Image: Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, East Lansing
The Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University will open ‘We Are This Land: Meditations on the Great American Experiment’ on August 22, 2026, as one of three exhibitions scheduled to debut in the museum’s fall season. The show runs through March 14, 2027, and is described by the museum as a large-scale group exhibition that examines the history and future of the United States through art, timed to the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
The museum’s exhibition page frames the project as an opportunity for reflection and future visioning, asking how viewers might learn from the past to better imagine brighter futures for all. The title, drawn from Joy Harjo’s 2019 poem ‘Bless this Land,’ signals a focus on collective responsibility and on the land the country occupies and stewards. According to the museum, the exhibition’s main galleries will be organized around five guiding topics: civics, history, family and kinship, map-making, and care for the environment.
The Broad says ‘We Are This Land’ is designed as a forum for open dialogue and engagement, with programmatic offerings intended to reinforce the museum as an inclusive public space. The exhibition’s description emphasizes democratic ideals of participation and experimentation, and invites audiences to contribute their own voices and perspectives while considering how artists help shape conversations about history and the nation’s future.
The exhibition brings together a wide range of artists and works, spanning different generations and media. The artist list on the museum’s page includes names such as Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Dorothea Lange, Faith Ringgold, Kara Walker, Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Kay WalkingStick, Nari Ward, Julie Mehretu, and Duane Linklater, alongside many others. The museum also highlights works by John Halaka and Tyree Guyton among the images associated with the show.
The exhibition is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University and curated by Steven L. Bridges, senior curator and director of curatorial affairs, with Dalina A. Perdomo Álvarez and Rachel Winter, assistant curators, and Morgan Braswell and Nat Swartz, curatorial research assistants. Support is provided by the Eli and Edythe Broad Endowed Exhibitions Fund, with additional support from the Alan and Rebecca Ross Endowed Exhibitions Fund.
‘We Are This Land’ will occupy the main galleries at the MSU Broad Art Museum, including Gallery 101: Julie and Edward J. Minskoff Gallery, Gallery 102: Linda and William Demmer Gallery, Gallery 201: Stanley and Selma Hollander Gallery, Gallery 202: Two East Gallery and Gallery 203: Two South Gallery. The museum says the installation opens with the rest of its fall lineup on August 22, after a temporary closure from July 27 to August 21, 2026.
