Cross-Pollination

September 18, 2026 - February 28, 2027 Admission

Presented at the Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, Cross-Pollination brings together works from the museum’s permanent collection with significant loans by invited contemporary artists to explore the interconnected relationships that shape the natural world. Across generations, media, and artistic perspectives, the exhibition considers nature not as a static subject, but as a dynamic network of exchange in which every encounter has the potential to transform what follows.

The phenomenon of cross-pollination offers both a biological process and a curatorial framework. As butterflies, bees, birds, and wind carry pollen between plants, they sustain biodiversity through movement and connection. Likewise, the works assembled in this exhibition generate new meaning through proximity. Historical works from the Daum Museum’s collection enter into conversation with contemporary practices, creating moments of resonance that extend beyond chronology and reveal the collection as an evolving body of ideas.

Working across painting, photography, sculpture, textiles, and installation, the artists engage recurring themes of growth, migration, adaptation, fragility, and resilience. Plants and pollinators appear throughout the exhibition as enduring symbols of interdependence, reminding us that life flourishes through relationships rather than isolation. These ecological systems become a lens through which to consider artistic influence, cultural memory, and the continual exchange between past and present.

Cross-Pollination invites visitors to experience the museum as an ecosystem where works of art, like living organisms, exist within a web of connections that expands with every new encounter. The temporary presence of invited artists does not stand apart from the permanent collection, but activates it, allowing ideas to circulate across time and media. Together, these works reflect the vitality of nature itself, demonstrating that renewal emerges through diversity, dialogue, and the continual movement of ideas.