Museums/ Public Installations
An interactive stoytelling installation at the Obama Presidential Center, in partnership with Chicago Public Library, to help visitors document their hopes for America's future.
The opening of the Obama Presidential Center and America’s 250th anniversary create a rare moment to reflect on the country’s past, document the present, and imagine what comes next. Living Record partnered with the Chicago Public Library to create a participatory installation at its new branch inside the Obama Presidential Center. The installation invites visitors to document life in America today and share what they hope the country will become.
Visitors respond to prompts including: What about life in America right now do you want people in the future to understand? What is something about your community that should be remembered? What is one change you hope to see in America in the future? Their handwritten responses will be preserved in a five-year time capsule and reopened in 2031. Thousands of visitors have already contributed, creating a collective record of experiences, perspectives, and hopes from this moment in America.
Why It Mattered
The project gives visitors a direct role in creating the historical record at two significant milestones: the opening of the Obama Presidential Center and the nation’s 250th anniversary. It reminds us that history is not only something we inherit—it's something we shape together. Community storytelling transforms visitors from observers into participants. Every story becomes part of a collective record of what people believed, hoped for, and imagined for the country's future. Together, these voices capture not only where America has been, but where its people aspire to go.
VOICE
NBC 5 News
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