TRAVELING EXHIBITION
TWO MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT AND THE ARCHITECTURE OF ARMAGEDDON (2021 - 2026)

From 2021 through March 2026, the traveling exhibition of Two to Minutes to Midnight and the Architecture of Armageddon traveled to various venues throughout the United States. The exhibition was organized by ExhibitsUSA, the traveling program of Mid-America Arts Alliance and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Installation Images:

Through two photographic essays, photographers Jeanine Michna-Bales and Adam Reynolds offer a calculated look at the “Architecture of Armageddon,” both the offensive and defensive implications of nuclear war. These quiet architectural spaces, devoid of people, allow viewers to come face to face with present nuclear realities while also offering a look into the collective psyche of the American people during the Cold War.

Reynolds’s project, No Lone Zone, documents the offensive side of the Cold War through nuclear missile silos in the United States. It provides a contemplated look at the nuts and bolts of Mutually Assured Destruction, the MAD logic behind nuclear deterrence. While Michna-Bales’s project, Fallout: A Look Back at the Height of the Cold War in America, circa 1960, delivers typological documentation of the defensive side through various shelters and propaganda across the United States, both private and public. These fallout shelters, endorsed through Civil Defense programs, in reality offered little more than a government sponsored placebo to the American people, convincing them that something tangible was being done in the event of a nuclear holocaust.

PREVIOUS VENUES:

Farmington Museum
Farmington, NM
Jan. 28, 2026 - Mar. 16, 2026
Soldiers Memorial | Missouri Historical Society
St. Louis, MO
Nov. 11, 2025 - Jan. 4, 2026
Western Heritage Museum
Hobbs, NM
Sept. 1 - Oct. 20, 2025
Park City Museum
Park City, UT
Jun. 16 - Aug. 11, 2025
Converse Library at Glenrock
Glen Rock, WY
Jan. 28, 2025 - Mar. 16, 2025
MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History
Little Rock, AR
Sept. 13, 2024 - Jan. 5, 2025
A.W. Perry Homestead Museum
Carrollton, TX
Jun. 16 - Aug. 11, 2024
National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force
Pooler, GA
Jan. 29 - Mar. 15, 2024
Louisiana Old State Capitol
Baton Rouge, LA
Sept. 1 - Oct. 20, 2023
The Museum of Science & History
Memphis, TN
Apr. 6 - May 24, 2023
The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
Albuquerque, NM
Nov. 10, 2022 - Jan. 7, 2023
Irving Museum and Archives
Irving, TX
Sept. 1, 2021 - Jan. 7, 2022
Texas Tech University
Lubbock, TX
Jun. 16 - Aug. 11, 2021
Temple Railroad & Heritage Museum
Temple, TX
Apr. 6 - May 25, 2021