Night Watch 2021
uNited NatioNs declaratioN of humaN rights article 14
1. Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. 2. This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. 1. En caso de persecución, toda persona tiene derecho a buscar asilo, y a disfrutar de él, en cualquier país. 2. Este derecho no podrá ser invocado contra una acción judicial realmente originada por delitos comunes o por actos opuestos a los propósitos y principios de las Naciones Unidas. 1. ㈠ 人 人 有 权 在 其 他 国 家 寻 求 和 享 受 庇 护 以 避 免 迫 害。 2. ㈡ 在 真 正 由 于 非 政 治 性 的 罪 行 或 违 背 联 合 国 的 宗 旨 和 原 则 的 行 为 而 被 起 诉 的 情 况 下, 不 得 援 用 此 种 权 利。 To find the United Declaration of Human Rights translated in over 500 languages, use the QR code or visit: https://www. ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/ SearchByLang.aspx
To learn more about the Night Watch project, use the QR code or visit: https://www.immersiveartsalliance.org/ nightwatch
Night Watch Shimon Attie’s Night Watch is a floating media art installation that will travel the San Francisco Bay September 17 – 19, 2021, along the shorelines of San Francisco and Oakland. The floating art installation combines contemporary LED-technology with an historic mode of water transport – a barge – to create a sophisticated, layered, and contemplative sculptural work of art. Night Watch features twelve, close-up video portraits of refugees who were granted political asylum in the United States. Displayed on a 20 ft-wide, high-resolution LED-screen, the portraits will be screened aboard the slow-moving barge to allow for on-shore public viewing. The silently displayed images largely feature members of international LGBTQI communities, as well as unaccompanied minors, who fled tremendous violence and discrimination in their homelands of Colombia, Honduras, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, Peru, and Russia. “Our capacity to ignore the suffering of the 80 million forcibly displaced people in the world depends on their invisibility. Shimon Attie’s Night Watch demands that we see their faces, and by seeing, acknowledge both their pain and our responsibility. It is a work that does more than humanize the
crisis; it transforms the viewer,” comments Ayelet Waldman, novelist and screenwriter. The creation of the Night Watch portraits was made possible through the artist’s relationship with the New York-based Moreart.org, that made introductions to refugees and asylees with whom Attie’s project aligned. During the process of shooting the portraits, Attie was privileged to hear personal stories, conversations of home and the uncertainty of futures, fear of political reprisals, sensitivities to trauma, homesickness, and individual hopes and dreams. “Many of our families originally arrived in this country seeking refuge from a homeland. Today, in a world dealing with an unprecedented flux of uprooted lives, the Bay Area presentation of Night Watch provokes thoughtful discussion through an exceptionally engaging work of art that compels conversation, and hopefully action, for more compassionate humanitarian treatment at our borders,” says Clark Suprynowicz, Immersive Arts Alliance.
“For the millions who have been forced to flee their homelands to escape violence and discrimination. For the fortunate few who have been granted political asylum in the United States.” – Shimon Attie
Shimon Attie, Night Watch (Norris), 2021. Signed, limited-edition photogravure published by Mullowney Printing, 15 x 26 3/4 inches unframed.
The 2018 New York City debut of Night Watch during the UN General Assembly Week was received with widespread acclaim, prompting BOXBLUR founder, Catharine Clark, to consider the possibility of a Bay Area presentation. “Shimon’s artwork engages one of the most urgent issues of our time – that of welcoming or closing our doors to asylum seekers,” notes Catharine. “During its 2021 West Coast debut,” Catharine continues, “Night Watch will activate and animate the San Francisco Bay as both a literal and metaphoric site and landscape for escape, rescue, safe-passage, and safe-harbor for those most vulnerable.”
Beginning on the evening of September 17, 2021 and on September 18 and September 19, Night Watch will travel on a barge captained by Matt Butler and slowly navigate the cities’ shorelines from 6:15pm to 9:00pm, corresponding with scheduled, live nightly performances on the coastal shorefronts. Night Watch shoreline performances with artists, musicians, and dancers will take place in San Francisco at Fort Mason, Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants, and Warm Water Cove, and on the East Bay’s Okaland Estuary shoreline including Oakland’s Brooklyn Basin and Jack London Square.
“Oakland is first and foremost a sanctuary city, offering community and a sense of belonging to immigrants from around the world. It makes profound and poetic sense that Shimon Attie’s art installation, Night Watch, will travel by Oakland’s shores,” says Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. “What a beautiful way to celebrate the diversity of Oakland, and the refugees that call our city home.”
“San Francisco is a city of immigrants that continues to be defined today by our diverse communities,” comments San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed. “That diversity not only shapes the values that we hold as a city, it’s also reflected in the art and culture we produce. We’re excited to welcome Night Watch to San Francisco as a continuation of that expression of our values.”
