Explore museums and exhibitions near UT Austin during the 26th ISOJ

When you’re in town for the 26th International Symposium on Online Journalism (ISOJ), you may have some free time to explore the cultural and artistic treasures located right here near the University of Texas at Austin. This curated guide offers information to help you to dive into our local museums and galleries, which during your stay in Austin will feature exhibits on freedom of expression, the iconic Austin City Limits music series, the history of Texas and more.

Harry Ransom Center at UT Austin | 300 W 21st St, Austin, TX 78712

The Harry Ransom Center is an internationally renowned humanities research center at UT Austin. Its extensive collections and exhibitions – including a Gutenberg Bible – provide unique insight into the creative processes of some of the world’s finest writers and artists.

We’ve highlighted a couple of exhibitions that will be on display during the conference, but click here for a complete list.

• Freedom to Write, Freedom to Read – The Story of PEN: This exhibit follows the evolution of PEN, from a literary club in 1921 to a global advocacy organization for freedom of expression. It highlights figures such as Radclyffe Hall and Salman Rushdie, showcasing PEN’s ongoing fight for writers’ rights worldwide.
• Words and Wonder – Rediscovering Children’s Literature: Explore the imaginative worlds of early 20th-century children’s literature, featuring works from renowned authors and illustrators like “Le Petit Prince” and “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

 

 

Bullock Texas State History Museum | 1800 Congress Ave, Austin, TX 78701

The museum features three floors of galleries, an IMAX theater and the Texas Spirit Theater. We’ve highlighted a couple exhibitions that will be on display during the conference, but click here for a complete list.

• Becoming Texas: This immersive exhibit explores over 16,000 years of Texas history, from the earliest American Indian civilizations to Mexican Independence. With interactive galleries and augmented reality experiences, visitors can delve into the diverse cultures that shaped Texas.
• Austin City Limits Theater: This installation celebrates the iconic Austin City Limits (ACL) music series. It features concert footage and artifacts from the historic Studio 6A set, highlighting performances from legendary musicians like Willie Nelson.

 

Blanton Museum of Art at UT Austin | 200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Austin, TX 78712

The museum is home to more than 21,000 works of art, including American artist Ellsworth Kelly’s “Austin.” We’ve highlighted a couple exhibitions that will be on display during the conference. Click here for a complete list.

• Cao Fei – Whose Utopia: In Cao Fei’s 2006 video “Whose Utopia,” workers at the OSRAM lighting factory in China transform from their routine production roles into performers, expressing individuality through dance and music in the midst of the industrial setting. Through this poetic intervention, Fei challenges the rigid boundaries of factory life, turning it into a space for creativity and personal expression.
• De moda: Fashion, Ceremony, and Symbols of Resilience: This exhibition looks at the intersection of fashion and traditional regalia in Chicano, Latino and Indigenous communities. Drawing from the Gilberto Cárdenas and Dolores Garcia collection, “De moda” examines how style serves as both a political and ceremonial symbol.

 

 

Art Galleries at Black Studies at UT Austin | 201 East 21st St Jester A232, Austin, TX 78712

The Art Galleries at Black Studies is a collecting institution that acquires, preserves and exhibits modern and contemporary art and cultural materials from Africa and the African diaspora.

• Transcendence: A Century of Black Queer Ecstasy 1924–2024: This exhibition showcases 100 years of Black queer artistic expression, exploring the intersection of ecstasy and transcendence through themes of identity, pleasure, pain and resilience.

 

LBJ Presidential Library at UT Austin | 2313 Red River St, Austin, TX 78705

The library and museum of the late U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson houses 45 million pages of historical documents, 650,000 photos and 5,000 hours of recordings from his political career. We’ve highlighted one exhibition that will be on display during the conference, but click here for a complete list.

• Kings of the Road – The Florida Highwaymen: This exhibit explores the story of the Florida Highwaymen, a group of African American artists who sold vibrant landscape paintings directly from their car trunks due to Jim Crow laws. Their innovative, fast-paced painting style allowed them to bypass systemic racial barriers and achieve commercial success.

 

 

Texas Science & Natural History Museum at UT Austin | 2400 Trinity St, Austin, TX 78712

The museum tells the story of life in the natural world in Texas from the formation of our planet, through the age of dinosaurs and onto our current time. We’ve highlighted one exhibition that will be on display during the conference, but click here for a complete list.

• Big Eye on Dark Skies – The Hobby-Eberly Telescope: Discover how astronomers explore the wonders of the universe in a new exhibit featuring a scale model of the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), the largest optical telescope in North America.

 

H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports at UT Austin | 403 Deloss Dodds Wy, Austin, TX 78712

The H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports preserves the history of physical culture and sports and educates the public about the cultural and scientific significance of physical culture and sports. We’ve highlighted one exhibition that will be on display during the conference, but click here for a complete list.

• Strong Men, Strong Women: The golden age of professional strength performers – both men and women – lasted from approximately 1890 to 1930. A few superstars of strength – Quebec’s Louis Cyr; France’s and Louis “Apollon” Uni; America’s Warren Lincoln Travis became wealthy to one degree or another by exhibiting their physical power in this era.