Image: Milwaukee Art Museum
The Milwaukee Art Museum will open 'Built to Inspire: The Quadracci Pavilion at 25' on August 27, 2026, using a new installation in Windhover Hall to mark the 25th anniversary of Santiago Calatrava’s Quadracci Pavilion. The museum says the presentation will run through December 31, 2027 and will be free for all visitors.
According to the museum, the anniversary project centers on the building’s status as both an architectural landmark and a civic symbol. The Quadracci Pavilion, designed by Santiago Calatrava, opened in 2001 and is identified by the museum as Calatrava’s first project in the United States. The pavilion’s movable wings, which open with the museum, flap at noon, and close at 10 p.m., remain one of the site’s best-known features.
The exhibition will bring together historic construction photographs, an architectural model, original films, an audio guide, and opportunities for visitors to share memories connected to the building. The museum describes the installation as a way to revisit the Pavilion’s creation and its continuing place in Milwaukee’s public life. The wings’ movement is weather permitting, and the museum notes that the lights illuminate them every night from sundown until 10 p.m.
The museum’s online materials frame the Quadracci Pavilion as a structure that transformed Milwaukee’s physical and cultural landscape. In the text accompanying the exhibition, the museum says that for 25 years the pavilion has inspired residents and visitors alike and demonstrated how art, architecture, and bold ideas can shape a city. The anniversary presentation is therefore structured not just as a display of objects and images, but as a broad look at the people, ideas, and moments that shaped the building’s history.
Two original films from 2001 will also be shown as part of the anniversary program. 'It Started with a Dream' focuses on the vision, ambition, and collaboration behind the pavilion, while 'The Story of the Burke Brise Soleil' examines the engineering, innovation, and artistry behind the movable wings. The museum says the videos will play Saturdays and Sundays throughout the day, with scheduling subject to auditorium availability, and that they can also be watched online.
The anniversary project extends beyond the main installation through 'Inspired by Milwaukee', a campaign that invited local artists to create original works responding to the Quadracci Pavilion. The museum names four participating artists: James Steeno, Laura Farahzad Mayer, Gabriela Riveros, and Whitney Anderson. Steeno is identified as a Milwaukee-based watercolor artist known for architectural and Wisconsin subject matter; Mayer as an artist and educator working in bookmaking and printmaking; Riveros as a Paraguayan-American illustrator based in Milwaukee; and Anderson as a Milwaukee-based graphic designer and illustrator.
The museum also invites visitors to share a favorite photo or memory inspired by the pavilion and tag @MilwaukeeArt for a chance to be featured. The anniversary presentation is listed in Windhover Hall from August 27, 2026, through December 31, 2027.
