Image: Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles will present ‘Carl Cheng: Nature Never Loses’ from September 26, 2026, through February 28, 2027, bringing the artist’s first in-depth survey to the city where he has lived and worked for most of his career. Organized by The Contemporary Austin, the exhibition will be the final stop on an international tour and will include approximately 50 artworks alongside archival materials.
The survey examines Cheng’s sustained engagement with environmental change, technological systems, ecology, and humanity’s attempts to shape and control the natural world. The presentation will include rarely exhibited works and archival ephemera, as well as a comprehensive catalogue published by JRP | Editions. ICA LA will also commission a new work extending Cheng’s longstanding interest in water as both a sculptural and conceptual material.
Born in San Francisco in 1942, Cheng lives and works in Santa Monica. He began his career in the 1960s, amid political unrest, artistic experimentation, and the expansion of the aerospace industry. According to ICA LA, his ephemeral and process-based works connect artificial and natural systems, contributing to the histories of post-minimalism, systems art, environmental art, and social practice.
Cheng’s practice repeatedly questions nature’s agency and the extractive effects of human activity. The exhibition’s title comes from the artist’s frequent declaration that, in the relationship between humanity and nature, “nature never loses.” At the same time, the presentation emphasizes Cheng’s interest in imagining alternative tools and creative approaches to human-made environmental problems.
The Los Angeles presentation also recalls the institution’s history: ICA LA notes that work by Cheng was included in his 1998 exhibition at the Santa Monica Museum of Art. The survey has previously been presented at The Contemporary Austin, the Institute of Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Bonnefanten in Maastricht, and Museum Tinguely in Basel. Alex Klein, Deborah Dupré Head Curator and Director of Curatorial Affairs at The Contemporary Austin, curated the exhibition with assistance from Rachel Eboh; ICA LA’s presentation is organized by Senior Curator Amanda Sroka with Emilia Shaffer-Del Valle.
A related presentation, ‘Carl Cheng’s Art Tool: Rake (1979–2025) and Human Landscape (2027)’, will be shown at Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica from February 18 through March 14, 2027. Organized by Los Angeles Nomadic Division, it will overlap with the final days of the ICA LA survey.
