Tools: Extending Our Reach

Going beyond functionality, Tools: Extending Our Reach highlighted human creativity, exploring how tools extend the human body, senses, and capability, often resulting in transformative changes for civilization. This 6,500-square-foot inaugural exhibition for the renovated and rebranded Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum included approximately 175 objects spanning 1.85 million years of tool design and use from Cooper Hewitt and nine other Smithsonian collections. Displayed in thematic groups, they reveal a fresh perspective on both the cultural and aesthetic properties of tools.

The exhibition was curated by Cara McCarty and Matilda McQuaid.

AWARDS