From the streets of Havana to the dance floors of New York and beyond, ¡Puro Ritmo! The Musical Journey of Salsa traces how Afro-Cuban rhythms evolved into one of America's defining musical traditions. This bilingual exhibition brings together nearly 300 objects and features iconic artists — from Tito Puente and Celia Cruz to local legends and hidden pioneers — in an immersive celebration of salsa's music, movement, and culture.

A Second Chapter for the Molina Family Latino Gallery: ¡Puro Ritmo! is the second exhibition designed by ME for the Smithsonian's Molina Family Latino Gallery, following ¡Presente! A Latino History of the United States. Our charge was to make it feel distinctly different from its predecessor, and we achieved that through art direction grounded in research into salsa's aesthetics from the 1970s and earlier, paired with a new lighting approach that shifts the tone of the experience to something more fitting for a vibrant, music-driven exhibit.

Reuse as a Design Strategy: ¡Puro Ritmo! also proved the long-term value of investing in generous case space for the first exhibition. Because ¡Presente! was designed with that foresight, we were able to reuse the same case infrastructure here rather than building new cases — and reused roughly 75% of all exhibit furniture from the original installation. Sustainability is a genuine challenge in exhibit design, and our approach favors reuse as the most effective way to minimize ecological impact — this project put that philosophy into practice at scale, saving cost while reducing its footprint.

Co-Creation with Illustrator Carlos Acosta: In keeping with our continued commitment to co-creating exhibits with artists and communities, we brought on renowned Puerto Rican illustrator Carlos Acosta, who created large illuminated murals for the nook of each thematic section, along with the portrait illustrations featured on the reader rail at the base of every case.