FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jess Young, Director of Communications

& Community Engagement

415-863-1414 x112 • jess@somarts.org

SOMArts Cultural Center Announces

The Commons Curatorial Residency Exhibitions 2015

March 17, 2014, San Francisco, CA—Today SOMArts Cultural Center Executive Director, Lex Leifheit, announced the three newest recipients of The Commons Curatorial Residency. The year-long incubator for exhibition research, planning, installation and realization supports artists and curators by lifting many of the responsibilities of self production.

Residents are selected by an advisory panel through a proposal process that includes a series of interactive information sessions and access to individual consultation from SOMArts’ gallery director. In addition to the creative strength of the proposal, applicants must demonstrate how their exhibition serves a local cultural community or constituency and provides dynamic opportunities for participation and learning.   

The 2015 Commons Advisory Committee included: Jean Gerrity (Contemporary Jewish Museum), Richard Kamler (Artist), Ani Rivera (Galeria de la Raza), Justin Hoover and Lex Leifheit (SOMArts).

The following residencies will each culminate in a month-long exhibition and are an integral part of SOMArts’ exhibition programming in 2015:

• Johanna Poethig, Glamorgeddon: The Spectacle (January 7–February 4, 2015)

• Robin Lasser, Refuge in Refuse: Homesteading Art and Culture Project (February 12–March 14, 2015)

• Fran Osborne, DIS-PLAY (March 24–April 23, 2015)

SOMArts Executive Director Lex Leifheit commented, “The Commons Curatorial Residency is deeply rooted in SOMArts’ history as an organization that provides support services to amplify the creative expression of Bay Area artists and communities. There is a sense of possibility and discovery within these exhibitions that is irresistible to anyone who is curious about the city they live in.”   

Selected curators receive a curatorial stipend of $3,000, optional fiscal sponsorship and fundraising support, 100 hours of installation assistance, 40 hours of audio/video/lighting assistance, marketing and publicity support, photographic documentation and ongoing project support for 9–12 months. 400–800 visitors attend the opening reception and 2000–3000 attend each exhibition. SOMArts assists in organizing tours and has ongoing relationships with recovery and environmentally at-risk programs in SoMa as well as college instructors citywide. Many of SOMArts’ tech and design-industry neighbors including AirBnB, Yelp! and MUJI have coordinated gallery visits.

About Glamorgeddon: The Spectacle

Glamorgeddon: The Spectacle brings together visual and performance artists in a critical response and free-form celebration of the concept of glamour. It pushes back against the ways in which we consciously or unconsciously accept the logic of prevailing capitalist, media-generated spectacles. Glamorgeddon, a battle for the new territories, examines how glamour has both colonized and empowered us. The exhibition aims to awaken the spectator and create situations that reorder life, politics and art.

Exhibition Dates: January 7–February 4, 2015

Opening Reception: Thursday, January 8, 6–9pm

Curator: Johanna Poethig

About Refuge in Refuse: Homesteading Art and Culture Project

Refuge in Refuse is an interactive, mobile, transmedia collection of visual and sound data reflecting the intersections of architecture, art, ecology and community. For more than two decades artists, recreationalists, and the homeless share the Albany Bulb, a landfill peninsula located along the east shore of the San Francisco Bay, creating infrastructure and exploring borders between public and private urban space. The group exhibition utilizes storytelling and archiving to address issues of human adaptation to social and environmental conditions in flux.

Exhibition Dates: February 12–March 14, 2015

Opening Reception: Thursday, February 12, 6–9pm

Curators: Barbara Boissevain, Robin Lasser, Judith Leinen, Danielle Siembieda

About DIS-PLAY

DIS-PLAY, a group exhibition co-curated with the local disability community, deconstructs and examines ideas and shared experiences of what is meant by “ability.” By exploring different modes of accessibility such as touch, sight and sound, the exhibition aims for best-practice accessibility, highlights and dissolves common boundaries to participation, and introduces audiences to a multi-modal and possibly unfamiliar way of engaging with an exhibition.

Exhibition Dates: March 24–April 23, 2015

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 26, 6–9pm

Curators: Fran Osborne & Jenny Balisle

About SOMArts Cultural Center

SOMArts (South of Market Arts, Resources, Technology, and Services) was founded in 1979 and operates the South of Market Cultural Center, one of four city-owned cultural facilities in San Francisco. SOMArts produces and supports exhibitions, performances, classes and other collaborations that serve its mission: to promote and nurture art on the community level and foster an appreciation of and respect for all cultures.

For more information about upcoming events, space rentals and technical services, visit www.somarts.org or call 415-863-1414. SOMArts programs are supported by the San Francisco Arts Commission’s Community Arts and Education Program, with funding from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund and The San Francisco Foundation.

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