Julian Charrière's "Deep End" Exhibition Opens at MOCA
News related to:The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) · 3 min read
LOS ANGELES, Oct. 5, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles is set to present a groundbreaking exhibition by French-Swiss artist Julian Charrière, titled "Deep End," from November 15, 2026, to June 6, 2027. This exhibition is part of the inaugural Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize, which aims to support artists addressing critical intersections in art, architecture, design, climate, conservation, sustainability, and environmental justice.
"Deep End" is a comprehensive exploration of the natural world, spanning over a decade of Charrière's work. The exhibition features a range of media, including photography, sculpture, films, and newly commissioned immersive installations. It delves into the aesthetic and political dimensions of the natural world, considering how geological time, human history, and reparative futures interrelate. Charrière's work has taken him across the globe, engaging with sites where natural forces and human actions converge, highlighting the realities of rapid industrialization, extraction, and pollution.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is the new commission "Hope Line" (2026), which features a live stream of a coral reef near Port Antonio, Jamaica, strongly affected by the 2023 El Niño bleaching event. This meditative installation allows visitors to witness and listen to one of the most important and biodiverse habitat types on the planet. Visitors can also emit their own voices into the reef, creating a unique and interactive experience. This project is a collaboration with the Alligator Head Foundation and DeepSea, an underwater technology partner.
In addition to "Hope Line," the exhibition includes "Midnight Zone" (2024/2025), a film and installation that plunges viewers downward into the waters of the Pacific Ocean directly above the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture. A Fresnel lighthouse lens, traditionally used to aid navigation on the ocean's surface, descends slowly into the sea, guiding viewers into the so-called "midnight zone," which, while too deep for the rays of the sun to penetrate, is richly populated by fish, sharks, and countless other marine animals.
Julian Charrière's multidisciplinary practice has been the subject of solo presentations at major international institutions, including the Museum of Old and New Art, Tasmania (2026); Museo Correr, Venice (2026); Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg (2026); Museum Tinguely, Basel (2025); Museo de Historia Natural y Cultura Ambiental, Mexico City (2025); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2024); LagoAlgo, Mexico City (2024); SFMOMA, San Francisco (2022); Langen Foundation, Neuss (2022); Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas (2021); MAMbo, Bologna (2019); Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2018); Parasol Unit Foundation, London (2015); and MCBA, Lausanne (2014). He has also been prominently featured at the 59th Biennale di Venezia (2022); 57th Biennale di Venezia (2017); the Antarctic Biennale (2017); the Taipei Biennial (2018); the 12th and 16th Biennale de Lyon (2013, 2022); Centre Pompidou, Paris (2019, 2021); Sprengel Museum, Hannover (2019); Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Aarhus (2019); and the 12th Biennale de Lyon (2013).
The exhibition will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue published by MOCA in Spring 2027. The catalogue will feature the artist's images and research related to the new commission "Hope Line," an essay by MOCA Assistant Curator Paula Kroll, and a conversation between Charrière and Kroll. It will also include an essay by Elizabeth DeLoughrey, Professor in the English Department and the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA.
The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize is a juried prize that supports artists whose practices address critical intersections in art, architecture, design, climate, conservation, sustainability, and environmental justice. Funded by philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the prize will be awarded every two years, from 2024 to 2030. Winners receive a $100,000 unrestricted honorarium and additional resources from MOCA to develop and present new work that promotes ecological well-being and environmental justice.