Crystal Bridges and the Momentary Present 2025 Exhibitions Celebrating American Icons Past and Present
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BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Momentary today announced its complete list of 2025 exhibitions, which explore a wide range of works from past and present cultural icons. KAWS: FAMILY will open at Crystal Bridges in March and feature a broad mixture of the artist’s works – drawings, paintings, and sculptures – that examine complex, familiar, and astonishingly heartfelt entryways into human emotions. Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture will open in fall, presenting art that connects powerful stories of sports to everyday life.
The Momentary will expand its music focus by hosting visual art exhibitions that celebrate the medium and its icons, including The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall’s Photographs of Johnny Cash), a showcase of Jim Marshall’s photos from Johnny Cash’s historic prison concerts; and Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul, featuring photographer Larry Hulst’s unique visual anthology of rock, blues, and soul music from 1970-1999. The Machine Behind the Art: Inside JR’s Printing Press, an experiential work where visitors enter an oversized printing press and leave with a one-of-a-kind print, will also be on view next year. Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography, which opens this weekend, will remain on view through April 13, 2025.
Progress continues to be made on Crystal Bridges’ 114,000-square-foot expansion, led by the acclaimed Safdie Architects. An all-new installation of the museum’s renowned, fast-growing art collection will offer a fresh pathway for visitors exploring the diverse range of American stories, its people, and its places. In 2025, teams will begin to transform the galleries, offering guests a glimpse into how exhibitions are created and artworks are reinstalled throughout the museum. Crystal Bridges will remain open during this time.
Design highlights include two new galleries that will allow the museum to display even more art; a dedicated floor with a series of educational spaces including community gathering areas, art studios, and flexible facilities; a new bridge connecting the two galleries that will add non-traditional space for art that is not sensitive to light; and areas for reflection and gathering, including a new café and courtyard. These new spaces will advance the exploration of art, further connections to the beauty of nature, and help better engage the community. The museum expansion is set to open in 2026.
The museum expansion is part of a larger project to create an Art + Wellness Campus on the 134-acre Crystal Bridges site. The unparalleled campus will incorporate Heartland Whole Health Institute and Alice L. Walton School of Medicine, joined to the museum with miles of landscaped trails and art installations.
CRYSTAL BRIDGES
KAWS: FAMILY | March 15, 2025 – July 28, 2025
Since the late 1990s, KAWS has been creating a cast of iconic characters steeped in the American zeitgeist that populate his work. Each with their own distinct personality pulled in part from their creator, these characters have been a constant throughline in the artist’s career. The exhibition takes its title and thematic jumping-off point from the sculpture titled FAMILY (2021), which brings together four of the KAWS’ characters posed in the style of a family portrait. As witnessed throughout the show, the relationships between the figures can be complex, familiar, and astonishingly heartfelt entryways into human emotions.
Organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), KAWS: FAMILY at Crystal Bridges is KAWS’ Arkansas solo exhibition debut, featuring drawings, paintings, sculptures, altered advertisements, and product collaborations. Expanding to fit Crystal Bridges’ exhibition gallery space, this presentation builds on the AGO’s original exhibition to create an experience that is uniquely suited for the museum.
KAWS: FAMILY is curated by Julian Cox, AGO deputy director and chief curator. The curatorial lead at Crystal Bridges is Alejo Benedetti, curator of contemporary art.
KAWS: FAMILY is sponsored by General Mills, The Coca-Cola Company, Stout Executive, Jennie and David Hartman, Paradigm Advisors, and Jessica and Clint Schaff.
Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture | September 13, 2025 – January 26, 2026
From the Olympics to the local recreation league, sports are a highly personal and inexhaustible subject for many contemporary artists and designers, who respond to the inner drive of the athlete, the almost religious fervor of the fan, and the tension between individuals and systems that govern how games are played, and who gets to play them. Through Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture, visitors will experience how – through sports – some of our most iconic images have been formed and unforgettable human and social stories have played out.
Guests will have the opportunity to discover the depth of swimmer Diana Nyad’s determination through an unexpected portrait angle; they will feel the pressure tennis champion Billie Jean King faced through a reenactment of her legendary Battle of the Sexes match; and they will celebrate Kobe Bryant’s legacy as an NBA superstar and cultural icon in lustrous ceramic.
Organized by San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, this exhibition taps into the spirit of sports through art, design, and interactive experiences. It’s time to get in the game!
Get in the Game: Sports, Art, Culture is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Stout Executive, and Deborah Wright.
THE MOMENTARY
Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography | November 23, 2024 – April 13, 2025
Through Best in Show, the Momentary visitors will have the opportunity to explore the role that furry (and feathered) friends have played in culture and how they stand in as representations of status, power, loyalty, compassion, and companionship through the perspectives of 25 global artists. Works on view will include examples by William Wegman, famed for his portraits of his Weimaraners; Walter Chandoha, the world’s first professional cat photographer; and Sophie Gamand, known for her touching, sensitive photographs of dogs taking baths.
Organized by Fotografiska Museum New York, the contemporary museum of photography, art, and culture, Best in Show celebrates and acknowledges constant companions, their presence in Western art and popular culture, and their multifaceted relationships with humans. Guests are allowed to bring domesticated pets into the Best in Show galleries throughout the exhibition’s run.
Best in Show: Pets in Contemporary Photography is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, Marsha and John Phillips, Scarlett and Neff Basore, Anna and Carl George, and Johnny Mike Walker.
