Group Exhibition at Hammer Museum Explores Living Materials in Contemporary Art

Twenty-two artists from across the Americas are featured in a group exhibition at the Hammer Museum. The show examines how living materials like avocado, cacao, achiote, cochineal, stone, clay, and natural dyes function in artistic practice. These organic substances evolve, decay, and transform over time. Large-scale installations, paintings, works on paper, and mixed-media sculptures demonstrate this approach. Materials are presented as records of existence and vessels for cosmic memory. Their use connects to spiritual traditions and ancestral knowledge from Brown and Indigenous communities. The exhibition opened on October 16, 2025. It investigates the unpredictable behaviors inherent in working with non-static matter.