This exhibition is the first in-depth survey of Carl Cheng’s prescient, genre-defying work from the 1960s to the present that will transform both floors of the ICA. Cheng began his career in the experimental context of the Southern California art scene and the post-war aerospace industry, resulting in artworks that operate at the intersection of identity, technology, and ecology. Over the last six decades he has worked in a variety of media to reflect on environmental change, the relevance of art institutions to their publics, and the role of technology in society. Because the majority of Cheng’s oeuvre is still in his possession, the exhibition will be an exciting and rare opportunity to animate the arc of his career through a presentation of artworks that are multidisciplinary, ephemeral, material, process-based, and dynamic. The exhibition will also be presented at The Contemporary Austin – Jones Center (September – December 2024), Bonnefanten (May – September 2025), and Museum Tinguely (December 2025 – May 2026).
Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses is curated by Alex Klein, Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs, The Contemporary Austin, with assistance from Rachel Eboh, Curatorial Assistant, The Contemporary Austin. The exhibition is organized for ICA by Denise Ryner, Andrea B. Laporte Curator.
Support
Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses is organized by The Contemporary Austin, Texas, in partnership with the Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; Bonnefanten, Maastricht; Museum Tinguely, Basel; and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.
Major support for Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, also by the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and Teiger Foundation, with sustainability efforts guided by Rute Collaborative as part of Teiger Foundation’s Climate Action Pilot. Additional support has been provided by Nancy & Leonard Amoroso, Barbara & Theodore Aronson, Dorothy & Martin Bandier, Carol & John Finley, Cheri & Steven Friedman, Marjorie & Michael Levine, Bryan & Meredith Verona, and Caroline & Daniel Werther.
Special thanks to Philip Martin Gallery, Los Angeles; Art + Technology Lab, LACMA, Los Angeles; REDCAT, Los Angeles; curatorial fellows Emily Leifer and Pelle Tracey; and studio assistants Maya Buffett-Davis and Markele Cullins.
