The Vilcek Foundation

The Vilcek Foundation The Vilcek Foundation is dedicated to raising awareness of immigrant contributions to the United States and fostering appreciation of the arts and sciences.
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Created by Vietnamese American artist Thương Hoài Trần, “Threads of Offering” brings together two bodies of work, “Ông B...
06/25/2026

Created by Vietnamese American artist Thương Hoài Trần, “Threads of Offering” brings together two bodies of work, “Ông Bà” and “Made in Vietnam,” that draw from family photographs and the artist’s own immigrant experience. Through the meticulous processes of weaving and unweaving, Trần reflects on heritage, displacement, loss of language, and the gaps that can emerge across generations in diasporic communities.

The Vilcek Foundation is proud to support the exhibition through a grant to the Plains Art Museum. If you're in Fargo, be sure to visit and experience these powerful works in person.

“Threads of Offering” - Thương Hoài Trần
🗓️June 27, 2026 - January 24, 2027
📍Plains Art Museum, Fargo, ND

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Image credits:
(1) Thương Hoài Trần, "Trần Minh Thảo," 2021, painted warp, handwoven cotton, and metallic yarn, 95” x 42”, Courtesy of artist
(2) Detail of "Trần Minh Thảo"

06/22/2026

Step inside “Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty” with Eana Kim, curator at the Vilcek Foundation. 🇺🇸🗽🌟

From a historic cast of the Statue of Liberty by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi to Danh Võ’s “We the People” series and the newly commissioned “Live Free or Die,” the exhibition reconsiders familiar symbols through material, scale, and fragmentation.

Presented as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary and the Vilcek Foundation marks 25 years of celebrating immigrant contributions to the arts and sciences, the exhibition invites new ways of seeing what these icons in American history represent.

Reserve your free visit: https://vilcek.co/43qX99E

🌞 🌆 Hello summer! This Sunday marks the first official day of the season, and New York City is already glowing under the...
06/19/2026

🌞 🌆 Hello summer! This Sunday marks the first official day of the season, and New York City is already glowing under the heat of the sun.

We’re turning to John Marin’s “Yellow Sun, New York City” for a bright, modernist view of summer in the city.

Painted in oil on canvas, this work captures a radiant yellow sun breaking through the canyon of skyscrapers, illuminating the rush of the grey street as it pulls the eye into the stacked geometry of the city.

Best known for his abstracted cityscapes of New York and seascapes of the Maine coast, Marin worked primarily in watercolor but began turning more toward oil in the 1930s, as seen in this work.

At Tinworks Art, Hungarian-born environmental artist Agnes Denes returns to the land in 2026 with “Sunflowers, to follow...
06/18/2026

At Tinworks Art, Hungarian-born environmental artist Agnes Denes returns to the land in 2026 with “Sunflowers, to follow the wheat” 🌻🌾

Agnes Denes continues her long-term ecological activation of the site with a new work of pink sunflowers. Chosen by the artist, the planting is designed to help restore the soil, demonstrating nature’s resilience while bringing a sense of surprise and beauty to the community.

For decades, Denes has woven together science, philosophy, mathematics, and poetry to explore our relationship to the natural world. From her landmark 1982 "Wheatfield" in New York City to her recent work in Bozeman, she transforms land into a space for collective action, renewal, and shared stewardship.

We are proud to support this new installation through a Vilcek Foundation grant.

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(1) Agnes Denes in her studio. Photo by Jenny Moore.

(1)(2)(3)(4) Agnes Denes, Wheatfield - An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground, 2024. Tinworks Art. Courtesy of the artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. Photo by Blair Speed.

(5) Agnes Denes, Wheatfield - An Inspiration. The seed is in the ground, 2024. Tinworks Art. Courtesy of the artist and Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects. Photo by Matt Macoy.

Making orchestral music feel accessible to everyone is at the heart of Juan Pablo Contreras’ work.Born in Guadalajara, M...
06/17/2026

Making orchestral music feel accessible to everyone is at the heart of Juan Pablo Contreras’ work.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, and later moving to the United States at 19 to study composition, Juan Pablo describes his mission as creating work that feels exciting for anyone, regardless of their background in classical music.

