Route 66 Centenary: Art and Culture from Chicago to Los Angeles

The Route 66 centenary is marked by cultural sites along its historic path. In Chicago, the Barack Obama Presidential Center opens in June 2026, designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, with a 7.8-hectare campus funded by $850 million in private funds. Julie Mehretu's stained glass 'Uprising of the Sun' adorns the facade, and thirty artists including Maya Lin and Mark Bradford contribute. In Oklahoma City, the First Americans Museum, with a bird-like sloping roof, presents the history of 39 tribal nations, emphasizing forced displacement. In Amarillo, Texas, Ant Farm's 1974 'Cadillac Ranch' remains a public sculpture, often repainted with activist colors, while Robert Smithson's 'Amarillo Ramp' (completed by Nancy Holt and Richard Serra) is accessible by appointment. In Santa Fe, SITE Santa Fe curates 'Indian Theater: Native Performance, Art, and Self-Determination since 1969' by Candice Hopkins in 2026, continuing the legacy of Georgia O'Keeffe. At the terminus in Los Angeles, the David Geffen Galleries at LACMA, designed by Peter Zumthor, opened in April 2026, spanning 300 meters over Wilshire Boulevard and displaying 6,000 years of art history without hierarchy, connecting Hokusai, Diego Rivera, Georges de La Tour, Matisse, and African textiles.