Image: Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C
The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is set to open a teen-produced showcase titled 'No Connection. Please Try Again Later' with a public event at Hirshhorn Art School on Saturday, August 15, from 1 to 3 p.m. The presentation comes out of the museum’s Emerging Artists program, which this summer brought together a fifteen-person cohort of teens ages 15 to 19 for eight weeks of work with museum professionals and teaching artists.
According to the museum, the group developed original work around a topic of its own choosing after responding to the Hirshhorn collection. The showcase is framed as an invitation for visitors to engage with the participants’ perspectives on what the museum describes as an “ever-evolving digital landscape.” The opening will include the chance to view the work, take part in artmaking, and hear the cohort in conversation.
The project places young artists in direct dialogue with the museum’s collection and education resources. In the program materials, the Hirshhorn says the cohort looked closely at works in the collection and drew inspiration from global artists whose practices “spark curiosity, conversation and change.” One example cited on the museum’s Emerging Artists page is Aliza Nisenbaum’s 'Mis Cuatro Gracias (Brendan, Camilo, Carlos, Jorge)', which the teens studied as part of their exploration of portraiture and community.
That educational context is central to the show’s development. The museum describes Hirshhorn Art School, located on the museum’s lower level, as a hybrid studio, classroom and gathering space for public programming. The school offers guided programs during the week and drop-in studio sessions on Saturdays, making it a natural venue for an event built around youth participation and hands-on making.
The showcase also extends the museum’s longer-running Emerging Artists initiative, which is presented as a way for teens to learn from contemporary art while producing work of their own. In the email announcing the opening, the Hirshhorn said the cohort spent time both in the galleries and back in Art School, returning to make portraits and work collaboratively after studying the collection and one another. The resulting exhibition title, with its reference to digital interruption, signals a focus on technology and communication, though the museum’s notice does not provide a fuller thematic statement beyond that framing.
The opening event is listed for Hirshhorn Art School in Washington, D.C. No separate exhibition run or closing date was provided in the source material, and the announcement centers on the August 15 celebration with the artists. Public programs at the school are described by the museum as free.
