As protests over police brutality and the death of George Floyd sweep the nation, President Trump’s administration took measures to fortify the White House with a 1.7-mile-long metal mesh fence. The move came as a shock for D.C. locals, who have seen First Amendment protests play out in the public spaces surrounding the White House for well over a century. Almost immediately, demonstrators covered the barricade with homemade signage of slogans such as “Black Lives Matter,” “I Can’t Breathe,” and “Justice for George,” as well as artworks that are commonly associated with the Black Panther Party.

Earlier this week, nine curators from three Smithsonian museums toured the premises to collect art, signage, photographs, and other artifacts mounted by protesters. “It’s critical that we collect so this moment doesn’t get lost,” Aaron Bryant, a curator at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, tells the New York Times. “We talk to people so we don’t forget their stories. History is happening right before us. If we don’t collect this stuff, who knows what happens to it.”

These measures to document events as they unfold, often called “rapid-response collecting,” have become commonplace as museums strive to get a head start on history. Similar steps were taken to document September 11, Superstorm Sandy, and Occupy Wall Street, as well as the coronavirus pandemic. The National Museum of American History, another Smithsonian institution, recently formed a task force to “document the scientific and medical events” pertaining to Covid-19, and the New York Historical Society plans to add several homemade masks to its collection. As for the George Floyd protesters, rapid-response collecting serves as a crucial strategy to ensure that more Black voices will not be lost to history.

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Under normal circumstances, the contract design industry would be descending on The Mart in Chicago for NeoCon, the world’s preeminent trade fair for the latest innovations in commercial furniture. Covid-19 had other plans, however, and this year’s edition was canceled entirely. To help designers stay engaged during this socially distanced time, NeoCon teamed up with the Architecture & Design Film Festival to launch ADFF@NeoConnect, a four-night series that live-streams standout films about those topics.

The series kicks off on Sunday, June 14, with Strange and Familiar: Architecture on Fogo Island, and continues with Mario Botta: The Space Beyond (6/15), SuperDesign: Italian Radical Design 1965–75 (6/16), and Charlotte Perriand, Pioneer in the Art of Living (6/17). Each film streams for $3 (buy tickets here) and will be followed by a Q&A with the directors.

Blu Dot is a Minneapolis-based designer and maker of modern home furnishings. The brand began with three college friends who loved modern furniture, but couldn’t afford what they liked and didn’t like what they could afford. The trio began making furniture, and it so happened that their accessible modern designs spoke to other people facing similar issues.

Surface Says: Blu Dot’s high-quality and accessible furniture is rooted in the sculptural and architectural know-how of its founders. That’s why the brand’s products are at once beautifully designed, practical, and versatile.

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