Tara Donovan: Stratagems | January 17 - July 31, 2026

Tara Donovan’s practice is defined by a rigorous engagement with systems of accumulation and transformation. Working with ubiquitous, mass-produced materials—plastic cups, rubber bands, paper plates, and other everyday objects—she subjects them to processes of repetition and aggregation that fundamentally alter our perception of them.

In her most recent body of work, Stratagems, Donovan extends this investigation into a direct dialogue with architecture and the built environment. Constructed entirely from many thousands of recycled CDs, these vertically oriented sculptures function as responsive surfaces, registering subtle shifts in light, atmosphere, and perspective. As daylight changes and weather patterns move across the city, the works continually visually reconfigure our perception of them.

Installed within the glass Annex gallery at Transamerica Pyramid Center, Stratagems enters into an especially resonant exchange with its surroundings. The sculptures mirror the vertical ambition and reflective skin of the skyscraper itself, transforming the gallery into a site where material, architecture, and urban scale converge.

In this way, Transamerica Pyramid Center is not simply a backdrop, but a critical partner in the exhibition of the work — an alignment that exemplifies ICA SF’s nomadic model and its capacity to situate contemporary art in contexts that expand how we experience both art and our city.

Lily Kwong: Earthseen Dome | January 17 - July 31, 2026

Lily Kwong’s practice is deeply inspired by the landscapes of the Bay Area, where she grew up among the redwood forests of Northern California. Long before her work took form as large-scale installations, Kwong’s creative language was informed by the rhythms and materials of the natural world, an influence that continues to guide her approach as an ecological artist today.

This project marks Kwong’s first installation in the Bay Area and her most ambitious work to date. Installed in Transamerica’s Redwood Park, EARTHSEED DOME is conceived as a living, site-responsive structure. The work draws together ancestral earth-building practices and pioneering new technologies, exemplifying ICA SF’s capacity to support artists as they push their practice through partnerships and new modes of production.

With 3D Printing Technology and Fabrication developed in collaboration with Atelio and WASP, EARTHSEED DOME is constructed using new robotic arm technology to 3D-print seed-impregnated living soil. During San Francisco Art Week, visitors can watch fabrication begin through the windows of an adjacent unused retail space, as the dome slowly emerges brick by brick over the course of several weeks out in the central site in the park. This visible process foregrounds making, linking advanced fabrication to deeply human ways of working with earth.

Set within Transamerica Redwood Park, a jewel-box oasis in the heart of downtown San Francisco, the completed structure will continue to evolve over time. As spring and summer unfold, embedded seeds will bloom, transforming the sculpture into a seed dispersal hub that extends beyond the park itself. Visitors are invited to act as pollinators, carrying this living system outward and returning to the site as growth, seasonality, and collective stewardship reshape both the artwork and the city around it.

Images:

SFAW Kickoff Party, 2025. Photo: Drew Altizer Photography.

"EARTHSEED DOME" rendering, October 2025. © Lily Kwong, in collaboration with Atelio.

"Stratagems" (installation view), 2024. CDs, concrete, stainless steel. © Tara Donovan. Courtesy Pace Gallery. Photographer: Melissa Goodwin.