Other group exhibitions curated by Bloemink include “Design ≠Art: Functional Sculpture from Donald Judd to Rachel Whiteread” co-curated with Joseph Cunningham for the Smithsonian National Design Museum, New York City, in 2004. The exhibit explored the crossover between function, design, and art. Presenting works by varied artists, the minimalist approach of unadorned pieces, allowed viewers to determine if each work was merely functional, like a piece of furniture, or sculpture, for ornamentation. “Fashion in Colors”, was organized by Bloemink for the Smithsonian National Design Museum in 2006. It explored how color and its underlying meaning in different time periods was reflected in the fashions of varying eras. For example, in the seventeenth century, black denoted conservatism and respectability, whereas from the 1960s, it came to represent subcultural rebellion, such as in the dress of beatniks, punks, and goths. Each room of the exhibit focused on a different color with clothing in the same color providing social meaning. The 2006 exhibition, “Frederic Church, Winslow Homer, and Thomas Moran: Tourism and the American Landscape” was hosted by the Smithsonian National Design Museum. Bloemink’s curation explored the impact of the artists in shaping the American identity how Americans and tourists saw the country. Though Church, Homer, and Moran were known for beautiful landscapes and character studies, each of them had images used in advertising, to illustrate newspaper and magazine articles, and for stereoscopes, solidifying American values and marketing them to a wider audience. “The State of Things: International Design Triennial”, was the inaugural exhibition of the Contemporary Design Museum, Holon, Israel. Opening in 2010, the exhibit, held in a new facility designed by Ron Arad and curated by Bloemink, looked at design showcasing current technology as it impacts humans in a world in which many experience helplessness, greed, loneliness, and war.