“The San Francisco Bay Area, like New York City, has a long history of welcoming new arrivals, immigrants and refugees,” states Shimon Attie. “In addition, it is particularly meaningful to me to present Night Watch in the San Francisco Bay, as I consider the Bay Area to be my hometown, having been educated and formed as a young adult here.”
Off-site events in collaboration with Night Watch partner organizations, exhibitions and additional screenings at select partner institutions, will also take place at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, California College for the Arts, Catharine Clark Gallery, Congregation Emanu-El, Gray Area, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, Oakland’s Brooklyn Basin, Minnesota Street Project, Museum of the African Dias pora, PhotoAlliance, Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation, San Francisco Art
Night Watch Schedule for Extended Viewing Friday, Sept. 17: Angel Island + Fort Mason* + Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants* (San Francisco) Saturday, Sept 18: Fort Mason* + Warm Water Cove* (San Francisco) Sunday, Sept. 19: Brooklyn Basin* + Jack London Square* (Oakland) *activated with music, dance, film and/or informational tabling by non-profits.
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Institute, UC Berkeley Arts + Design, The Institute of Contemporary Art San José, and University of San Francisco. *Music and dance performances for site activations around the Bay Area are selected by Classical Revolution and Dance Film SF.
The presentation of Night Watch in San Francisco coincides with the opening of Shimon Attie’s solo exhibition Here, not Here, at Catharine Clark Gallery on September 18, 2021. The exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s work on the West Coast, and will feature the international premiere of Attie’s video installation Time Laps Dance, hosted by BOXBLUR, created with dancers and martial artists in Brazil, as well as Attie’s widely acclaimed film The Crossing, made in collaboration with seven Syrian refugees. In addition, the exhibition includes photo and video works from the Night Watch project; and a survey of photographs from Attie’s lightbox and projection-based installations, including “Facts on the Ground” and “The Writing on the Wall.”
Prime viewing locations along the San Francisco shorelines includes: Fort Mason, Pier 39, Pier 15, Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants, and Warm Water Cove. In San Francisco the barge will begin its travels at Angel Island at 5pm on September 17th, in acknowledgement of the region’s historic port of entry. Prime viewing for East Bay shorelines will be along the East side of the Oakland Estuary, including Brooklyn Basin, and Jack London Square where there will be live music selected by Classical Revolution and educational materials provided by non-profit partners.
Shimon Attie, Night Watch (rendering on SF Bay).
“The tremendous support of organizational partners and donors for Night Watch is emblematic of the strength of our communities. Made possible by 100% philanthropic funding, donations, and in-kind gifts, Night Watch is something of a love letter to the San Francisco Bay Area, sanctuary cities, and the individuals who comprise our communities.” — Catharine Clark, co-producer, Night Watch.
About BOXBLUR and Immersive Arts Alliance BOXBLUR emerged from a history of performances at Catharine Clark Gallery. In 2016, this effort was formalized as BOXBLUR, a fiscally sponsored program of Dance Film SF. BOXBLUR collaborates with organizations that amplify communal values. A central piece of BOXBLUR’s program is its partnership with the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. BOXBLUR produces socially engaged projects that are performative, often experimental, and are realized in conversation with a visual artist’s work. BOXBLUR’s projects expand the presentation and definition of performance in non-proscenium settings. WEBSITE: https://cclarkgallery.com/artists/bios/box-blur Immersive Arts Alliance was founded to encourage, develop, and to present large-scale, multidisciplinary exhibits and performances in the Bay Area and beyond. With a deep commitment to diversity and to social justice, Immersive Arts Alliance engages the public in vital discussions about innovation, creativity, and culture at large. WEBSITE: https://www.immersiveartsalliance.org/about CONTACTS: Press contact: Norris Communications | 415-307-3853 or wendy@norriscommunications.biz BOXBLUR at Catharine Clark Gallery: Catharine Clark 415.519.1439 or cc@cclarkgallery.com Immersive Arts Alliance: Clark Suprynowicz | 510-847-2685 or clark@immersiveartsalliance.org
To support future projects by BOXBLUR: https://donorbox.org/boxblur2021 To support future projects by Immersive Arts Alliance: https://www.immersiveartsalliance.org/checkout/donate
Non-Profis Providing Direct Service to Refugees, Asylees, and Immigrants Catholic Charities
Roots Community Health Center
Catholic Charities is one of the largest, most comprehensive human services agencies in Northern California, reaching more than 60,000 individuals a year in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties. We tackle some of the most pressing challenges in our community – homelessness, generational poverty, inequality, aging in isolation, HIV-AIDS, and immigration to name a few – with determination, expertise, and collaborative problem-solving with those we serve. As an integral part of our communities, we work to keep our neighborhoods diverse, productive, safe, and healthy through more than 30 programs, comprehensive services, and social justice advocacy. We bolster our neighbors – single mothers, adults and families experiencing homelessness, immigrants including unaccompanied minors, adults with disabilities, seniors, children and youth, and people living with HIV/AIDS – when they need help, solutions, and hope. As compassionate caregivers, ardent advocates, and champions of those in need, we are Ambassadors of Hope dedicated to changing lives every day. WEBSITE:https://www.catholiccharitiessf.org TO GIVE: https://www.catholiccharitiessf.org/give/give.html
