THE ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE OF WASHINGTON

William B. Adair

The Golden Doors to Infinity

Installation and Exhibition

May 5, 2025 through May 23, 2025

YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO ATTEND THE OPENING ON MONDAY MAY 5^TH AT 6 PM 

RSVP Required

Get your tickets HERE

The Embassy of Italy

3000 Whitehaven St. NW | Washington, DC 20008

This exhibition is organized in conjunction with 

Govinda Gallery

Washington, DC

The Golden Doors to Infinity is a joyous and explosive amalgamation of the artistic endeavors of William Adair, encompassing his role as an artist, gilder, frame-maker, and historian of crafts. This extraordinary work reimagines abandoned doors as symbolic “entryways” into differing communities and cultures, carrying with them the voices of artists and individuals alike. Collecting discarded doors and covering them with gold leaf, Adair then presents the gilded doors to the public at significant landmarks and historic sites to be written and marked upon by visitors and passersby. These “golden doors to infinity” absorb the thoughts, words, and images of their surrounding communities on an ever-changing surface, overlapping, abrading, and referencing the history and value they are built upon.

Four of Adair’s Golden Doors are tied to historic events related to Italian Liberation from Nazi-Fascism. The Gela Door, The Rome Door, The Volterra Door, and The Door of Reflections have all been exhibited at the American Academy of Rome. Adair, Rome Prize winner in 1991, has a long creative association with Italy.