{"id":372804,"date":"2026-10-14T10:14:41","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:14:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372804\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T10:14:41","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T10:14:41","slug":"what-season-is-it-america-bring-your-answer-to-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372804\/","title":{"rendered":"What Season Is It, America? Bring Your Answer to the Table"},"content":{"rendered":"

Keith Yamashita\u2019s five-day happening in the Brooklyn Museum\u2019s Beaux Arts Court begins with an image or poem picked from a ring of 500 and comes to life through the dialog it provokes<\/p>\n

\"image3_000\"Render by Ethan Rainbolt<\/p>\n

What season is America in right now? Is it a moment of loss, emergence, quiet reflection or celebration? From 21\u201325 October 2026, the Brooklyn Museum<\/a>\u2019s Beaux Arts Court will host What Season Is It, America?<\/a>, a monumental, five-day interactive installation created by artist Keith Yamashita<\/a> in collaboration with sound designer Joshua-Mich\u00e9le Ross<\/a>. The exhibition features nearly 500 original works\u2014poetry, photography and curated historical Americana images\u2014arranged across a 250-foot circle on the gallery floor, organized roughly by the four seasons.<\/p>\n

Rather than viewing the artwork passively, visitors are invited to walk the circle, choose a piece that resonates with them and bring it to a custom, 12-seat rotating table at the center of the room. There, Yamashita will remain in continuous residence throughout the five-day exhibition, engaging visitors in direct conversation about the stories, memories and hopes evoked by the image or poem they\u2019ve chosen.<\/p>\n

\"260409_yamashitakeith_038\"By Henry Leutwyler<\/p>\n

Ahead of the opening, we sat down with Yamashita to discuss his transition from a 30-year career in business and design leadership to declaring his artist practice, the mechanics of his participatory \u201chappening\u201d and why conversation itself is his primary medium.<\/p>\n

\"260706_yamashita_bkmuseum_004\"By Olympia Shannon<\/p>\n

Stepping into the Brooklyn Museum under that new title registers as both a beginning and a return. \u201cIt feels equal parts exhilarating, mysterious and frightening,\u201d he tells us. \u201cOn one hand, I\u2019m declaring this role out front and driving with my own hopes for the world. On the other hand, if you asked me when I was three, five or ten years old what I was, I would have said an artist. It only shifted when I went to college and had to pursue a livelihood.\u201d The impulse never went dormant during his years in boardrooms. \u201cThroughout my 30-plus years in business, I always tried to bring artistry, humanity and design into the work,\u201d he says. \u201cSo in a sense, this debut is both a brand-new declaration and a return to my deepest bedrock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image15_000\"Render by Ethan Rainbolt<\/p>\n

Yamashita had no interest in an anniversary retrospective. He wanted a room where his poems and photographs supply the material and visitors complete the work in exchanges that exist only as they\u2019re spoken. \u201cThe idea grew out of a conversation with Anne Pasternak leading up to America\u2019s 250th anniversary,\u201d Yamashita explains, referring to the museum\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe were discussing how to create something meaningful for the public\u2014something that isn\u2019t just about looking at objects, but reflects people\u2019s own dreams, histories and lives. I brought her a proposal for this installation, asking a central question: What season is it, America?\u201d Seasons offered him a vocabulary that sidesteps partisan reflexes. \u201cAsking the question through the lens of seasons allows people to step away from divisive political arguments and walk toward one another as human beings,\u201d he says. \u201cWhether someone feels we are in a season of grief, emergence or renewal, it creates an entry point for honest dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n

My media are poetry and photography, but the real art is the conversation and the sharing of stories<\/p>\n

Keith Yamashita<\/p>\n

The room is vast\u201410,000 square feet\u2014yet the choreography is intimate. Visitors circle the perimeter until a verse or image claims their attention, then pick it up and bring it inward to a table made for the occasion with industrial designer Rebecca Burdick and USM, the Swiss manufacturer best known for its modular Haller system. \u201cAt the center is a custom round table designed with industrial designer Rebecca Murdock<\/a> and USM Modular Furniture,\u201d Yamashita says. \u201cIt seats 12 people and features a rotating top. Visitors sit down with the art they selected, and I start simply by asking, \u2018Why did you bring this?\u2019\u201d As each person explains the pull of their choice, whether a buried memory or a hope for the country, Yamashita turns the top so the piece travels around the circle and others can respond. The objects, in his framing, are prompts rather than the point. \u201cMy media are poetry and photography, but the real art is the conversation and the sharing of stories,\u201d he says. \u201cThe photographs and poems act as gateways or starting points. They activate something inside you, and the sharing of whatever was activated is where the art actually happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image14\"Render by Ethan Rainbolt<\/p>\n

Ross supplies the atmosphere, drawing on recordings gathered across North America. \u201cI\u2019m collaborating with sound artist Joshua-Mich\u00e9le Ross, who has drawn from an archive of thousands of field recordings\u2014birds in a meadow at sunrise, mountain streams, bay waters,\u201d Yamashita says. \u201cHe will be live-composing over 35 hours of an ambient, nature-inspired symphony continuously throughout the five days. The music evolves dynamically in response to the atmosphere and energy in the room, acting almost like changing weather that helps visitors slow down and open up.\u201d Publication design, typography and visual curation come from CASA, the studio of Laura Vignale and Jaymes Moore.<\/p>\n

I hope this work creates a rare space where strangers can sit at the same table, look at art, and really see each other deeper. It\u2019s an experiment in presence, listening and human connection.<\/p>\n

Keith Yamashita<\/p>\n

Each exchange ends with an object and a mark. Participants take home their chosen work, sealed with a hanko, the carved personal stamp that in Japan stands in for a signature on everything from contracts to bank forms. \u201cWe have printed thousands of pieces so that visitors can take their chosen artwork home,\u201d Yamashita says. \u201cBefore they leave the table, we perform a closing ritual involving traditional Japanese stamp chop (hanko) signing rituals. It completes the exchange, allowing a physical piece of the experience and story to travel back into their daily lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"image18\"Render by Ethan Rainbolt<\/p>\n

What he is staging, finally, is a test of whether strangers will still sit down together. \u201cWe live in a culture where we are constantly told to be wary of one another or that we cannot find a shared future,\u201d he says. \u201cI hope this work creates a rare space where strangers can sit at the same table, look at art, and really see each other deeper. It\u2019s an experiment in presence, listening and human connection.\u201d<\/p>\n

What Season Is It, America?<\/a> is on view in the Beaux Arts Court at the Brooklyn Museum<\/a> from 21\u201325 October 2026.<\/p>\n

What Season Is It, America? Bring Your Answer to the Table<\/p>\n

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