Founded in Oakland, California, the mission of Roots Community Health Center is to uplift those impacted by systemic inequities and poverty. They accomplish this through medical and behavioral health care, health navigation, workforce enterprises, housing, outreach, and advocacy. Roots Community Health Cetner envision a United States where all communities of African descent are resilient, healthy, self-sufficient, and self-determined. Roots proudly serves the greater Bay Area and is expanding to other California regions. WEBSITE: https://rootsclinic.org/ TO GIVE: https://rootsclinic.org/donate/
Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS) The Center for Gender & Refugee Studies defends the human rights of courageous refugees seeking asylum in the United States. With strategic focus and unparalleled legal expertise, CGRS champions the most challenging cases, fights for due process, and promotes policies that deliver safety and justice for refugees. https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/ WEBSITE: https://cgrs.uchastings.edu/ TO GIVE: https://cgrs.networkforgood.com/
Congregation Emanu-El Congregation Emanu-El is a vibrant, sacred Jewish community that is essential in the lives of its congregants, deepening spirituality (avodah), increasing Jewish literacy (Torah), connecting with Israel and Jews around the world, and engaging as a community within the congregation and across the Bay Area through worship. learning, good deeds (g’milut hasadim), and congregant-to-congregant connection. Congregation Emanu-El places an emphasis on social justice with the congregation’s Tzedek Council (social justic council), such as the 2016 Tikkun Tikvah effort to reform California’s criminal justic system, and ongoing work to advocate for the rights of refugees and immigrants. WEBSITE: https://www.emanuelsf.org/ TO GIVE: https://www.emanuelsf.org/donate/
The Immigration Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA) Founded in 1918, the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area (IIBA) helps immigrants, refugees, and their families join and contribute to the community. IIBA provides high-quality, low or no-cost immigration legal services, education, and civic engagement opportunities.
International Rescue Committee (IRC) The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people whose lives and livelihoods are shattered by conflict and disaster to survive, recover and gain control of their future. In more than 40 countries and over 20 U.S. cities, our dedicated teams provide clean water, shelter, health care, education and empowerment support to refugees and displaced people. WEBSITE: https://www.rescue.org/ TO GIVE: https://help.rescue.org/donate
The LGBT Asylum Project The LGBT Asylum Project is the only San Francisco nonprofit organization exclusively dedicated to providing accessible legal representation for LGBT asylum seekers who are fleeing persecution due to their sexual orientation, gender identity and/or HIV status. WEBSITE: https://www.lgbtasylumproject.org/ TO GIVE: https://www.lgbtasylumproject.org/donate.html
Oasis Legal Services Oasis Legal Services proudly provides quality legal immigration services to under-represented low-income groups with a focus on LGBTQIA+ communities. By acknowledging, respecting, and honoring their struggles, we empower immigrants so that dignity grows and integrity blooms. WEBSITE: https://www.oasislegalservices.org/ TO GIVE: https://www.oasislegalservices.org/donate#donate
Partnerships for Trauma Recovery The mission of Partnerships for Trauma Recovery address the psychosocial impacts of trauma among international survivors of human rights abuses through mental health care, clinical training, outreach, and policy advocacy. WEBSITE: https://traumapartners.org/ TO GIVE: https://traumapartners.org/donate/
IIBA envisions diverse communities where immigrants are valued, contributing members with full access to justice and economic opportunity. With eight offices in six counties, IIBA is the largest provider of immigration legal services in Northern California. IIBA’s services help immigrant families obtain stable immigration status and security in the United States. WEBSITE: https://iibayarea.org/offices/san-francisco-office/
“We contain the other, hopelessly and forever.” – James Baldwin
“No other state has taken in more refugees than California. As a forme California as a farmworker, I deeply understand the value of immigran Night Watch accentuates a social issue of great importance – that of se refugees and asylees to the United States, Night Watch is a civic art – Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutena
er Ambassador and the daughter of an immigrant who started out in nt and asylee communities. The compelling nature of Shimon Attie’s eeing ourselves in the other. Through a dignified artistic portrayal of experience that invites us to celebrate our strength in diversity.” ant Governor of California
Shimon Attie, Night Watch (Max at Twilight), 20 foot wide LED screen on barge, East River, 2019.
NIGHT WATCH ACTIVATION SCHEDULE
September 17: Launch Party for Night Watch at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Free. Proof of vaccination required to enter Cowell Theatre.)
