LOS ANGELES, CA.- The Hammer Museum at UCLA announced today the 27 artists participating in the upcoming edition of its acclaimed Made in L.A. biennial, opening this fall. This is the seventh iteration of the Hammer’s biennial, highlighting the practices of artists working throughout the greater Los Angeles area. Organized by curators Essence Harden and Paulina Pobocha, the exhibition is on view October 5, 2025 – January 4, 2026.

Hammer Museum director Zoë Ryan said, “Every two years, the Made in L.A. biennial offers a chance for local and international audiences to celebrate the incredible work being made by artists in this city. Los Angeles is still grappling with the terrible fires of the last few weeks but, as we look ahead to the fall, I hope this biennial can demonstrate the resilience of artists and this city.”

In a joint statement, curators Harden and Pobocha said, “From the outset of this process, our primary objective was to look at art, and to see as much of it as possible. We wanted to learn from artists and distill an exhibition from those experiences. While there are as many ideas circulating through the show as there are materials, an inquiry into one’s relationship to the city of Los Angeles animates much of the work we will present. Neither myth nor monolith, this city is many things to many people, and its cacophonous disorder is, perhaps, its most distinguishing feature.”

Harden and Pobocha have spent the past year visiting studios, artist-run venues, commercial galleries, and museums across Los Angeles County. Their final selection comprises a multigenerational group of artists making work across media, including painting, sculpture, video, installation, music, and performance. Painters Greg Breda, Ali Eyal, Hanna Hur, Beaux Mendes, Patrick Martinez, and others will show work that expertly deploys the medium to expand the parameters of genre—whether history painting or geometric abstraction—sometimes beyond recognition. Carl Cheng and Pat O’Neill, both of whom have been working in L.A. for more than sixty years, will be represented by their lesser-known works that underscore their innovative explorations of sculptural material. The exhibition will also include a presentation by John Knight, continuing his decades-long interrogation of the built environment as an ideological space. Architecture and domesticity are central actors in the practices of both Jerald Cooper and Michael Donte (Black House Radio), who look at its potential to create community—past and present. Artists Widline Cadet, Na Mira, and Mike Stoltz will present experimental film and video that engage spatial as well as optical registers. Playwright and filmmaker Leilah Weinraub will premiere a stage play produced for the exhibition, in collaboration with New Theater Hollywood (Max Pitegoff and Calla Henkel). Choreographer Will Rawls, whose beautiful compositions belie the tensions undergirding contemporary life, will prepare a new work that reflects upon the tumult experienced across the city during the past year.