Hirshhorn Plaza

Salvatore Scarpitta, Sal Cragar, 1969. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Photo: Lee Stalsworth
Salvatore Scarpitta, Sal Cragar, 1969. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Photo: Lee Stalsworth

Salvatore Scarpitta, Trevis Race Car (Sal Gambler Special) (detail), 1985. Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC. Photo: Lee StalsworthThursday, July 17, 2014
7 to 10:30 pm
Museum Plaza
Free public event

Galleries open at 7:30 pm, providing the public their first opportunity to view Salvatore Scarpitta: Traveler. A competitive sprint car will be parked on the Plaza, where Scarpitta driver Greg O’Neill talks about racing at 8 pm. Hirshhorn assistant curator Melissa Ho leads an exhibition tour at 9 pm. The documentary “Art & Racing: The Work and Life of Salvatore Scarpitta” screens continuously throughout the evening. Barbecue and beer will be available for purchase on the Plaza. The other exhibitions on the museum’s Lower Level, Black Box: Oliver Laric and Directions: Jeremy Deller, will also be open.

Salvatore Scarpitta: Traveler is made possible in part by the generous support of the Estate of Frank B. Gettings in memory of Nancy Kirkpatrick and Frank Gettings, C.P. Beler, the Holenia Trust, and the Hirshhorn Exhibition Fund. The exhibition brochure is generously underwritten by Kristin and Howard Johnson and the Italian Cultural Institute on the occasion of Italy’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1 through December 31, 2014.

Italian Presidency of the Council of the European Union. italia2014.eu