A new exhibition at Philadelphia's Institute of Contemporary Art, titled “The Shakers: A World in the Making,” brings historic Shaker objects into dialogue with contemporary art, including newly commissioned works. The show, a collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, Milwaukee Art Museum, and Shaker Museum, coincides with the release of the film *The Testament of Ann Lee* and focuses on Shaker values such as craft, patience, and care rather than their more controversial principles like celibacy and gender segregation. Featured artists include Amie Cunat, who created a contemplative cardboard meetinghouse, and Christien Meindertsma, who uses Shaker basket-making techniques for willow burial vessels.
The exhibition matters because it recontextualizes the Shakers' legacy within contemporary art and design, highlighting their influence on modernism while also addressing their complex history, including their reliance on Indigenous knowledge and their racial discrimination. By emphasizing the Shakers' embeddedness in place and their commercial practices, the show challenges the simplistic utopian label often applied to them. It also underscores the ongoing relevance of their values—craft, patience, and care—in a fast-paced contemporary world, while acknowledging the movement's problematic aspects through works that engage with local heritage and Black Shaker communities.