5 – 6:45pm | Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture presents their Fall Arts Preview Party with artwork across the campus. (Food trucks on-site at Fort Mason) 6:30pm | Cowell Theater: (400+ seat theater) Bars and non-profit tabling will be open for the public at the Cowell Theater’s inside and outside lobbies. Music by Calleson (organized by Classical Revolution) until 9pm. 6:35pm | In front of Pier 2: Catharine Clark (BOXBLUR) and Clark Suprynowicz (Immersive Arts Alliance) will announce the beginning of Night Watch festivities and Lenora Lee Dance will lead audience to the Cowell Theater. 6:50 – 7:05pm | Cowell Theater: Lenora Lee Dance performs excerpts from Within These Walls. 7:05 – 7:15pm | Cowell Theater: Program announcements and introduction to Shimon Attie by Catharine Clark (BOXBLUR) and Clark Suprynowicz (Immersive Arts Alliance)
September 18: Night Watch at Minnesota Street Project (Ticketed + Free for Students. Proof of vaccination required to enter Minnesota Street Project) 5 – 6pm | Night Watch cocktail hour with artist Shimon Attie. Includes cocktail hour, panel discussion, and procession. $100. All proceeds benefit affordable housing for artists, galleries, and arts non-profits in the Bay Area. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873 6 – 7:15pm | Panel discussion at 1275 Minnesota Street on the role of amplifying social justice issues. Featuring artists Shimon Attie, Zeina Barakeh, Ana Teresa Fernández, and non-profit representatives Jilma L. Meneses (CEO, Catholic Charities) and Blaine Bookey (Legal Director, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies). Moderated by Elena Gross (Director of Exhibitions and Curatorial Affairs, MoAD and Immersive Arts Alliance board member). Includes panel discussion and procession. Sliding scale ($10, $15, $25). Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873
7:15-7:45pm | Outside on Pier 2 and Pier 3: Night Watch video/barge on the Bay between Piers 2 and 3. 7:45 – 8:20pm | Cowell Theater: SF Dance Film Festival program, Dancers Without Borders screened in the Cowell. 8:20-8:15pm | Cowell Theater: Shimon Attie’s video The View From Below, and Ido Bartana and Nadim Badiee’s film Painful Silence. **Night Watch will be visible at Fort Mason from approximately 7:15-7:45pm, where programming will include music, dance, film, art, and tabling by non-profit partner organizations. Night Watch will then continue along the shoreline and will be viewable from Pier 39, Pier 15, adjacent to the Exploratorium, and from Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants (8:10 – 9pm) with programmed music by The Renaissance (organized by Classical Revolution). Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/166226635341
September 19: Night Watch in Oakland (Free) On the final evening, Night Watch will travel the shoreline of the Oakland Estuary, stopping at Brooklyn Basin (6:15 – 8:15pm) where there will be music by The Renaissance and at Jack London Square with music by Citizen’s Jazz (organized by Classical Revolution).
6 – 7:15pm | Live simulcast for the students of the panel discussion at 1150 Minnesota Street. Followed by a musical procession to Warm Water Cove for Night Watch. Free. Pre-Registration, Student ID, and proof of vaccination required. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873
8 – 9pm | Musical procession led by Mission Delirium, a 15-piece brass, marching band. The procession will begin at Tennessee and 24th Streets and marches 3 blocks to Warm Water Cove where Night Watch is visible from the shore. Free. **Night Watch will be visible from Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (6:15 – 6:35pm); Pier 39, Pier 15 adjacent the Exploratorium, Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants, and will reach Warm Water Cove at 8:00pm. Musical activation by Mission Delirium. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873
SEPT 17 - FORT MASON PROGRAM
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture
Dance Film SF
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) is a nonprofit operating within a Historic Landmark District along the northern waterfront of the San Francisco Bay. Part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, FMCAC hosts an ever-evolving rotation of artistic programming for over 1.2 million annual visitors that includes theater and dance performances, art installations, as well as educational and cultural classes. As part of Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture’s commitment to supporting San Francisco’s artistic community, FMCAC provides approximately $2.5 million in annual grants to local arts organizations. These grants allow groups to produce diverse and innovative works at the historic campus.
Founded in 2010, Dance Film SF is a nonprofit organization bringing dance to new audiences through the presentation and development of dance-based media. Along with the annual presentation of its award-winning San Francisco Dance Film Festival, DFSF’s year-round activities include special screenings, panels, and filmmaking workshops. Its touring and outreach programs send highlight reels to international screens and dance media into local schools. DFSF also produces original dance films through its Co-Laboratory program, matching top choreographers with professional filmmakers and creating the time, space, and budget for them to collaborate. Family Fest, a new mini festival featuring international dance films for young audiences and original works by youth will launch in 2020.
