A famous domino artist wants to break a record at the National Building Museum

At the National Building Museum, a team of construction workers stacks dominoes into a 33-foot-tall tower. The person behind this elaborate, colorful column is Lily Hevesh, known as Hevesh5 on her popular YouTube channel. Hevesh is a major artist of “domino art” and, as part of her two-week residency at the DC museum, is attempting to beat the world record for the tallest domino structure, which currently stands at 33 feet. “The museum is absolutely beautiful and it’s really not often that I get the opportunity to build in a place with such high ceilings and such an open space,” Hevesh says.. “This is one of the few places where we can really break that record.”

A New Hampshire native, Hevesh became interested in dominoes after receiving a 28-piece set from her grandparents at age 9. “I loved watching them fall,” she says. “It was just so satisfying.” I like that you can put them in any structure and they always have one purpose: to fall over.” Curious, she searched YouTube for “dominoes” and discovered a whole community of domino enthusiasts sharing tricks. She soon began posting her own domino clips on the site, moving from simple arrangements to huge, kinetic ones. Her channel now features intricate displays (like spirals made of 15,000 dominoes and photorealistic portraits of Taylor Swift) that have amassed over a billion views and earned her 4 million subscribers. Her work has landed her a collaboration with The Tonight Showa place on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list and a documentary called Lily brings the world crashing down.

National Building Museum President Aileen Fuchs decided to host Hevesh as artist in residence after receiving a tip from a trusted source: “Her kids are huge domino fans,” Hevesh says. “And the museum seemed like a perfect fit for me. It focuses on architecture, design and engineering, and that’s all we do with domino art.”

Her grand finale at the museum will take place on Saturday, July 20, when she will topple a sequence of more than 100,000 dominoes in the museum’s West Courtyard, which is expected to take about 8 minutes. “When we were planning the toppling, I just wanted to make the whole thing look as artistically beautiful as possible and use the coolest effects we could think of to show the beauty of the art of dominoes,” says Hevesh. “For example, in one area we have a huge falling wall – which looks like a big wooden board full of steps – in the shape of the Mona Lisa.”

While she constructs gravity-defying structures, Hevesh also finds time to mentor young builders in sold-out workshop series. “It’s always a great experience working with kids because I think dominoes give them a real opportunity to get away from their computers or iPads and work with their hands,” she says. In her experience, domino arrangements can subtly teach kids some hard skills like geometry and physics while also giving them intangible life lessons: “I’ve seen kids become more patient through building with dominoes. Over time, they learn that if a domino structure unexpectedly falls over or doesn’t turn out right, it’s part of the process. They pick up the dominoes and try again.”

Destination Domino runs from July 11 to 20 at the National Building Museum. The program includes hands-on domino activities for children and daily demonstrations by Lily brings the world crashing down. Hevesh’s live domino toppling was initially sold out, but the museum has some additional free ticketsVideos of the fall are posted on Hevesh’s channel after the event.