The Obama Presidential Center Museum, sited in Chicago's Jackson Park, is scheduled to open to the public on Juneteenth 2026. Its exhibitions will occupy four levels and nearly 35,000 square feet, designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with media production by batwin + robin Productions.
The museum's narrative follows President and Mrs. Obama, described as America's first Black president and First Lady, and is built around themes of history, democracy, public service and the capacity of ordinary people to create change. Across the four levels, visitors move between the promise and complexity of American democracy, the formative experiences that shaped the couple, the work of the Obama presidency and what the institution frames as a shared responsibility for building a more perfect union.
The route is organised into four major exhibition levels: Toward a More Perfect Union, Working for the Common Good, The People's House and We the People. Together the galleries trace a line from the nation's founding ideals and unfinished work, through the people, movements, policies and challenges associated with the Obama presidency, to present-day civic questions. The designers rely on artifacts, large-scale and immersive media, storytelling and a mix of digital and analogue interactives, presenting democracy as a practice shaped by people working together.
Exhibition highlights
Power of Words is an 88-foot-tall media canvas that combines speech, sound, image, poetry and art, intended to show how language can move people toward change. Toward a More Perfect Union acts as the illuminated, prismatic opening gallery, connecting founding ideals and contradictions to the people and movements that pushed American democracy toward greater justice and inclusion.
The Yes We Can Campaign circular gallery houses a panoramic media installation built around volunteer voices, paired with crowd-sourced campaign objects, placing visitors inside the grassroots movement of 2008. Democracy 101 is a hands-on civics exhibit designed to explain how democracy works through interactive experiences meant to build knowledge, confidence and participation.
The presidency and the White House
Panorama of a Presidency is 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. At a smaller scale, detailed miniature White House rooms offer an intimate look at how the Obamas opened the residence through traditions, celebrations, performances and public programmes. A collection of Life in the White House artifacts, spanning fashion, state gifts and sports memorabilia, is used to show how the couple made the White House feel open, personal and reflective of American diversity.
Art, interaction and access
Imagine Your Impact runs as a recurring interactive thread across all four levels, culminating in a shared media experience centred on a large-scale digital art commission that asks visitors to consider how individual actions combine into collective change. Contemporary art is woven through the museum, including Norman Teague's custom-designed benches and commissioned works by Jeffrey Gibson, Jules Julien and María Magdalena Campos-Pons.
Inclusive design is described as foundational rather than supplementary. The museum is planned around visitors of all ages and abilities, with tactile stations and replicas, captioning, ASL interpretation, audio description, assistive listening, clear wayfinding and interactive opportunities to take part.
The exhibits place the Obamas' story within a wider civic narrative rooted in Chicago's South Side, shaped by national and global movements for justice and carried forward by people working in their own communities, including participants in the Obama Foundation's Global Programs.