Mark di Suvero; photo: courtesy the artist and Spacetime C.C.; © Anne Leigniel
Expanding its role as a cultural producer and a catalyst for creativity, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) launches a new programming series Live Projects that will take place at diverse locations throughout the Bay Area while the museum’s building is undergoing expansion construction. As part of SFMOMA’s On the Go programs, the bimonthly series will offer an intensive immersion in the art and ideas of contemporary artists featured in the museum’s off-site exhibitions during this period. Through talks, screenings, performances, new artist commissions, workshops, education activities, family programs, and more, Live Projects will delve into how the work of selected artists opens new and alternative perspectives on who we are and where and how we live. Kicking off this fall, Live Projects will be presented in conjunction with the SFMOMA exhibitions Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field (September 2013) and 2012 SECA Art Award: Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, David Wilson (November 2013).
Inaugurating the museum’s new partnership with SFJAZZ, each multiday Live Projects series will be anchored by an artist talk at the newly opened SFJAZZ Center. A host of related programs will also take place at venues around the Bay Area—ranging from local theaters to historical sites to public spaces—such as The Castro Theatre in San Francisco, Angel Island, and Frank H. Ogawa Plaza in downtown Oakland.
“In mapping wide-ranging networks of ideas while exploring the cultural and physical geography of the region, the series suggest pathways or journeys,” notes Dominic Willsdon, Leanne and George Roberts Curator of Education and Public Programs. “These projects are a new extension of SFMOMA’s long-held commitment to presenting public programs that are collaborative and responsive to specific occasions and sites.”
Throughout the museum’s off-site period from the summer of 2013 to early 2016, SFMOMA is experimenting with new ideas, engaging in dialogue with a range of cultural partners, and creating fresh ways for audiences to experience the museum’s collection and programming. “Live Projects provides an occasion for SFMOMA’s friends and family to get together while our building is closed for construction,” says Frank Smigiel, associate curator of public programs. “We’re planting the SFMOMA flag in different locations and inviting our communities to gather.”
Live Projects brings together all areas of the museum’s educational programming, including school and family activities. As part of the series, SFMOMA will present classroom projects as well as programs for teachers and educators designed by artists. The museum’s Family Programs team will be on the go hosting special family events inspired by off-site exhibitions and will also travel to local festivals and street fairs throughout this time. “We are excited to be working so closely with living artists to bring their artistic practice to audiences of all ages—from schoolchildren and their teachers to families,” adds Julie Charles, Deborah and Kenneth Novack Associate Curator of Education.
Over the next two years, the museum will present ten Live Projects installments in total. The first year of the series will examine public art and public life, exploring how artistic interventions and everyday life can converge and mobilize towns, cities, and common spaces. Featured artists include Mark di Suvero (September 2013); 2012 SECA Art Award recipients Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, David Wilson (November 2013); artists in Project Los Altos: SFMOMA in Silicon Valley (January 2014); South African artists from Public Intimacy: Art and Social Life in South Africa (March 2014); and SFMOMA expansion architects Snøhetta (May 2014).
LIVE PROJECTS 1
September 13–30, 2013
In conjunction with Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field
Inspired by internationally renowned sculptor Mark di Suvero, the inaugural Live Projects series will explore the connections between abstraction and politics, poetry and sculpture, art and immigration, engaging with both di Suvero’s art and his personal story.
Film Screenings
At the historic Castro Theatre, SFMOMA presents two double features inspired by the Live Projects symposium, The Field Trip, on September 22. Together, the four films explore thought control and political manipulation as well as creative resistance, pointing toward malevolent agencies’ use of experimental mind control techniques and exploitative tactics, and counterstrategies brought to light in key performance moments of the late 1960s and early 1970s, when celebrity activism and rock ‘n’ roll were influential forces for change. Admission: $11 general; $8.50 SFMOMA members. Tickets available through Eventbrite, or from the Castro Theatre box office one hour before showtime (cash only).
Double Feature: The Manchurian Candidate and Scanners
Friday, September 13, 2013, 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.
Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer, 1962, 126 min., 35mm
Scanners, David Cronenberg, 1981, 103 min., 35mm
Double Feature: F.T.A. and Monterey Pop
Sunday, September 15, 2013, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.
