Time and Material Feel Alive in the Hammer’s “Several Eternities in a Day” Exhibition
ARTnews reviews “Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials,” an exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on view through August 23, featuring 18 contemporary artists—many Indigenous and Latinx—alongside four historic artists. The show includes Raven Chacon’s sound work Study for Vertical Earth (2026), which amplifies sub-audible frequencies from beneath the earth, and Edgar Calel’s soil-and-stone installation Ch’ablin nu rayb’el Chua taj ab’ej (2026) incorporating offerings such as oxidized blood and eucalyptus stems. Curated by Pablo José Ramírez, the exhibition takes its title from Nicanor Parra’s poem “Chronos” and emphasizes non-linear experiences of time through materials that change and decay. Works discussed include Carlos Mérida’s Presencia del Ausente (1944) and Carmen Argote’s an archetype of stillness (2026) and an archetype of touch (2026), large sheets treated with cochineal and lemon juice and marked with decomposing avocado pulp.
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