is combined with sustained effort on the task. We interpret these findings as evidence that generative AI narrows effective productivity differences in task execution while underlying human-capital differences continue to shape unassisted performance and effective use of the tool.
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View full text here: publications.iadb.org/en/does-generative-ai-narrow-education-based-productivity-gaps-evidence-randomized-experiment
[Category: IADB]
Hiroshi Sugimoto's Site-Specific Commission "Passage of Reflectance" Reconnects Hirshhorn Campus
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release:
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Hiroshi Sugimoto's Site-Specific Commission "Passage of Reflectance" Reconnects Hirshhorn Campus
Artist-Architect Reopens Long-Closed Underground Passageway as Immersive, Site-Responsive Artwork To Broaden Public Access to National Collection
October 28, 2026
The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has revealed the commissioned artwork "Passage of Reflectance" (2026) by artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto, a site-specific installation that transforms the long-closed underground passageway
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Oct. 30 -- The Smithsonian Institution issued the following news release:
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Hiroshi Sugimoto's Site-Specific Commission "Passage of Reflectance" Reconnects Hirshhorn Campus
Artist-Architect Reopens Long-Closed Underground Passageway as Immersive, Site-Responsive Artwork To Broaden Public Access to National Collection
October 28, 2026
The Smithsonian's Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has revealed the commissioned artwork "Passage of Reflectance" (2026) by artist-architect Hiroshi Sugimoto, a site-specific installation that transforms the long-closed underground passagewaybetween the Sculpture Garden and museum plaza into a light-filled, reflective pedestrian tunnel. At once a functional enhancement and an immersive artistic reimagining, "Passage of Reflectance" is a key element of Sugimoto's wider revitalization of the Sculpture Garden, which opens to the public at 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 31.
"'Passage of Reflectance' is emblematic of the vision we share with Sugimoto," said Hirshhorn Acting Director Aaron Seeto. "In this work, Sugimoto reveals his decades-long understanding of both mathematics and Gordon Bunshaft's original architecture for the Hirshhorn. Our shared history began in 2006 with Sugimoto's midcareer survey at the museum and deepened in 2018 with his highly successful redesign of our lobby. His new site-responsive artwork reunifies the Hirshhorn campus to underline Joseph H. Hirshhorn's foundational vision and gifts to the nation."
"Passage of Reflectance" embodies Sugimoto's practice of translating mathematics into sculptural form, emphasizing that the principles dictating the physical world often remain unseen in daily life. Composed of two parabolic stainless-steel "wings" that line each side of the tunnel connecting the garden with the plaza, each approximately 90 feet long and 8 feet high, it has an imagined meeting point: the center of Bunshaft's distinct cylindrical building. Sugimoto has manipulated the walls' mirrored surfaces so as visitors walk through the passageway, their reflections are exaggerated and repeated, an effect reminiscent of an Impressionist painting. Viewed from the garden's new "front door" at the National Mall, "Passage" reflects the Central Garden's water feature and sculpture, welcoming visitors to the Hirshhorn.
"My aim was to realize Bunshaft's original conception at a deeper level," Sugimoto said. "His architectural philosophy was based on ideas of geometry: it was these that led him to create a cylindrical gallery. 'Passage of Reflectance' is both a functional pathway and an immersive artwork defined by two curving lines gradually converging inward to the center of the museum's circular building and theoretically continuing to infinity. I selected polished stainless-steel sheeting for the walls, which creates a unique, wavelike mirrored finish. Hirshhorn visitors are drawn through to experience the garden's greenery, artworks and their own forms reflected in facets. The visual experience of 19th-century Impressionism--itself a prelude to Modernism--welcomes visitors from the National Mall or the Hirshhorn plaza into the world of modern and contemporary art."
Alongside the transformation of the tunnel beneath Jefferson Drive--closed since the 1980s--key enhancements by Sugimoto include expanded entrances and sightlines from the National Mall and East and West Overlooks, accessible entrances on the north and south, and increased shade from native plantings. The artist-architect's design also introduces stacked stone walls, additional seating and flexible space for interactive installations, performance and time-based art, public programming and art education. These modifications encourage a fluid experience for visitors as the Hirshhorn fulfills its mission as the national museum of modern and contemporary art for broad audiences.
"The selection of an artist to remake the garden for other artists has resulted in a flexible spatial arrangement," Seeto said. "We will reopen with almost 50% more sculpture from our global collection on view outside."
The revitalized Sculpture Garden opening installation includes artworks by Hans (Jean) Arp, Huma Bhabha, Max Bill, Andrea Cascella, Willem de Kooning, Elmgreen & Dragset, Lucio Fontana, Elisabeth Frink, Theaster Gates, Alberto Giacometti, Mark Grotjahn, Raven Halfmoon, Lauren Halsey, Barbara Hepworth, Richard Hunt, Izumi Kato, KAWS, Jeff Koons, Gaston Lachaise, Liz Larner, Henri Laurens, Jacques Lipchitz, Aristide Maillol, Henri Matisse, Joan Miro, Henry Moore, Yoshitomo Nara, Yoko Ono, Woody De Othello, Pablo Picasso, Chatchai Puipia, Pedro Reyes, Germaine Richier, Auguste Rodin, David Smith, Tony Smith, Tomonori Toyofuku and Sugimoto. Artists with work installed on the Hirshhorn plaza include Juan Munoz, Sterling Ruby, Arlene Shechet and Lee Ufan, with sculptures by Barry Flanagan, Ellsworth Kelly and Beverly Pepper to come.
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About Hiroshi Sugimoto
The artist-architect has held major exhibitions in museums and galleries throughout the world, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Metropolitan Museum of Art; and the Serpentine Gallery. His work is held in leading collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Centre Georges Pompidou and the National Gallery, London. Sugimoto has had a long relationship with the Hirshhorn, beginning with his first major U.S. retrospective in 2006 and his innovative redesign of the museum's lobby in 2018. He has designed a variety of indoor and outdoor spaces that create beautiful linkages between art and architecture, including a series of installations at Versailles (2019); the Atrium Garden for the Japan Society, New York (2017); and the Enoura Observatory for the Odawara Art Foundation, Japan (2017). In the revitalization of the Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden, Sugimoto led his design team from New Material Research Laboratory Co. Ltd., Tokyo, in association with YUN Architecture, Brooklyn; Quinn Evans Architects, Washington, D.C., architect of record with Eiko Tomura Landscape Architecture, Tokyo; and Rhodeside & Harwell Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, associate landscape designer and licensed landscape architect for the local adaptation and implementation.
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About the Hirshhorn
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is the national museum of modern and contemporary art and a leading voice for 21st-century art and culture. Part of the Smithsonian, the Hirshhorn is located prominently on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Its holdings encompass one of the most important collections of postwar American and European art in the world. The Hirshhorn presents diverse exhibitions and offers an array of public programs on the art of our time--free to all. The Hirshhorn Museum is open Mondays noon-5:30 p.m. and Tuesdays-Sundays 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). The Hirshhorn Sculpture Garden reopens Oct. 31, 2026, revitalized by Hiroshi Sugimoto to share more artwork, welcome more visitors and replace aging infrastructure. For more information, visit hirshhorn.si.edu. Follow the Hirshhorn on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
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Original text here: https://www.si.edu/newsdesk/releases/hiroshi-sugimotos-site-specific-commission-passage-reflectance-reconnects
