MADE IN AMERICA: THE INDUSTRIAL PHOTOGRAPHY OF CHRISTOPHER PAYNE
Nov. 21, 2025 through FALL 2026

Made in America brings together more than 70 large-format photographs captured by Christopher Payne over a decade-long photographic journey to learn more about the craft of both industrial and artisanal making in the United States. His images celebrate the combination of human skill and mechanical precision that transform raw materials into objects as diverse as pencils, semiconductors, pianos, and rockets.

Made in America: The Industrial Photography of Christopher Payne received support from Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250, a Smithsonian-wide initiative commemorating the nation’s 250th. Signature support for Smithsonian’s Our Shared Future: 250 has been provided by Lilly Endowment Inc. Additional generous contributions have been made by Target and New Balance.

 

 

 

Photo: Wool carders, 2012. Photographed by Christopher Payne (American, born 1968). S & D Spinning Mill (Millbury, Massachusetts). Courtesy of the artist.

ART OF NOISE
Dec. 12, 2025 through July 19, 2026

Organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Art of Noise celebrates groundbreaking design that enhances and visualizes our musical experiences. From concert posters to record albums, phonographs to digital music players, handheld radios to sound systems, Art of Noise takes visitors on an exploration of how design has transformed people’s relationship to music over the past 100 years. The exhibition will feature more than 300 artworks drawn largely from the collections of Cooper Hewitt and SFMOMA, as well as unique sound environments designed by Stockholm-based studio teenage engineering and multi-disciplinary artist Devon Turnbull.

Art of Noise is organized by SFMOMA and curated by Joseph Becker, Curator of Architecture and Design, SFMOMA, with Divya Saraf, former Curatorial Assistant in Architecture and Design, SFMOMA. Cooper Hewitt’s presentation is curated by Joseph Becker with support from Cynthia Trope, Associate Curator of Product Design and Decorative Arts, Cooper Hewitt.

This exhibition is made possible by the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund, the Ehrenkranz Fund, the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery Endowment Fund, the Fisher Arts Impact Fund, and Jonathan Schroeder and Janet Borgerson.

Photo: RR-126 Radio-Phonograph, 1965; Designed by Achille Castiglioni (Italian, 1918-2002) and Pier Giacomo Castiglioni, (Italian, 1913-1968); Manufactured by Brionvega, S.p.A (Milan, Italy); Plywood, plastic, aluminum, polycarbonate, electronic components; H x W x D (speakers on sides): 46.5 × 121 × 36.5 cm (18 5/16 × 47 5/8 × 14 3/8 in.); H x W x D (speakers on top): 92.5 × 61.5 × 36.5 cm (36 7/16 × 24 3/16 × 14 3/8 in.); Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Gift of George R. Kravis II, 2018-22-96-a/c; Photo: Matt Flynn