Free to See

Floor 1

Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)

Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine)
A Respite for the Weary Time-Traveler.
Featuring a Rite of Ancient Intelligence Carried out by The Gardeners
Toward the Continued Improvement of the Human Specious
by
Kara E-Walker

Inspired by a wide range of sources, from antique dolls to Octavia Butler’s novel Parable of the Sower, Kara Walker’s new commission, Fortuna and the Immortality Garden (Machine), considers the memorialization of trauma, the objectives of technology, and the possibilities of transforming the negative energies that plague contemporary society. Here, automatons trapped in a never-ending cycle of ritual and struggle are repositories of the human soul. Situated within an energetically charged field of black obsidian from Mt. Konocti in Lake County — a volcanic glass with deep spiritual properties — Walker’s Gardeners evoke wonder, reflection, respite, and hope.

Howard Street Entrance

Yuri Suzuki: Arborhythm

The treelike speakers (that inspired the artwork’s title) play a continually remixed soundtrack of field recordings captured from around and beyond the city. The sculpture’s bright colors recall Bay Area sunsets and landmarks like the Golden Gate Bridge. By tuning and layering the sounds of our local environment into a sensorial soundscape, Suzuki aims to “replenish people’s attention through their unconscious, cognitive process and help them relax and de-stress.”

Floor 1

Wu Tsang: Of Whales

Of Whales (2022) is derived from Wu Tsang’s multidisciplinary research around Herman Melville’s novel Moby Dick; or, The Whale (1851). Tracing the diving path of a sperm whale who plunges down to non-human depths for over an hour at a time only to resurface for a brief breath of air, Of Whales is a mystical adventure in place and being. Created on the Unity gaming platform, the dynamically generated real-time video and sound installation envelops visitors in an oceanscape-cosmos for respite, contemplation, and provocation.

Floor 2

Barbara Stauffacher Solomon: Strips of Stripes

In this large-scale commission for SFMOMA’s lobby, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon (b. 1928) connects the striped motif of the museum’s 1996 Mario Botta–designed building with the open space of the 2016 expansion designed by Snøhetta. Strips of Stripes is the newest of her signature “supergraphics,” first developed in the 1960s for the Northern California coastal development The Sea Ranch. Here, bold environmental stripes and the letters “OK” span walls and ceilings in response to the surrounding architecture.

Floor 2

Wondering About Museums

Visit the Koret Education Center to take in artist and educator Eduardo Pineda’s exciting new mural commission, Inside Out: The Museum. His mural uses the work of art conservation as a metaphor to consider the ongoing challenges museums face as they address their pasts, presents, and futures. Plus, join the conversation with our new visitor response wall and tell us what you wonder about museums!

Floor 1

Julie Mehretu’s HOWL, eon (I, II)

Julie Mehretu’s HOWL, eon (I, II) (2017) is an expansive exploration of the American West — its transcendent landscapes and violent colonial history. Created as part of SFMOMA’s new art commissioning program, this site-specific diptych’s two vast abstract canvases flank the main staircase in the soaring Haas, Jr. Atrium, which is freely accessible to the public.