An exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia juxtaposes the functional yet beautiful designs of the religious sect with contemporary works inspired by its creations.
By Judith H. Dobrzynski
Published April 4, 2026.
A boxy, 11-foot-tall, shingled “2nd Meetinghouse” (2025) opens “A World in the Making: The Shakers” at the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia—appropriately. A meetinghouse stood at the center of every village created by the Shakers, the separatist and celibate Christian religious sect founded in the 18th century that was devoted to communal living and simple, functional design. But this rendition is different. It offers the customary plain benches inside, but other interior features, like an iron stove, sit outside. And Amie Cunat, the artist, painted it not the traditional white, but in shocking Yves Klein blue.
The piece encapsulates “A World in the Making,” a curious mix of old and new. By merging then and now, it plunges visitors into a milieu they may know only through a Shaker bentwood box, and it signals that this exhibition aims to explore the relevance of Shaker ideas today. The meetinghouse was, after all, an inclusive place where, despite gender segregation, Shaker men and women came together (sitting on opposite sides of the room) to worship; and blue, even if jarringly electric, is a holy color to Shakers, a representation of heaven.