The Prison Concerts: Folsom And San Quentin (Jim Marshall’s Photographs of Johnny Cash) | May 24, 2025 – October 12, 2025
Widely known as the godfather of music photography, the late Jim Marshall maintained a 50-year career that resulted in more than 500 album covers, an abundance of magazine covers, and some of the most celebrated images in blues, jazz, country, and rock and roll, including those from Johnny Cash’s notable Folsom and San Quentin prison concerts. Organized by the GRAMMY Museum,
The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall’s Photographs of Johnny Cash) showcases these powerful snapshots of a legendary musician by a legendary photographer.
The exhibition is comprised of 25 photographs documenting the two concerts in 1968 and 1969, including candid and performance images that helped solidify Cash’s status as an outlaw king. A staunch advocate for prisoners’ rights, Cash did these concerts to shine a light on the terrible conditions and prisoner abuse that were rampant at the time. Personally requested by Cash himself, Marshall was the only official photographer present at the concerts. He was granted unlimited access to Cash, June Carter, and their entourage.
The Prison Concerts captures the spirit of two artists at the height of their creative powers.
The Prison Concerts: Folsom and San Quentin (Jim Marshall’s Photographs of Johnny Cash) is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company.
Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul | May 24, 2025 – October 12, 2025
Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul charts photographer Larry Hulst’s extraordinary path through the pulsing heart of the most exciting live music of the twentieth century, showcasing a unique visual anthology of rock, blues, and soul music from 1970-1999. From Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix to David Bowie and Lauryn Hill, this exhibition brings together more than 70 images of legendary musicians across three genres and generations. Front Row Center grants viewers an all-access pass to some of the most memorable performances in popular music history.
These images, which have been featured on album art and Rolling Stone spreads, convey Hulst’s lifelong passion for the magnetism, immediacy, and unpredictability of live music. With photos that also document the unforgettable voices of funk, punk, and beyond, Front Row Center grants viewers an all-access pass to some of the most memorable performances in popular music history.
Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul is organized and toured by International Arts & Artists, Washington, DC.
Front Row Center: Icons of Rock, Blues, and Soul is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company.
The Machine Behind the Art: Inside JR’s Printing Press | May 24, 2025 – June 7, 2026
The Machine Behind the Art: Inside JR’s Printing Press is one of JR’s most extensive immersive and experiential works to date. After taking portraits in one of three individual photo booths, visitors enter the interior of an oversized, whirring printing press – turning their image into a tangible work of art while offering a glimpse into the creative process of JR. After the experience, visitors leave with their own, one-of-a-kind print.
The Machine Behind the Art: Inside JR’s Printing Press is sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company.
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About the Momentary
Opened in February of 2020 in Downtown Bentonville, the Momentary is a platform for the music, art, and food of our time. It is a catalyst for creativity and economic vitality, and a welcoming hub that gathers and celebrates local heroes and international stars. The Momentary was founded by the Walton family, based on the vision of Tom, Olivia, and Steuart Walton. Its commitment to cultivating arts and cultural experiences provides more opportunities for education, engagement, and enjoyment in our region. The Momentary is an extension of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, founded by Alice Walton. The Momentary welcomes all with free general admission. Additional offerings include live music, visual and performing arts, an artist-in-residence program, culinary experiences such as Onyx Coffee Lab and the sky-high Tower Bar, indoor and outdoor gathering spaces, an outdoor festival space, and a retail shop. For more information, visit theMomentary.org. The Momentary is located at 507 SE E Street, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712. The Momentary’s Founding Funders are Walton Family Foundation, Walmart, RØDE Microphones, The Coca-Cola Company, Tyson Family Foundation, and Willard and Pat Walker Charitable Foundation.
About Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
The mission of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art is to welcome all to celebrate the American spirit in a setting that unites the power of art with the beauty of nature. Since opening in 2011, the museum has welcomed more than 13 million visitors across its spaces, with no cost for admission. Crystal Bridges was founded in 2005 as a non-profit charitable organization by arts patron and philanthropist, Alice Walton. The collection spans five centuries of American masterworks from early American to current day and is enhanced by temporary exhibitions. The museum is nestled on 120 acres of Ozark landscape and was designed by world-renowned architect Moshe Safdie. A rare Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house was preserved and relocated to the museum grounds in 2015. Home of the prestigious Don Tyson Prize for the Advancement of American Art and Tyson Scholars of American Art Program, Crystal Bridges offers public programs including lectures, performances, classes, and teacher development opportunities. Some 478,375 school children have participated in the Willard and Pat Walker School Visit program, which provides educational experiences for school groups at no cost to the schools. Additional museum amenities include a restaurant, gift store, library, and five miles of art and walking trails. In February 2020, the museum opened the Momentary in Downtown Bentonville (507 SE E Street), conceived as a platform for the art, food, and music of our time. In 2026, Crystal Bridges will complete a nearly 114,000 square foot expansion that will allow the museum to expand access for all. For more information, visit CrystalBridges.org. The museum is located at 600 Museum Way, Bentonville, Arkansas 72712.
About Safdie Architects
Safdie Architects is a design studio united in idealism, driven by a spirit of innovation, and guided by the principles that architecture should uplift humanity, evoke optimism, celebrate nature, and aspire to timelessness. Founded by pioneering architect Moshe Safdie, the firm operates as a true collaborative that leverages rigorous research, critical inquiry, collective wisdom, and individual expertise to deliver some of the world’s largest and most complex commissions. Based in Boston, with offices in Jerusalem, Shanghai, Singapore, and Toronto, Safdie Architects’ considered yet intuitive approach yields projects that transcend their primary purpose to become beloved landmarks whose positive impact reverberates through cities and communities around the world.