Paul McCarthy
Paul McCarthy’s Chocolate Factory
20 November—26 December 2026
Los Angeles’ Performance Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA, USA
This November, ahead of its January 2027 opening, the Performance Art Museum (PAM) presents Paul McCarthy’s Chocolate Factory, bringing the artist’s continually evolving project to Los Angeles for the first time. Presented as a special limited-engagement benefit for the museum, the work transforms PAM’s industrial warehouse in Chinatown into a functioning chocolate factory where performance, sculpture, manufacturing, and commerce converge.
During public hours, outfitted workers will cast approximately 400 of McCarthy’s recurring Santa with Tree Plug and Tree Plug sculptures in chocolate each day. As the chocolates multiply, they will accumulate throughout the Performance Art Museum’s exhibition space, creating an installation that evolves over the course of the engagement.
Alongside the live production, a separate limited edition of 2,000 chocolate works produced in Los Angeles by andSons Chocolatiers will be available for purchase in person and online. Proceeds will benefit PAM as it prepares to open in January.