Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation is glowing this season with “Red Metal Dust,” a breathtaking site-specific installation by Native American artist Sky Hopinka, on view in the museum’s Walter and Leonore Annenberg Court through January 18, 2027 — and the best part is that it’s completely free and open to the public.
The installation brings together eleven panels of meditative photographic landscapes layered with shimmering copper sheets, set into the court’s elegant wall niches. The title comes from the Ho-Chunk tribe’s poetic name for copper, honoring the artist’s Ho-Chunk heritage. Hopinka — a 2022 MacArthur Fellow — reflects on American histories and Indigenous homelands, and this is only the second time the Barnes has ever commissioned such an installation for the Annenberg Court.
“Red Metal Dust” is also part of Philadelphia’s yearlong celebration of America’s 250th birthday, making a fall visit to the Barnes feel extra special. Find it at 2025 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, where the museum’s world-famous collection of Renoir, Cézanne, Matisse, and Picasso waits just steps away.
Photo: Barnes Foundation
