Sneak Peek of "Ancient Wisdom" Opening at di Rosa SF Thursday Night! + News
It’s SF Art Week and FOG, and lots of vibrant art happening all over the Bay Area. So much to share with you all. Ken and I have been working 15-hour days with the brilliant curator Twyla Ruby from di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art and lots of amazing people to help move and place the artwork in their new San Francisco satellite museum. The expanded version of Ancient Wisdom for a Future Ecology: Trees, Time & Technology is now all almost ready! 7x7 just published a story that really captures it all.
This image above in the exhibition is from one of my favorite of Ken’s artworks. ReBloom is an updated version of Bloom (2013). ReBloom transforms live seismic activity into non-repeating circular blooms of color sampled from landscape paintings by Bay Area painters including Wayne Thiebaud and Joan Brown (from the di Rosa Collection).
You may have heard the recent news that di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art is selling 200 acres in Napa to preserve and expand their foremost collection of Northern California artists. We applaud their commitment and stewardship of the collection. They're seeking a visionary buyer to purchase the land and lease it back a portion of it for their museum and land art, creating an endowment to sustain the Napa museum and expand the collection's presence in both Napa and San Francisco for decades to come.
Now on to the show! A big thank you to di Rosa, Skirball, Getty, PST ART, Eve’s Ark, Women Connect4Good, and Minnesota Street Project—all important organizations with teams of amazing people that set the stage for this new expanded presentation of the exhibition to happen! Just to give you a sense—this version of the exhibition is 7x the size of what was presented in LA.
Opening Reception for Ancient Wisdom
Thursday, January 22, 6-8 p.m. 1150 25th Street, San Francisco. The Long Now Foundation is providing a special drink for Ancient Wisdom called “Ancient Fizzdom.” RSVP. The opening will be great and if you want to hear about the art, Ken and I will be doing an artist-led tour on Sat, Jan 24, 11 am-noon; RSVP
We are so honored that Minnesota Street Project has installed one of the major works in our exhibition, Tree of Knowledge, in their atrium entrance and hub of so many great art galleries and organizations. It is one block from our exhibition and will be there for their exciting new art fair ATRIUM which also opens on Thursday night 6 to 9 p.m. For Tree of Knowledge Ken and I spent over a year thinking of nearly 200 historical and contemporary questions that have spurred humanity’s ongoing quest to understand the world from early homo sapiens to today. I then burned these questions into a 10,000-pound salvaged eucalyptus with pyrography. We’ll all be heading over from our exhibition opening at 8 p.m to the ATRIUM opening night celebration to check it all out.
Artist-Led Tour & Talk for SF Art Week
Saturday, January 24, 11 a.m.– 12 p.m.
RSVP
Artist Conversation with Ken, Me, and Rabbi Sydney Mintz at Congregation Emanu-El
Jan 28, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
RSVP
Trees, Time, and Tu BiShvat: Artist-led Tour & Talk: New Year for the Trees
Sunday, February 1:00-3:00 p.m.
RSVP
An Afternoon of Feminist Art + Action
Hear about Dendrofemonology: A Feminist History Tree Ring’s moveable monument journey around the country and be with other groups working to protect and expand women’s rights on this eve of International Women’s Day!
Saturday, March 7, 2-5 p.m.
RSVP
Art, Artifice & AI: Ken Goldberg in Conversation with Whitney Museum Curator Christiane Paul
Thursday, March 12, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets
Ecology Now: Krista Tippett in Conversation with Tiffany Shlain & Ken Goldberg
Thursday, March 26, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Tickets
Closing Night Celebration
Saturday, April 11, 4-6 p.m.
RSVP
I look at art—whether it takes the shape of physical objects, films, books—as a way to bring people together and for important conversations. Looking forward to doing this with all of you in the coming months!
And there are so many incredible art events happening around town and beyond. Here’s my list:
Shack15 Artist Fellow Exhibition opening Jan 20, 5-8 p.m.; should be a great show.
Can’t wait to see all the amazing offerings at FOG Design + Art Jan 22-25, including lots of great talks like Art + Water: A New Model for Creativity and Access with Dave Eggers, Ana Teresa Fernández, and David Wilson Jan 24 at 5 p.m. Ana Teresa Fernández’s public art sculpture Mareas was recently installed at Pier 27, and it’s stunning.
We mentioned the new ATRIUM Art Fair Jan 22-26 at Minnesota Street Project and then nearby May Gaspay and Mik Gaspay’s MSP show when he cries he looks like me Jan 17-31 and SlashArt Sonic Transmissions next door to di Rosa SF.
Join me in a screen-free day for Outward Bound’s The Reset Saturday, Jan 24. You can unplug and come to our artist talk and then head into nature. Find resources and info on this day without screens.
Ken and I loved being at Catharine Clark Gallery last Saturday for a packed opening of Masami Teraoka: From Here to Eternity, Five Decades of Art Making (Jan 10 to March 7). The gallery also included Ken’s and my time-based media work, Speculation, Like Nature, Abhors a Vacuum in the media room. There was so much joy at the opening. Excited about Lily Kwong at ICA SF and Anoushka Mirchandani, at ICA San Jose. (The three of us were all in the same studio space in Sausalito so love seeing this new work.)
In New York, be sure to see Michele Pred: Projecting Democracy at Nancy Hoffman Gallery, Feb 5-Mar 21. Love her Forbidden Words series.
As a filmmaker and artist, it is hard that SF Art Week and Sundance happen the same week. I wish quantum physics let us be in two places at once. I was so nurtured as an artist by having my films premiere at Sundance. I love my filmmaking community there so much. I am definitely sad to not be there for its last year in Park City. Those of you going to Sundance in person or with an online pass, there are so many great films showing. For those of you going in person, be sure to head to the great annual events like Jewish Film Institute celebrating Jewish storytelling Jan 25, 4-6:30 p.m.
Coming up: Value Culture’s “Soy Vey” Chinese New Year Shabbat Feb 13 (Ken and I have tix) and Livelong Women’s Health Summit in SF Apr 17-18 (will be there).
THINGS TO READ/LISTEN TO:
So proud to see Dr. Piraye Beim of Eve’s Ark and her important work in Time Magazine: “Ovaries Could Unlock Secrets of Longevity.”
Excited about philosopher Rebecca Goldstein’s new book The Mattering Instinct that just arrived at our home (will dive in after the opening), and the great article in The Atlantic on it.
I’m really enjoying Heidi’s Zuckerman’s podcast About Art.
Tina Sharkey’s first newsletter is out and is fantastic. She has great insights on AI.
Tree of Knowledge getting installed for the exhibition below.
In honor of MLK Day, I rereleased the 2-min film I made in 2014 for UC Berkeley's 50th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement back in 2014. With everything going on right now, it's never felt more relevant. Turn up the volume and watch 2-min Free Speech film here.
I look forward to seeing you at one of the events for the exhibition.
To Art, Free Speech, and Community!
Love,
Tiffany
