Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles debuts CRADLED on November, 20, 2025. Suzanne Bocanegra and Frances McDormand conceived and curated the exhibition in collaboration with the Shaker Museum in Chatham, New York.

CRADLED Suzanne Bocanegra Frances McDormand

The LA version expands the 2024 presentation staged in upstate New York. It explores Shaker caregiving and communal life through objects, as well as sound, and activations. The exhibition immerses visitors briefly in a world shaped by Shaker devotion and shared labor. Additionally, it highlights caregiving rituals that span life’s beginning and end.

Make Hauser & Wirth presents CRADLED as part of its makers and handmade engagement platform. The show runs Saturdays and Sundays through January 4, 2026. Central works include Shaker cradles, made for infants and adults alike. These cradles offer comfort at the start and at the end of life. From their U.S. arrival in 1774, Shaker communities practiced celibacy and cared for many elders. Consequently, they developed strong traditions of end-of-life care and communal support. Adult-sized cradles remain rare outside Shaker circles. Their simple forms embody compassion, dignity, and communal care.

The exhibition features four historic cradles loaned by Shaker museums across the United States. Each cradle pairs with a tableau of rocking chairs and woven baskets containing mending projects. Visitors may join in literal and metaphorical mending. Furthermore, the act of repair reflects core Shaker values: sit, repair, and create.

Photo of Frances McDormand and Suzanne Bocanegra from the CRADLED installation in Kinderhook, NY 2024 © Kristen Tomkowid

Composer David Lang worked with Skip Lievsay and Paul Umstrom on a lullaby for the exhibition. Lang adapted text from a Shaker spiritual to create his “last lullaby,” which plays throughout the show. At the opening, Bocanegra and McDormand will gently rock a reproduced adult cradle during a special activation. Singers from the Angeles Chorale will perform Lang’s lullaby that evening. Additionally Manuela LA collaborates to serve Shaker Lemon Pie at the opening. Pies will also remain available for purchase during the exhibition run.

Artists’ statement from Frances McDormand and Suzanne Bocanegra:

‘To be cradled, held, supported by one’s community.
From birth to grave.
WITH RESPECT AND CARE.
To be mended by an exchange of trust, loyalty and compassion.
To be honored for one’s contribution to the whole and to believe one is contributing to the sustenance of the future.
The contemplation of these thoughts and possibilities is what we hope to offer you in this space.
TAKE YOUR TIME.

What: CRADLED
Where: Hauser Wirth, 901-909 E 3rd St, LA, 90013
When: November 20, 2025, 6-9pm
Website: https://www.hauserwirth.com