David Medalla Survey Coming to Hammer

David Medalla, Psychic Self Defense (C-Print), 1983. Courtesy of David Medalla Archive and another vacant space, Berlin

The Hammer will present the first U.S. retrospective of Filipino poet, sculptor, and activist David Medalla (1938-2020). Medalla is best known for his Cloud Canyons series, morphing phallic sculptures of bubbly foam extruded from plastic tubes. His multifarious practice spanned performances, collaborations, and participatory events.

Medalla was featured in MOCA's "Out of Actions: Between Performance and the Object" (1998). The Hammer exhibition, "David Medalla: In Conversation with the Cosmos," will run June 9 to Sep. 15, 2024. Aram Moshayedi and Nyah Ginright organized.