Making a Scene, which received critical support from the National Endowment for the Arts, spotlights a rich history of Bay Area artist-run, independent and alternative spaces, as well as the pioneers and contemporary trailblazers of social justice who utilized these spaces as a catalyst and megaphone.
Archival material from more than 20 individuals and spaces, and art and installations by more than 30 current and historic Bay Area artists, unite the featured spaces’ disparate, yet overlapping and contingent histories of cultural engagement, community development and social justice.
Featured artists and activists created and activated alternative spaces during a time when the United States was alive with radical movements that uprooted and exposed various levels of police brutality, discrimination, and lack of representation for their communities.
Making a Scene includes a direct call-to-action that invites the Bay Area to contribute to the collective memory of the region’s spaces in two ways, transforming the exhibition into an incubator for exploration, discovery and contribution. In partnership with Bay Area Society for Art & Activism, exhibition visitors can contribute audio, scan newspaper articles, and catalog lost stories and histories to a Wiki Site, “Collective Memory.”
Exhibition July 9–August 20, 2015. Gallery hours: Tues–Fri, 12–7pm and Sat, 12–5pm.
Free opening reception with performances and artist talks Thursday, July 9, 2015, 6–9pm.
Ticketed event Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party Saturday, July 18, 2015, galleries open at 8:30pm, performances 9pm–midnight.
READ MORE:
http://www.somarts.org/makingascene
OPENING NIGHT ONLY:
During the opening event “EcoSexuals” Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens exhibit a 7-monitor “Pollination Pod,” a mobile museum of alternative sexual identity, and activate the gallery with a special performance during the opening event. After marrying the Earth, Stephens and Sprinkle have conducted 17 wedding performances in the span of 8 years in 8 countries that included over 3,500 people. They will conduct a “Water Commitment Ceremony” in their Pollination Pod. Bay Area Society for Art and Activism will facilitate contributions to the Wiki Site “Collective Memory.”
Dancer of Ceremonies Rashad aka Soul Nubian leads “The Urban Masquerade Parade” with dance messengers: Pippa Fleming, Javier Stell-Fresquez, Dana E Fitchett, Jacinta Vlach. The ancient tradition of the Masquerade is found in many parts of the world as masked performance and spectacle; how do we honor the past and bring it forward? The parade will consist of dancers, live drum instrumentation, and a DJ. This performative ritual will awaken the legacy of forgotten Bay Area performers, including Sylvester, Ed Mock, Marlon Riggs, and other trailblazing artists.
Making a Scene Exhibiting Artists:
Bay Area Video Coalition
Black Magic Arts Collective
Brittney Cathey-Adams
Lenore Chinn
Choke
Courageous
Duane Deterville
Emory Douglas
Caleb Duarte
Carmina Eliason
Chelsea Elisabeth
Alyssa Eustaquio
Kathleen McDonald
Nannette Harris
Taraneh Hemami in collaboration with Invisible Venue
Marlon Ingram
Lucia Leal
Judith Leinen
Ajuan Mance
Aambr Newsome
Jeremy Novy
Carolina Quintanilla
Sandra Ramirez
William Rhodes
Ross Robinson
Sage Stargate
Refa Senay
Annie Sprinkle
Beth Stephens
Darryl Thompson
Elizabeth Travelslight
Sunshine Velasco
Lexa Walsh
René Yañez
Madison Young
Contributors of Ephemera & Artifacts to Making a Scene:
ArtSpan
African American Art & Culture Complex
Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center
Bay Area Society of Art & Activism
Bay Area Video Coalition
Bring Your Own Art
Circus Center
Crown Point Press
Emory Douglas
Femina Potens
Galería de la Raza
John Held
The Living Room Project
Chip Lord
Malidoma Collective
Tom Mariani
Omiiroo
Pomo Afro Homos
Queer Cultural Center
San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery
Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence
Lexa Walsh
The Upper Room