You have until September 7 to visit the National Building Museum’s all-white ballpit exhibition, “The Beach.” If you don’t make it over there in time, don’t fret. You’ll soon have the chance to see some of its plastic balls elsewhere–only they’ll be part of a completely new project.
On Wednesday, the Building Museum announced a partnership with Dupont Underground, the arts organization that’s transforming an abandoned trolley station beneath Dupont Circle into a cultural destination. Dupont Underground plans to re-use materials from “The Beach”–including more than 650,000 plastic balls and 6,000 square feet of construction mesh–for a design competition that’s slated to be announced in the fall. Though the precise timeline is still being worked out, they hope to have the installation open for public viewing by early 2016.
“It’s nice to work with a local arts organization and see new things come out of the same material,” says Brett Rodgers, vice-president for marketing and communications at the museum. “[Dupont Underground] really sees this as being a new competition, without the same ideas and design of ‘the Beach.'”
The materials left behind at the museum will be re-used, donated, or recycled.
Dupont Underground and the Building Museum will start packing the balls and mesh after the exhibition closes. Volunteers will be invited to tag along and help transport the materials over to Dupont Circle.
