The Living World Feels Dead at the Hammer
A review of the Hammer Museum exhibition Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials describes the show as immersive in moments but ultimately overly cautious. The critic highlights Raven Chacon’s sound work Study for Vertical Earth (2026), which uses underground audio recordings to create vibrations that animate a gallery containing eight boulders and piles of soil, setting an unsettling tone. Wall text and signage emphasize the exhibition’s theme of “living materials” and the presence of not-always-visible spirits within the environment. The review argues that, despite these ideas, many works function as standalone sculptures and paintings and the exhibition does not fully cohere or “combust” as strongly as it could.
From This Briefing
This story was covered in Museum Shakeups, Auction Fever, and Digital Deluges