In addition to the thousands of events that occur each year on campus, FMCAC hosts nearly two dozen nonprofit and arts organizations as permanent residents. These residents receive annual support from FMCAC, allowing them to focus on producing original artistic programming. Current residents include the Pulitzer Prize winning Magic Theatre, City College’s Fort Mason Art Campus, BATS Improv, the SFMOMA Artists Gallery and the internationally acclaimed Greens Restaurant. A pioneer in the reuse of military bases, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture has been honored by the California Preservation Foundation for its efforts preserving the historic U.S. Army San Francisco Port of Embarkation. WEBSITE: https://fortmason.org/
Classical Revolution Classical Revolution was founded in the fall of 2006 with the goal of making classical chamber music more relevant in our neighborhoods and communities. After a successful first year of weekly shows at Revolution Cafe in San Francisco’s Mission District, the organization began to receive invitations to preform at other local venues including Amnesia and the Red Poppy Art House – soon to be followed by the Legion of Honor and de Young Museum, and then places like Yoshi’s SF and Herbst Theater. In its 10th anniversary year, Classical Revolution undertook a cycle of Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies, performed at venues around San Francisco including Folsom Street Foundry, de Young Museum, Fort Mason’s Cowell Theater, and a performance of the 9th Symphony at Grace Cathedral in front of a 1000 person audience. Press articles from the New York Times, Strings Magazine, Wall Street Journal, and The Economist brought wider attention to Classical Revolution’s efforts. As interest grew outside of San Francisco, the network of chapters began to develop, with over 40 cities hosting regular Classical Revolution around the US, Canada, Europe, Australia, as well as Indonesia, Argentina, South Korea, and Japan. WEBSITE: https://www.classicalrevolution.org/ Musical Groups Selected by Classical Revolution:
The Renaissance (September 1 at Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation) Callesson (September 17 at Fort Mason) The Renaissance (September 17 at Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants) The Renaissance (September 19 at Brooklyn Basin) Citizen’s Jazz (September 19 at Jack London Square)
Dancers Without Borders Program at Fort Mason (28.96 minutes): Wo - Director: Jiemin Yang (11:07) En La Tierra - Director: Gabriel Mata (10:54) Dancer Amit Patel Is Reinventing Bollywood His Way - Director: Charlotte Buchen Kahdra (6:55) https://sfdancefilmfest.org/festival-films-2021/shorts-program/screendance/ contemporary/dance-heals-at-catharine-clark-gallery/ WEBSITE: https://sfdancefilmfest.org/
Lenora Lee Dance (LLD) Lenora Lee Dance’s (LLD) mission is to create and present large-scale multimedia performance works integrating dance, original music, video projection, and text that connect various styles of movement and music to culture, history and human rights issues. At times crafted for the proscenium, or underwater, or in the air, and at times the pieces LLD creates are site-responsive immersive and interactive, which can be modified for the proscenium stage and for smaller casts. LLD’s work integrates contemporary dance, film, music, and research and has gained increasing attention for its sustained pursuit of issues related to immigration, global conflict, and its impacts, particularly on women and families. Lenora Lee Dance will perform excerpts from Within These Walls (2017, restaged 2019) at Fort Mason on September 17. Within These Walls is an immersive, multimedia performance work that premiered at the U.S. Immigration Station, Angel Island State Park. It is dedicated to the over 170,000 Chinese who were detained, interrogated and processed there during the Chinese Exclusion Era. The work received two Isadora Duncan Dance Awards in March 2019: Special Achievement for Outstanding Performance (representing special achievement in all categories: choreography, performance, music/sound/text, and visual design), and Hien Huynh received the Outstanding Performance by an Individual award for his incredibly moving performance in the piece. Conceived, Produced & Directed by Lenora Lee. Performed by Yi-Ting (Gama) Hsu & Hien Huynh. Music Score by Francis Wong and Tatsu Aoki, with Deszon X. Claiborne, Edward Wilkerson Jr., Michael Zerang. Poetry & Text by Genny Lim and Wong Gung Jue, recorded by Hien Huynh, Lynn Huang, Johnny Nguyen, Shannon Preto. Media Design & Editing by Olivia Ting. WEBSITE: http://www.lenoraleedance.com/
SEPT 18 - MINNESOTA STREET PROJECT PANEL + WARM WATER COVE Panel discussion: 1275 Minnesota St., SF, CA 94107 | Simulcast for students: 1150 25th St., SF, CA 94107 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873
Elena Gross (she/they) is the Director of Exhibitions & Curatorial Affairs at Museum of the African Diaspora in San Francisco and an independent writer and culture critic living in Oakland, CA. She received an MA in Visual & Critical Studies from the California College of the Arts in 2016, and her BA in Art History and Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies from St. Mary’s College of Maryland in 2012. She specializes in representations of identity in fine art, photography, and popular media. Gross was formerly the creator and co-host of the arts & visual culture podcast what are you looking at? published by Art Practical. Her research has been centered around conceptual and material abstractions of the body in the work of Black modern and contemporary artists. She has presented her writing and research at institutions and conferences across the U.S., including Nook Gallery, Southern Exposure, KADIST, Harvard College, YBCA, California College of the Arts, and the GLBT History Museum. In 2018, she collaborated with the artist Leila Weefur on the publication Between Beauty & Horror (Sming Sming Books). The two performed a live adaptation of their work at The Lab, San Francisco. Her most recent writing can be found in the publication This Is Not A Gun (Sming Sming Books / Candor Arts). Elena is the co-editor, along with Julie R. Enszer, of OutWrite: The Speeches that Shaped LGBTQ Culture, forthcoming from Rutgers University Press in March 2022. Blaine Bookey is Legal Director at