The Martial Spirit explores traditional/diasporic Chinese Kung Fu and Chi Gong training systems from pre-communist China that are present yet hidden in San Francisco. A solo exhibition at the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, this exhibition took the form of four major installations that reframed martial arts training tools as sculptural installations, paring them with a philosophical underpinning to how one practices martial arts and creates visual art. There were four major themes, Nonviolence, Repetition, Transformation and Patience, transposed across four different mediums including copper and sweat, wood, leather, studs, glass and steel, and acrylic and gauche on paper. All works 2016-2017. This project was made possible thanks to the generosity and support of the Chinese Culture Center.

Accompanying the exhibition was a video about Kung Fu and community in San Francisco, funded by the National Endowment for the Art. Hoover worked with Bryan Hewitt and local Kung Fu masters to make this film .