The Obama Presidential Center Museum in Chicago’s Jackson Park is set to open to the public on Juneteenth 2026, with nearly 35,000 square feet of exhibits across four levels. The exhibition design is attributed to Ralph Appelbaum Associates and batwin + robin Productions. The museum presents the story of President and Mrs. Obama, America’s first Black president and First Lady, through a journey about history, democracy, public service and the power of people to create change.
Four levels frame a civic journey
The visitor route is organized into four major exhibition levels: Toward a More Perfect Union, Working for the Common Good, The People’s House and We the People. The sequence begins with the nation’s founding ideals and unfinished work, moves through the people, movements, policies, challenges and accomplishments of the Obama presidency, and leads into civic questions facing the present and future. The museum uses artifacts, large-scale and immersive media, storytelling and hands-on digital and analog interactives to present democracy as a living practice shaped by ordinary people working together.
Media installations and campaign history
Among the highlighted spaces is Power of Words, an 88-foot-tall media canvas combining speech, sound, image, poetry and art to show how words can inspire action. The opening gallery, Toward a More Perfect Union, is described as an illuminated, prismatic space that links founding ideals and contradictions to the movements that have pushed American democracy toward greater justice and inclusion.
The Yes We Can Campaign circular gallery features a panoramic media installation with volunteer voices and crowd-sourced campaign objects, immersing visitors in the 2008 grassroots movement. Democracy 101 offers a hands-on civics exhibit intended to build knowledge, confidence and participation through approachable interactive experiences.
- Panorama of a Presidency: a sweeping media room that surrounds visitors with a behind-the-scenes view of the activities and places that make up the daily work of the presidency.
- Miniature White House rooms: detailed models that offer an intimate look at how the Obamas opened the People’s House through traditions, celebrations, performances and public programs.
- Life in the White House artifacts: fashion, state gifts and sports memorabilia that show how the Obamas sought to make the residence open, inclusive and reflective of American diversity.
Art, accessibility and shared agency
Imagine Your Impact is a recurring interactive thread across all levels, culminating in a shared media experience and a large-scale digital art commission that invites visitors to see how individual actions can combine to create collective change. Contemporary artworks are woven throughout the museum, including custom benches by Norman Teague and commissioned works by Jeffrey Gibson, Jules Julien and María Magdalena Campos-Pons.
Inclusive design is described as foundational. The museum integrates tactile stations and replicas, captioning, ASL interpretation, audio description, assistive listening, clear wayfinding and interactive opportunities intended to support visitors of all ages and abilities.
The exhibits place the Obamas’ journey within an American civic narrative rooted in Chicago’s South Side and shaped by national and global movements for justice. The museum’s stated aim is for visitors to leave with a deeper understanding of the Obamas’ legacy and a renewed sense of their own agency in the ongoing work of democracy.