Work in Progress: Investigations South of Market

Oct 28 - Nov 29, 2015: Terry Berlier and Weston Teruya
Nov 30, 2015 - Jan 17, 2016: Val Britton and Jenny Odell
Jan 18 - Feb 14, 2016: Tom Loughlin and Stadium Projects

Emerging from a desire to create a dynamic, nontraditional experiment in our galleries, Work in Progress: Investigations South of Market forefronts the process of art making and opens up a conversation about site, both within and beyond YBCA’s doors. Responding to a prompt from YBCA, six artists will take a unique point of departure from which to explore the SOMA neighborhood. Inspirations include the events that have shaped the neighborhood including the 1906 earthquake and fire, which physically and psychologically transformed the landscape of San Francisco, the more recent changes that have come about since the opening of AT&T Park in 2000, and the environmental impacts of the building boom. Other projects look at the people who have inhabited the neighborhood over the years, from the Ohlone to the wealthy landowners of the 19th century to those who work and live here today.

Work in Progress is an examination of place, artistic practice, and space. For the project, we invited a group of artists to submit proposals that address San Francisco’s South of Market neighborhood through research-based inquiry. The selected participants—Terry Berlier, Val Britton, Tom Loughlin, Jenny Odell, Stadium Projects (Joshua Peder Stulen, Monte Masi, and Lex Kosieradzki), and Weston Teruya—have been grouped into three sequential residencies, and the galleries are effectively becoming a working studio for them during their time at YBCA. As each residency rotates out, the works produced will remain on site, with each residency building on the last and presenting a new layer of the cumulative experience.

YBCA’s neighborhood has long been a locus of change, contention, and renewal. The newly commissioned works for this exhibition aim to deepen our understanding of, and connect back to, this rich history and legacy. Even as the artists investigate a specific locale within San Francisco, they also look beyond it, exploring broader themes of generosity, urban planning, environmental impact, and historical change