On Saturday, September 30, 2006, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) teams up with British artist Joshua Sofaer to create the ultimate art scavenger hunt. SFMOMA Scavengers will see 50 registered teams race from the Museum across the city in search of fame and glory with only eight hours, 100 clues, and the 7-by-7-mile area of San Francisco at their disposal.
Fifty teams will be selected to compete from a pool of applicants. Each team will receive 100 clues on the morning of the hunt that will help them earn points—and, hopefully, prize money. After deciphering the clues, many of which relate to artworks in the SFMOMA collection, the teams must beg, borrow, barter, and bluff their way around the city, scavenging the items required. At the end of the day, teams can expect to have collected a range of strange and wonderful objects. The team that earns the most points wins a $4,000 cash prize.
Sofaer will use the objects collected in the hunt as the basis for a three-day exhibition in SFMOMA’s galleries, beginning Sunday, October 1, and continuing through Tuesday, October 3. The Museum also will host a pair of public programs in conjunction with SFMOMA Scavengers.
Sofaer’s Scavengers project began in 2001 at the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London. Last year he spearheaded a Scavengers event at the Tate Modern in which more than 20 teams raced across London to uncover the clues. A one-day exhibition was on view at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall on July 9, 2005. In 2007 Scavengers moves on to P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, an affiliate of the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
“We are very excited to be the next venue for Scavengers,” states SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “Joshua’s creativity, wit, and admiration for the found object will no doubt make for a fun daylong hunt for the participants, while also producing a clever, artful exhibition for the whole Bay Area to enjoy.”
Team applications will be accepted from August 15 through September 15; participating teams will be announced the week of September 18. Only 50 teams will be selected. Each team must consist of four members age 18 or older. For information about the hunt or to apply, visit www.sfmoma.org/scavengers, e-mail jgranados@sfmoma.org, or call 415.357.4003. The registration fee is $100 per team, payable upon acceptance.
Exhibition
SFMOMA Scavengers
Sunday–Tuesday, October 1–3
Second- and third-floor landings, SFMOMA
Public Programs
SYMPOSIUM
Art Scavengers: A Stanford Symposium on Found Objects
Sunday, October 1, 2–5 p.m.
Koret Visitor Education Center
$10 general; $8 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors
In 1917, Marcel Duchamp shocked the art world with an overturned urinal entitled Fountain. In 2001, Found magazine was launched, inspired by a note left mistakenly on Davy Rothbart’s windshield: “I f*****g hate you. PS: Page me later.” Over the course of the 20th century, art found the found object. This symposium will discuss the role of the found object in contemporary art practice, from visual art to music and poetry. Participants include Stanford art critics and practitioners, including Michael Shanks (classics) and Chris Chafe (music). Presented in collaboration with the Stanford Humanities Center.
FREE TUESDAY PROGRAM
SFMOMA Scavengers: An Urban Adventure
Joshua Sofaer, artist
Tuesday, October 3, noon–1 p.m.
Phyllis Wattis Theater
Museum and program admission are free.
On September 30, artist Sofaer and SFMOMA join forces for the ultimate scavenger hunt, sending teams through the streets of San Francisco armed with clues that pertain to the Museum’s collection. Join participants from the daylong event as they reunite with Sofaer to share tales of their adventures and reflect upon the exhibition he created on SFMOMA’s second- and third-floor landings using their eclectic quarry.