the San Francisco-based Center for Gender and Refugee Studies. For the last two decades she has been working to advance the human rights of refugees. She is counsel in several high profile cases pushing back against draconian Trump-era policies including the closure of the border to asylum seekers under the pretext of public health and denial of protection to women and children fleeing domestic violence and gang brutality. She speaks and writes frequently on these topics and has been featured in publications such as the SF Chronicle, NPR and Washington Post. Blaine also chairs the Board of Directors of MADRE, a global women’s rights organization, and serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. Ana Teresa Fernández’s work explores the politics of intersectionality through time-based actions and social gestures, translated into masterful oil and gouache paintings, installations, and videos. Operating formally at the intersection of land art, performance, and history painting, Fernández mines 21st-century feminism, post-colonial landscapes, and the psychological barriers to empathy. Fernández has exhibited at Denver Art Museum, CO; Nevada Museum of Art, Reno; Arizona State University Art Museum, Phoenix; the Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University, Bloomington; and The Oakland Museum of Art, CA, among other venues. Her work has been collected by institutions such as the Denver Art Museum, Nevada Museum of Art, and Kadist Art Foundation, San Francisco and Paris, among others. Gallery Wendi Norris presented a solo exhibition of her work in Miami titled, Of Bodies and Borders in November 2019, which traveled to the Grunwald Gallery at Indiana University Bloomington and was accompanied by a publication. This body of work was a highlight of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art’s exhibition, Counter-Landscapes: Performative Actions from the 1970s – Now, which closed in January 2020. Fernández realized On the Horizon, a public installation, in San Francisco in 2021. Zeina Barakeh is an artist based in the Bay Area. Her work deconstructs war and is rooted in her experiences of growing up in Beirut during conflict. In 2020, her animation Projections From The Third Half [Cloud Storm] was published in Art Journal Open. Exhibitions include After Hope: Videos of Resistance, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Mercury Retrograde, Pro Arts Gallery & Commons, Oakland; Tunnels of the Mind, ZAZ Corner Billboard,
Times Square, New York and San Francisco Art Institute Tower; Preoccupations: Palestinian Landscapes, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco; Poetry is Not a Luxury, The Center for Book Arts, New York; and more. Shimon Attie is a visual artist whose practice includes photography, video, immersive mixed-media installations, sitespecific works in public places, and new media. In many of his projects, Attie employs a variety of media to animate sites with images that reference their lost histories or speculative futures. This has included introducing the histories and narratives of marginalized and/or forgotten communities into the physical landscape of the present. In other, often video works, Attie engages local communities in finding new ways of representing their history, memory, and potential futures. Ultimately, Attie’s work explores how contemporary media may be used to re-imagine new relationships between space, time, place, and identity. Attie’s work has been exhibited and collected by museums around the world, including: Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Pompidou in Paris, The National Gallery in Washington DC, the ICA in Boston, and the Perez Art Museum Miami, among others. He has received numerous visual artist fellowships and awards, including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Rome Prize, artist grants from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, and a Visual Artist Fellowship from Harvard University’s Radcliffe Institute and from the National Endowment for the Arts, among others. Jilma L. Meneses is the Chief Executive Officer for Catholic Charities with operations in San Francisco, San Mateo, Marin and Sonoma counties. This year, Catholic Charities served more than 60,000 of our neighbors – including individuals and families experiencing homelessness, aging adults, immigration legal services, vulnerable children, and individuals living with HIV/ AIDS – navigate the challenges of COVID-19 in San Francisco, San Mateo, and Marin Counties. Jilma champions Catholic Charites’ faith traditions of charity and justice. Jilma is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley and Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon where she began a distinguished career in higher education. In conjunction with her previous role as Chief Operating Officer and Chief General Counsel at Concordia University, she served as the Dean of the Concordia University School of Law. Prior to joining Concordia University, Jilma served in executive leadership roles at several high-profile institutions, including as Chief Diversity Officer at Portland State University and Chief Risk Officer at Oregon Health Science University (OHSU). In addition to sitting on boards of many nonprofits serving local and international communities, including The Forgotten International, she is the founder of the non-profit Our Family in Africa, which served orphans in the Democratic Republic of Congo by providing humanitarian aid and opportunities to childrenorphaned by war, genocide, and disease. A love letter to your feet from the dance floor, Mission Delirium is an invitation to revel in pounding drums and facemelting brass. Let your hair down, get delirious and shake your ass. If it moves you, MD plays it: Bollywood, Balkan, Brazilian, Ethiopian, Tango, Afro-pop, Middle Eastern, Salsa and more- all served with a unique twist of San Francisco. Brought to you by members of What Cheer? Brigade, Extra Action Marching Band, LoCura, The Loyd Family Players, Blue Bone Express, Brass Liberation Or chestra, Tango Number 9, Katdel ic, Environmental Encroachment, East Bay Brass Band, Brass Animals, Manicato and Inspector Gadje, this 20 piece is ready to party! http://www.missiondelirium.com/
The musical procession will march three blocks from Tennessee and 24th Street to Warm Water Cove to view Night Watch from the shore.
