Anacostia Community Museum
The Utopia Project
November 1, 2022 – March 1, 2023
The Utopia Project seeks to deconstruct the reasons why social change happens. Why does one tactic work and another fails? This interactive gallery is a space to learn the art of activism and to unlock the creativity in each of us to transform our world.
Through a series of experiential activities, visitors will first learn to tap into the issues they care about and then envision their own version of a utopia in an immersive “Dream Space.” Here, visitors will be asked to imagine, with all obstacles removed, a world beyond the problem at hand to the awe-inspiring end goal. With that image of success in mind, they discover the research-informed tactics that have most often led to measurable social change. Last is the maker space—where dreams become actions. With everything from cardboard and tape to Legos and whiteboards, visitors are invited to prototype their ideas for making a better world.
Objects, photos, and stories from the ACM collection are featured throughout the gallery, turning abstract ideas into real-world examples of community members making a difference throughout history. Accounts of these everyday change-makers serve to remind us that the ingredients for change reside in each one of us. And the Utopia Project makes the process transparent and reachable so that the impossible becomes possible.
