Heartland

Throughout the vast interior of the United States, contemporary artists are responding to the world around them and reshaping it in unexpected ways. Organized by the Smart Museum of Art and the Van Abbemuseum, this exhibition offers an idiosyncratic look at innovative forms of cultural production taking place in the American Heartland. Featuring site-specific installations and performances as well as drawing, photography, and video, the exhibition illuminates a diverse assembly of artists who are working in—and in response to—Detroit, Kansas City, and other cities and rural communities across the region. Heartland presents the unfettered, alternative vision of artists whose work challenges our understandings of place and community, and explores the role of contemporary art in shaping our changing world.