Night Watch Event Schedule All events are in Pacific Standard Time
August 25: Museum of the African Diaspora (Free) 1pm – 2:15pm | Zoom studio visit with Shimon Attie, in conversation with Elena Gross, Director of Exhibitions and Curatorial Affairs. https://www.moadsf.org/event/in-the-artists-studio-shimon-attie/ September 1: Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation (Ticketed) 6pm - 7:30pm | Speaker presentation for Shimon Attie’s Night Watch, featuring panelists in conversation about the role of art, specifically performing arts, as an amplifier for social justice issues. Pre-registration required. This event is open to the public, but with limited admittance. Address: 1401 Howard St, San Francisco, CA 94103. Panelists at this event include: Charith Premawardhana (Classical Revolution), Ana Teresa Fernández (artist), Lenora Lee (Lenora Lee Dance), Judy Flannery (Dance Film SF), Clark Suprynowicz,(Immersive Arts Alliance), and moderated by Catharine Clark (BOXBLUR). RSVP directly to info@saintjosephsartssociety.com September 2 – October 1: Midnight Artist Collaboration series @salesforcetower (Free) Midnight – 1am | Artist, Jim Campbell and his team selected artist Zeina Barakeh to present, Standard of Capital, a new video curated for the Midnight Artist Collaboration series, presented by Boston Properties at Salesforce Tower. September 15: San Francisco Art Institute / PhotoAlliance (Ticketed) 7pm – 9pm | San Francisco Art Institute and PhotoAlliance are joined by artist, Shimon Attie to discuss the photographic dimension of Attie’s work. Photographer, Yesica Prado is the opening speaker. Event followed by a reception outside on the roof-deck. Tickets required. Tickets: https://www.photoalliance.org/2021-sept-shimon-attie-yesica-prado September 16 – October 31: Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (Free) Screening of Shimon Attie’s Night Watch on their outdoor screen for their On the Hour series. September 17 – 19: SFAI Tower (Free) Screening of Shimon Attie’s Night Watch on the San Francisco Art Institute Tower. September 17 Launch Party for Night Watch at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (Free) On shore viewing of Night Watch and accompanied programming. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/166226635341 September 18 Night Watch at Minnesota Street Project (Ticketed + Free for Students) On shore viewing of Night Watch and accompanied programming. Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/shimon-atties-night-watch-tickets-164353877873 September 19 Night Watch in Oakland (Free) On shore viewing of Night Watch and accompanied programming. September 18: Catharine Clark Gallery (Free) 11am – 1pm | Opening reception for Shimon Attie’s solo exhibition, Here, not Here (September 18 – October 31) The presentation of Night Watch coincides with the opening of Shimon Attie’s solo exhibition Here, not Here, at Catharine Clark Gallery on September 18, 2021. The exhibition is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s work on the West Coast, and will feature the international premiere of Attie’s video installation Time Laps Dance, created with dancers and martial artists in Brazil, as well as Attie’s widely acclaimed film The Crossing, made in collaboration with seven Syrian refugees. In addition, the exhibition includes photo
(continued) and video works from the Night Watch project; and a survey of photographs from Attie’s lightbox and projection-based installations, including “Facts on the Ground” and “The Writing on the Wall.” https://cclarkgallery.com/exhibitions/attie-solo-exhibition-2021
September 20: Congregation Emanu-El (Free)
Community Sukkot Celebration and Here, not Here, Talk by Shimon Attie 6:30pm | Short service (Courtyard Sukkah) 7:30pm – 8:30pm | Artist Presentation (A Clergy member will introduce Shimon in the Martin Meyer Sanctuary), followed with an audience Q&A (Martin Meyer Sanctuary), and Sukkah celebration. Register: https://congregationemanuel.magentrix.com/aspx/NM_Friendly_Login_Page
September 21: University of San Francisco (Free)
6:30pm – 8pm | Night Watch at USF - University of San Francisco’s Swig Program in Jewish Studies & Social Justice, with the Theology and Religious Studies Program and, in coordination with the Museum Studies MA Program, hosts a talk with Shimon Attie (open to the public).
September 22: California College of the Arts (Free)
4pm – 5pm | California College of the Arts, co-hosted by the Film and Graduate Fine Arts Programs, presents a student talk with Shimon Attie. Zoom program. Join: https://cca.zoom.us/J/98422095886#success
September 26: San Francisco Contemporary Music Players (Ticketed) 2 -3pm | San Francisco Contemporary Music Players perform Image and Memory, hosted by BOXBLUR at Catharine Clark Gallery. October 12 – 16: Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) (Ticketed) As part of the Leonard Cohen exhibitions, CJM is presenting a solo installation of I’m Your Man (A Portrait of Leonard Cohen) by Berlin-based artist Candice Breitz. Breitz also has a recent work called Love Story, in which she addresses the complexity of refugee narratives in some depth. Exact date TBD.
