The Field Trip - The Abstraction of Politics and the Politics of Abstraction

Hiding in plain sight in San Francisco Bay, Angel Island has served as a Civil War outpost, an immigration station, a prisoner of war processing center, a Nike missile site, and, currently, a California State Park. How do these rich historical narratives connect to current social debates? Come experience the island like never before during this one-day roving symposium speculating on contemporary politics, artistic abstraction, scientific imaging techniques, and the military’s Cold War-era psychic spying program known as remote viewing.

Created by the Center for Tactical Magic, The Field Trip is a 5 mile walk led by artist Aaron Gach (co-founder of the Center for Tactical Magic), who will be joined by art historians, park interpreters, data analysts, and former military remote viewers for a series of site-specific discussions, presentations, and exercises across the island. These multiple perspectives will blur the lines between seemingly disparate subjects as we explore the ways in which we, as individuals and as a society, represent information through technology, art, and facilitated visionary experiences.

(Don’t miss our Field Trip-inspired film screenings at the Castro Theatre on September 13 and September 15.)