First New Sculpture To Be Displayed Outside the Museum in Three Decades, Ushering in Museum’s Second Century

“The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art presents “Do Ho Suh: Public Figures,” a sculpture by contemporary Korean artist Do Ho Suh commissioned to celebrate the museum’s 100th anniversary. The monumental plinth will be unveiled April 27 and installed on the museum’s Freer Plaza for five years, facing the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

First presented as part of Public Art Fund’s 1998 exhibition “Beyond the Monument” (Brooklyn, New York), “Public Figures” challenges the notion of heroic individualism and the stability of national narratives. For the work, Suh created a plinth for a monument; however, its imposing form is not a base to support a heroic figure or to mark a particular historic event, but rather a massive weight held aloft by many small, individualized figures caught in mid-stride. Prominently placed in the center of the United States capital where it will be visible to some of the 25 million visitors to the National Mall each year, the commission dovetails with the global movement to rethink the role of the monument.

The unveiling of “Public Figures” marks the culmination of the National Museum of Asian Art’s centennial celebrations. In 2023, the museum honored its 100th anniversary with a yearlong series of events and programs that deepened public understanding of Asian art and cultures and their intersections with America. Ushering in the museum’s second century, this will be the first new sculpture to be displayed in front of the building in over three decades.”