The Obama Presidential Center Museum will open to the public on Juneteenth 2026 in Chicago's Jackson Park, with four levels of exhibitions occupying nearly 35,000 square feet. Designed by Ralph Appelbaum Associates with media work by batwin + robin Productions, the museum tells the story of President and Mrs. Obama — America's first Black president and First Lady — through the themes of history, democracy, public service and the capacity of people to create change.
Visitors pass through four major exhibition levels: Toward a More Perfect Union, Working for the Common Good, The People's House and We the People. Taken together, the galleries trace a route from the country's founding ideals and unfinished work, through the people, movements, policies, challenges and achievements that defined the Obama presidency, and on to the civic questions of the present and future. The museum relies on artifacts, large-scale and immersive media, storytelling and hands-on interactives in both digital and analog form, presenting democracy as a living practice shaped by ordinary people acting together.
Featured galleries
Power of Words is an 88-foot-tall media canvas combining speech, sound, image, poetry and art to show how language can prompt action and move people toward change. Toward a More Perfect Union, the illuminated and prismatic opening gallery, links the nation's founding ideals and contradictions to the people and movements that have pressed American democracy toward greater justice and inclusion.
The Yes We Can Campaign circular gallery houses a panoramic media installation built around volunteer voices, displayed alongside crowd-sourced campaign objects, placing visitors inside the grassroots movement of 2008. Democracy 101 offers a hands-on civics exhibit that uses accessible interactive experiences to build knowledge, confidence and participation.
Inside the presidency
Panorama of a Presidency is a wide media room that surrounds visitors with a behind-the-scenes view of the activities and locations that make up the daily work of the presidency. At a smaller scale, detailed miniature White House rooms give an intimate view of how the Obamas opened the People's House through traditions, celebrations, performances and public programs. Life in the White House Artifacts brings together fashion, state gifts and sports memorabilia, showing how the Obamas made the residence feel open, personal and reflective of the country's diversity.
Participation, art and access
Imagine Your Impact runs as a recurring interactive thread across every level of the museum and culminates in a shared media experience featuring a large-scale digital art commission, inviting visitors to consider how individual actions combine into collective change. Contemporary artwork is distributed throughout the building: Norman Teague designed custom benches, and commissioned works by Jeffrey Gibson, Jules Julien and María Magdalena Campos-Pons contribute visual expressions of identity and hope.
Inclusive design is treated as foundational. The museum is planned for visitors of all ages and abilities, integrating tactile stations and replicas, captioning, ASL interpretation, audio description, assistive listening, clear wayfinding and interactive opportunities to take part. The exhibits situate the Obamas' journey within a wider American civic narrative rooted in Chicago's South Side, shaped by national and global movements for justice, and carried forward by community organizers, including participants in the Obama Foundation's Global Programs.