The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is set to unveil SPIRITS, an ambitious year-long digital artwork by acclaimed artist john gerrard, with a special Summer Solstice celebration on June 21, 2026. Commissioned through LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab, the groundbreaking project will be presented exclusively through LACMA’s homepage from Winter Solstice 2025 through Winter Solstice 2026, marking a significant milestone in both digital art and institutional exhibition practices.
The launch coincides with opening celebrations for LACMA’s new David Geffen Galleries, designed by renowned architect Peter Zumthor. To commemorate the occasion, gerrard will present SPIRITS SUMMER SOLSTICE DANCE, a free public event taking place on the East West Bank Commons, featuring a headline DJ performance from electronic music innovator Richie Hawtin.
The Summer Solstice gathering will also debut Peak Oil, an original psychoacoustic composition created by john gerrard, adding a sonic dimension to a project that explores humanity’s complex relationship with consumption, technology, and the environment.
At its core, SPIRITS serves as a meditation on global dependence on petroleum, plastics, and so-called “forever chemicals.” Through an interactive digital experience, the artwork examines the environmental and cultural consequences of modern consumption while encouraging audiences to reflect on the systems that shape contemporary life.
The project also represents a technological first. SPIRITS is the first institutional artwork to utilize gaussian splatting, an emerging spatial imaging technology that reconstructs objects using dense clouds of digital data points. The result is a uniquely immersive visual experience that exists entirely within a browser environment, challenging traditional notions of exhibition space and audience engagement.
The Summer Solstice launch, subtitled Mediterranean Sea, marks the most significant public presentation of the project and underscores gerrard’s ongoing exploration of technology, ecology, and digital culture. It is also the first time in LACMA’s history that a major solo exhibition has been presented exclusively online through the museum’s homepage.
Reflecting on the project, john gerrard described SPIRITS as an exploration of ancient and modern forms of knowledge intersecting through technology, art, and collective experience.
“SPIRITS begins in techne. The making, doing or crafting in ancient Greek – now assigned to technology and the algorithm,” gerrard explains. “On June 21 we welcome the extraordinary Richie Hawtin. We welcome thousands of dancers. We enter a form of participatory techno dance intersecting with both very old and very new knowledge, ecologies and power.”
The collaboration with Richie Hawtin adds another compelling layer to the project. Widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in electronic music, Hawtin has long explored the relationship between technology and creativity, making him a natural partner for an artwork centered on digital innovation and cultural reflection.
“As a musician, the structure and subtractive nature of my studio works would have never materialized without a deep interest and analysis of the mid-century works of Rothko, Barnett Newman and Donald Judd,” says Hawtin. “For our collaboration at LACMA, John and I will explore the meeting point between sight and sound, rhythm and repetition, and analog versus digital.”
According to Joel Ferree of LACMA’s Art + Technology Lab, the event is designed to bring people together in celebration while encouraging reflection on the interconnected systems that shape both human and environmental experiences.
“Bringing together Richie Hawtin’s pioneering approach to electronic music and john gerrard’s meditation on the world’s oceans, SPIRITS SUMMER SOLSTICE DANCE invites audiences to gather in celebration of the summer solstice, reflecting on the systems and cycles that connect us all.”
Blending cutting-edge technology, environmental commentary, contemporary art, and electronic music culture, SPIRITS stands as one of the most ambitious digital art projects of the year. With LACMA, john gerrard, and Richie Hawtin joining forces for its public debut, the Summer Solstice event promises to be a unique convergence of art, technology, and collective experience in the heart of Los Angeles.