His latest release, “MeChicano” (a blend of Mexican and Chicano), marks a deeply personal milestone as his first work written as a Mexican American composer, following his recent U.S. citizenship after 15 years in the country. The piece reflects on his journey into a Chicano identity and honors the Mexican American communities that have shaped cultural life in the United States.

06/16/2026

The chickens at Utah Refugee Goats have a new home! 🐥🏠

With support from a Vilcek Foundation grant, Utah State University’s Refuge Goats program has built a new chicken coop, strengthening disease prevention and biosecurity in animal care, while also serving as a hands-on training site for refugees and immigrant community members.

Engineering students played a key role in designing and building the coop, gaining real-world experience while contributing to a collaborative, community-rooted effort.

We’re proud to support the Utah Refuge Goats program at USU and the meaningful work they continue to grow.

This summer, photographer Christina Kahlo , grandniece of Frida Kahlo, brings her distinctive vision of architecture, li...
06/15/2026

This summer, photographer Christina Kahlo , grandniece of Frida Kahlo, brings her distinctive vision of architecture, light, and form to the Edith Farnsworth House in Plano, IL.

On view June 20–August 9, 2026, “Cristina Kahlo: Líneas de Luz y Sombra / Lines of Light and Shadow” explores the spaces, structures, and visual language of Mexican Modernism. Featuring photographs inspired by figures such as Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Georgia O’Keeffe, the exhibition also includes images of the Edith Farnsworth House, creating a compelling dialogue between two modernist traditions.

The exhibition is part of "Farnsworth Forward," a year-long initiative supported by a Vilcek Foundation grant to the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Through exhibitions, an artist residency, and public programs, the initiative invites audiences to engage with the enduring influence of Mexican Modernism on art, architecture, and culture.

06/14/2026

Happy Flag Day! 🇺🇸🪵✨

On June 14, 1777, the Continental Congress adopted the first official flag of the United States. The flag has long served as a symbol through which Americans have expressed ideas about freedom, identity, and belonging.

In “Live Free or Die,” Danh Võ reimagines the American flag using stacked ash logs and steel stars. Named after the official motto of New Hampshire, the sculpture transforms a familiar national symbol into a structure built from materials associated with labor, survival, and consumption, inviting reflection on the meanings and ideals the flag represents.

Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the installation of “Live Free or Die” in just 30 seconds. The work is featured in “Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty,” opening June 22 at the Vilcek Foundation.

Reserve your tickets: https://vilcek.co/43qX99E

06/12/2026

A signed copy of “Turtle Island: Foods and Traditions of the Indigenous Peoples of North America” by Sean Sherman arrived in our mailbox! 📬

Through more than 150 ancestral and contemporary recipes, the book celebrates the rich foodways that have connected Indigenous communities to their lands, cultures, and histories across North America for generations.

We are proud to support Sean Sherman’s organization, NĀTIFS (North American Traditional Indigenous Food Systems), through a discretionary grant. NĀTIFSorg works to revitalize Indigenous culinary traditions by expanding access to Indigenous foods, supporting food education, and advancing food sovereignty in Indigenous communities.

We are excited to present “Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty,” an exhibition centered on works from Vietnamese-born Danish art...
06/11/2026

We are excited to present “Danh Võ: Rebuilding Liberty,” an exhibition centered on works from Vietnamese-born Danish artist Danh Võ’s acclaimed “We the People” series (2011–2016), alongside “Live Free or Die” (2026), a newly commissioned sculptural installation created for the exhibition.

Uniting fragmented forms of the Statue of Liberty and reconfigured versions of the American flag, the exhibition explores questions of migration, democracy, identity, and belonging that continue to shape contemporary American life.

Opening on June 22, 2026, the exhibition coincides with the 250th anniversary of American independence and the 25th anniversary of the Vilcek Foundation.

Reserve your free visit: vilcek.co/43qX99E

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