Castro Theatre, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
F.T.A., Francine Parker, 1972, 97 min., 35mm
Monterey Pop, D.A. Pennebaker, 1968, 78 min., digital presentation
The screening of Monterey Pop will include a special introduction by legendary music and film producer Lou Adler, who also helped conceive and produce the Monterey International Pop Festival.
Walking Symposium: The Field Trip – The Abstraction of Politics and The Politics of Abstraction
Sunday, September 22, 2013, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.
Angel Island, San Francisco
Admission: $30 general; $24 SFMOMA members; includes lunch and round-trip ferry ride, leaving from the San Francisco Ferry Building at 9:20 a.m. and returning at 5:00 p.m.
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? 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 will be 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.
Special Event: Poets on the Occasion of Mark di Suvero
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 2 p.m.
Crissy Field, 1199 East Beach, San Francisco, CA 94129
Admission: free and open to the public; RSVP requested
On the occasion of Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field, contemporary poets come together to read new works in response to the artist’s sculptures and to launch a limited-edition chapbook featuring new poems by Dodie Bellamy, Bill Berkson, Victor di Suvero, Paul Ebenkamp, C. S. Giscombe, Kevin Killian, Joanne Kyger, Hugo Garcia Manriquez, Richard O. Moore, D. A. Powell, Frances Richard, Juliana Spahr, and C. D. Wright.
Teacher Institute: Mark di Suvero
Saturday, September 28, 2013, 9:30 a.m.–1 p.m.
Crissy Field, 1199 East Beach, San Francisco, CA 94129
Admission: $40; $32 SFMOMA members
In this workshop, educators will explore the aesthetics and meaning of di Suvero’s works and include methods for curriculum integration, video footage, teacher resources, and interactive classroom activity.
Family Day: Brave the ELEMENTS: Where Line, Shape, and Color Meet Earth, Wind, and Sky
Sunday, September 29, 2013, 10 a.m.–3 p.m.
Crissy Field, 1199 East Beach, San Francisco, CA 94129
Admission: free and open to the public; RSVP requested
SFMOMA Family Programs team hosts a day of music, poetry, and art making, taking a closer look at the work of Mark di Suvero at Crissy Field. SFMOMA’s family programs are designed for families with children ages 4 to 12. Support for Live Projects family programs is provided by Target.
Artist Talk: Mark di Suvero in Conversation
Monday, September 30, 2013, 7 p.m.
SFJAZZ Center, 201 Franklin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102
Admission: $10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, seniors, and students
The first Live Projects artist talk at SFJAZZ debuts with Mark di Suvero, whose interests extend from the practice of sculpture to poetry, politics, and everyday life. The artist believes that “poetry is to language what sculpture is to the furniture of the material world,” and is joined by prominent Bay Area poets in conversation.
LIVE PROJECTS 2
November 10–17, 2013
In conjunction with 2012 SECA Art Award: Zarouhie Abdalian, Josh Faught, Jonn Herschend, David Wilson
The second Live Projects series emerges from the projects and practices of the 2012 SECA Award winners. Highlights include:
- November 13: SECA Art Award winners in conversation at SFJAZZ Center
- November 14: Film series selected by Jonn Herschend at the Roxie Theater
- November 15: Panel discussion with Zarouhie Abdalian in Oakland
- November 16: Micro-talk program featuring Josh Faught and guests followed by a live sound performance by Luciano Chessa at the Neptune Society Columbarium
- November 16: Teacher Institute introduces the artists’ works to educators with a visit to Faught’s project at the Columbarium and a hands-on classroom activity
- November 17: Family Day with David Wilson and guest performers
More details for Live Projects 2 will be announced soon. For schedule updates and the most up-to-date information on the Live Projects series, visit sfmoma.org/liveprojects.
San Francisco Media Company is the Official Media Sponsor of Live Projects.
SFMOMA’S OFF-SITE PROGRAMMING
During the construction of SFMOMA’s expansion project, the museum is on the go, presenting a dynamic array of collaborative and traveling museum exhibitions; public art displays and site-specific projects; and fresh education initiatives that will unfold throughout the Bay Area and beyond. In addition to Live Projects, SFMOMA is collaborating with seven Bay Area museums to present major thematic exhibitions on view at partner venues; creating site-specific installations of existing and newly commissioned work; and presenting an unprecedented statewide tour of its photography collection. Additional off-site programs are currently in development; as plans evolve, more details will be announced.