Developed in dialogue with curators Alice Cavender and Cédric Fauq, Ben Thorp Brown (2016 Creative Capital Awardee) presents a body of new work created over the past year during their tenure as guest artist for the exhibition Pollen. Approaching the museum’s collection as a garden—one that requires attention, care, and ongoing cultivation—the exhibition includes works in sculpture, photography, and video across ten rooms of the permanent collection, reconfiguring its narrative and its ecosystem. Based on these reflections, Pollen presents a selection of works from the collection that both reflects the source of inspiration that nature represents for artists and, above all, offers a critical account of our relationship with it. Extractivism, toxicity, and the circulation of goods are among the subjects addressed by the exhibition in forms as diverse as video, sculpture, painting, and installation.

Pollen specifically showcases a number of recent acquisitions from the collection, including works by Chiara Camoni, Olivia Erlanger, Roy Kohnke, Kapwani Kiwanga, Nina Beier, Sébastien Vonier, Samara Scott, Julien Creuzet, Gina Pane, and Lubaina Himid. In addition to works from the collection, Pollen will also feature the work of artists who have had a brief encounter with the CAPC. Four artists will be the subject of a “”display within the display”” over the two years of the exhibition. Works by each artist will be shown for six months at a time, rotating between them, to create a cross-section of the collection’s works.