FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Contact: Robynn Takayama,
415-252-2598/robynn.takayama@sfgov.org
*** PRESS RELEASE ***
SAN FRANCISCO ARTS COMMISSION TO LIGHT UP CENTRAL MARKET CORRIDOR WITH THREE SITE-SPECIFIC ART INSTALLATIONS
Lighting Ceremony on December 9, 2010 official kick off for The ARTery Project, a National Endowment for the Arts-funded initiative dedicated to revitalizing the Central Market corridor through the arts.
SAN FRANCISCO, November 23, 2010— OOn December 9, 2010 at 5:00 p.m., Director Luis R. Cancel along with other city officials and members of the community will gather in front of the A.C.T building located at 1119 Market Street, across the street from United Nations Plaza, to turn on three site-specific art installations in the Central Market corridor. Created by three internationally-recognized light artists, the Lights on Market Street installations are part of The ARTery Project, an initiative funded by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) aimed at revitalizing the Central Market commercial corridor into a nationally-celebrated cultural destination.
“By lighting up Market Street, we are renewing our commitment this season to transform the Central Market commercial corridor into a nationally-celebrated cultural destination,” said Mayor Newsom. “With a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the launch of the ARTery Project with these three internationally-recognized light artists is another step in our efforts to revitalize the major artery of our City.”
The launch of The ARTery Project will include a lively community celebration featuring live music and a procession to each installation led by members of the Filipino Education Center’s Galing Bata youth program carrying traditional Filipino parol lanterns. Because many cultures celebrate festivals of light during the holiday season, members of the public are encouraged to come adorned in their own lights or to bring traditional light objects to illuminate the streets. During the procession and throughout the evening, the public will have an opportunity to meet two of the artists, Theodore Watson and Jim Campbell, who will be stationed in front of their light installations giving impromptu art talks. Other events taking place that evening include art openings at the luggage store, Central City Hospitality House Community Arts Program and Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. For one night only, participants will also be able to enjoy Eric Staller’s LIGHTMOBILE, which will be located at UN Plaza and, on Market Street, Robert James’ Ménage à Trois – Eggs and Jonathan Foote’s Ripple Matrix installations.
“The lighting ceremony on December 9 promises to be a memorable event. This is the first time the City has seen a lighting project of this scale, and the artists have come up with some incredibly dynamic and engaging installations that are sure to wow the public,” stated Luis R. Cancel.
On view for six months, the light installations will mark the gateway to the Central Market neighborhood. World-renowned light artist Jim Campbell will install two artworks in the vacant storefront windows of the American Conservatory Theater building at 1119 Market Street. Urban Reflection consists of two suspended curtains of 2,000 LED light pixels that project low resolution, moving images featuring pre-recorded scenes of pedestrians and traffic along Market Street.
Projecting from the 6th floor of the Art Institute of California building at 10 United Nations Plaza onto the 7th-Street-side of the Renoir Hotel will be an original light projection titled Storylines by artist Paul Notzold. The title references the method by which indigenous Australians navigate through terrain by recalling landmarks in songs, dances and paintings. The projection features an animated cartoon surrounded by speech bubbles that will be populated with poems created by students in the San Francisco Arts Commission’s award-winning WritersCorps program. Each night will feature a different poem, which will draw its subject matter from the urban landscape.
Projecting onto 1017 Market Street, Faces is an interactive projection by artist Theodore Watson that invites the public to have their portrait captured and then dynamically re-drawn larger than life on a wall overlooking Market Street at 6th Street. Passersby will walk up to a “capture station” and have their picture taken. An image of their face will be sent to a display projector where it will be transformed into a, graphic-wheatpaste-style portrait. Faces will show the variety and character of the people moving through the Central Market area and will serve as an archive of these faces during the sixth-month exhibition period.
The San Francisco Arts Commission worked closely with NEA grant partner Public Architecture, a national non-profit organization that puts the resources of architecture in the service of the public interest, to realize the Lights on Market Street project.
Funding for The ARTery Project comes from a $250,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts Mayors’ Institute on City Design 25th Anniversary Initiative (MICD25). Announced by Mayor Newsom last summer, the MICD25 grant will help support the larger vision for the Central Market area by supporting four creative placemaking projects aimed at transforming the blighted neighborhood into a lively and sustainable destination with the arts at its core. In addition to the Lights on Market Street installations, the projects include: Art in Storefronts, which will roll out in the spring; a major sculptural installation by the Black Rock Arts Foundation and a series of coordinated special events such as festivals, exhibitions and performances hosted by neighborhood arts organizations.
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