Jones Falls 2076

Jones Falls 2076 is an exhibition imagining radically different futures for Baltimore’s Jones Falls in the year 2076. The show considers how the river might be unburied, restored, reconnected, and recentered as an ecological, social, and civic force in the city. It responds to the river’s long history as a foundation of Baltimore’s industrial growth, as well as its decades of concealment beneath I-83 and the elevated highway’s projected end of life.

The exhibition features 14 newly commissioned speculative works by artists, designers, writers, and community members. These works explore relationships among the river, its human and nonhuman neighbors, and future generations. The presentation also includes historical plans and depictions of the Jones Falls dating from the 1800s to the present, covering efforts to tame, bury, and divert the waterway as well as more recent proposals to daylight and reclaim it. Visitors can participate through prompts, design activities, and spaces for contributing their own visions of the river’s future.

When: October 15–November 22, 2026

Venue: The Peale, 3rd Floor Galleries

Tickets: Price not available

Exhibition Focus: Alternative futures for Baltimore’s Jones Falls, including the possibility of removing or overcoming the infrastructure that covers the river and restoring it as a central part of civic and ecological life.

Featured Artists and Contributors: Katryna Carter, Alyssa Dennis, Kondwani Fidel, Curry J. Hackett, Eric Johnson, Andrew Paul Keiper, Julie Shapiro, Mahan Rykiel Associates, Ashley Minner Jones, Xena Ni, Hugh Pocock, Lia Purpura, Unknown Studio, Nicholas Wisniewski, Merrell Hambleton, and Ziger|Snead Architects.

Visitor Participation: The exhibition includes prompts and participatory design spaces where visitors can share unexpected, dream-like, and practical ideas for the future of the Jones Falls.

Opening Reception: October 15, 2026, from 5–7 PM.

Artist Roundtable: October 22, 2026, from 5–6:30 PM. The conversation includes artists, designers, and writers involved in the exhibition, with reflections and readings by Kondwani Fidel, Ashley Minner Jones, and Lia Purpura.

Additional Programming: The exhibition’s related programming includes “Stories of Rivers Reclaimed,” featuring case studies of cities that decommissioned highways and restored buried waterways; “Future Directions for the Jones Falls,” focused on the civic and planning steps that could support highway removal and river restoration in Baltimore; a Community Design Charette on concepts for a restored river; and “Designing with/for Nonhuman Species,” addressing how designers, ecologists, and environmentalists might imagine a more multispecies future.

Curators: Bruce Willen, with Anand Pandian and Lee Davis.

Project Background: Jones Falls 2076 is the second exhibition produced by the Jones Falls 2076 project, following *Confluence* at AREA 405. It culminates a year of project activities, including River Reimagining Workshops, and is organized as a project of the Ecological Design Collective.