October 17 – San Francisco Dance Film Festival (Ticketed)
7pm – 8:30pm | Dance Heals, a mixed program of screen-dance and short documentary films presents a range of personal stories of resilience, persistence, and triumph. Live performance following the screening. Curated by the SF Dance Film Festival and co-hosted by BOXBLUR at Catharine Clark Gallery. https://sfdancefilmfest.org/festival-films-2021/shorts-program/screendance/ contemporary/dance-heals-at-catharine-clark-gallery/
October 18 – Berkeley Arts + Design (Free)
6:30pm – 8pm | Berkeley Arts + Design hosts Zoom talk with Shimon Attie. Pre-registration required. Link forthcoming. Register: https://artsdesign. berkeley.edu/film-media/events/shimon-attie-looking-back-at-night-watcha-floating-media-arts-installation-that
November 5 - The Institute of Contemporary Art San José (Free)
5:00pm - 9:00pm | ICA San José First Friday program featuring Stanford University’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab and a one night screening of documentation from Shimon Attie’s installation Night Watch.
THANK YOU TO NIGHT WATCH DONORS
Daniel Abrahamson Andrew Clark and Jessica Wade Susan and Thomas Amlicke Orlo and Carol Clark Nancie Ashby Bailey Emilie Clark and Lytle Shaw Shimon Attie Catharine Clark Tamera Avery and Douglas Tom Haile and Kim Debas Bank of America Daniel Dodt and Linda Blacketer Judy Berg Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants Julie and David Bernard David Feld Lilah Beldner John Flores Max Beldner Ronnie Fuchs Woody Beville Michael Gold & Susan West Deborah Bishop and Michael Lieberman Ken Goldberg and Tiffany Shlain Mehdi Bouarek Elena Gross Brian Gross Fine Art Susen Grossman Meryl Brod Rita and Steve Harowitz Beth Bronder Kayleigh Henson Altif Brown Leslie Hurtig and Tom Ginsberg Debra Burchett-Lere Isaac Inkumsah Candy Jernigan Foundation for the Arts Nina Katchadourian Lisa Chadwick Lawrence Kauvar Vanessa Chang Dorka Keehn
Paul Kopeikin Mangan Group Architects Bart Magee and Brian Anderson Susan McLaughlin Lorna Meyer and Dennis Calas Francis Mill Janet Mohle-Boetani Kitty Morgan and Charles Desmarais Peter and Beverly Lipman Lipton-Mashbein Philanthropic Fund Pew Charitable Trust Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation Lane Schofield Clark Suprynowicz Shirley and Thomas Phelan Bruce Polichar Helen Raiser Laura Robinson Alfonso Ruiz Lobos Doniece Sandoval and Sadik Huseny Lane Schofield
Megan and Paul Segre Greg Simpson Brian Singer Anton Stuebner Student volunteers Roselyn C. Swig Marcia Tanner Shelley Trott Sharon Tanenbaum and Matty Person Kelly Vicars Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation Norma Jo Waxman David Weber Nancy Wiltsek Roderick Wyllie Gordon Yamate and Deborah Shiba Patience Yi Kathryn Zeller Peterson Thomas Zellerbach
Night Watch is co-produced by BOXBLUR and Immersive Arts Alliance with support from the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, BD+20, Candy Jernigan Foundation for the Arts, Classical Revolution, Large Screen Video, Maybach Family Vineyards, Norris Communications, Saint Joseph’s Arts Foundation, Marketing by Storm, and Waterbar and EPIC Steak restaurants. Media sponsor KQED. Partners include Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, Boston Properties, California College of the Arts, Cal Sailing Club, Catharine Clark Gallery, Catholic Charities, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, Congregation Emanu-El, Contemporary Jewish Museum, Dance Film SF, Exploratorium, Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, Gray Area, International Rescue Committee, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, The Institute of Contemporary Art San José, Mangan Group Architects, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, Minnesota Street Project, Morrison Productions, Mullowney Printing, Museum of the African Diaspora, Oasis Legal Services, Partnerships for Trauma Recovery, PhotoAlliance, Roots Community Health Center, San Francisco Art Dealers Association, San Francisco Art Institute, SFArtsED, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San José Museum of Art, Swig Program in Jewish Studies & Social Justice at USF, The LGBT Asylum Project, Theology & Religious Studies Program at USF, UC Berkeley Arts + Design, University of San Francisco, and Value Culture.
Design by Aileen Mangan. Illustration by John Mangan. Edited by Catharine Clark, Aileen Mangan, Wendy Norris, Anton Stuebner, and Clark Suprynowicz. Printed on 8/30/21.