CAMPUS: Interventions to Public Space

CAMPUS: Interventions to Public Space

Embark Gallery presents:

CAMPUS: Interventions into Public Space 05.21.16

ARTISTS Elizabeth Bennett, Mills Yvette Dibos, CCA Charlie Ford, SFAI Dana Morrison, SFAI

Performance and engagement at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture in San Francisco, CA

Embark Gallery has been lucky enough to make our space at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture where the views inspire us daily, and whose history has influenced even our name.

Formerly a port of embarkation for the US Army, Fort Mason has seen literally millions of people off on new and life-changing journeys. Now, it is a cultural haven for non-profit organizations in a rapidly changing economic landscape. As such, FMCAC inspires a community of artists and curators to utilize the site to explore novel terrains, without ever having to leave campus.

For this exhibition, we called for work that responds specifically to this unique public landmark, engaging with the architecture in an outdoor exhibition of performance art and active audience participation.

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We selected three proposals to activate the alley between Buildings B and C. These artists explore the “space between� structures, people, and cultural categories in provocative and creative ways.

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Charlie Ford and Dana Morrison explore the edges and limitations of the human body in an ephemeral and poetic dance performance. Yvette Dibos challenges boundaries with her at once humorous and ominous balloon performance. Referencing the radical history of feminist performance art, Dibos takes issues of labor and sabotage into the contemporary moment. “The Expanding Gallery,” presented by Elizabeth Bennett, asks visitors to label found “artworks” around Fort Mason Center in a DIY museum, questioning systems of value in the art world through crowdsourced participation.

San Francisco is a city with a rich history of performance and creative public interventions, and Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture has seen many of those endeavors throughout the years. It is our hope that Embark can continue that legacy as our campus draws more and more recognition as a hub for arts and culture by supporting emerging artists as they do their part to keep this city’s tradition of innovative performance art alive and well.

Angelica Jardini Curatorial Director

Elizabeth Bennett

THE EXPANDING GALLERY takes the level of focus, concentration, and careful looking that I experience in a gallery, out into the world.

Most importantly, I would like to empower others to look for art in their lives by giving them a label to place. In doing so, they are challenged to consider what “art” is, and who is responsible for determining what “art” is.”

Elizabeth Bennett I affix labels near the “works� I have discovered, photograph the piece, take note of the location, and leave the label for others to find and consider.

In a sense, I am curating my world and expanding my gallery wherever I go.

Charlie Ford & Dana Morrison

"Move. Measure. Mark." is a series of collaborative performances by artists and dancers Dana Morrison and Charlie Ford.

These performances deal with the edges and limits of the human body, via direct measurement of movement,

This performance reacts specifically to the space of the Alley, using the walls, raised sidewalks and the road as surfaces for mark making of movement of the artists bodies, leaving behind a trace of the performance.

These marks will reference the positive or negative space of the human body, equating the Alley walls with body edges and physical limits.

Yvette Dibos “Violence and Fragility�

I work in sculpture and performance balancing the literal and abstract. My performances aim to reproduce emotion, suggested narratives, critiques of modern society, and the paradox of simplicity and complexity in human behavior. The idea behind the performances and sculptures I have been developing employ the idea of traps. Specifically, the violent action of disturbing the nature of something beautiful or serene.

The unexpectedness of being trapped, especially when one is lured in.

Performance, Interventions at FMCAC “The San Francisco Art Institute Annual, a much-ballyhooed event that had been staged by that institution in one form or another since 1871, continued until 2006.”

--Art Practical

“The work that was presented differed widely with each individual, but in general relied on real-time presentation for transferring information from artist to audience.” --Philip Linhares Artist Minoosh Zomoridinia films a performance for Embark’s 2016 presentation Enact at the SF Int’l Arts Festival, which happens annually at FMCAC.

Installation on pier by Cy Keener, 2015. The lights turned on with the wind.

Parking Lot Art Fair

(Renegade event in response to larger commercial fairs. Very experimental, lots of performance, and anyone can participate.)

Elizabeth Bennett.

Installation in FMCAC parking lot, 2016.

EmbarkGallery.com Tania Houtzager | Executive Director Angelica Jardini | Curatorial Director 2 Marina Blvd. | Bldg B | Ste 330 | San Francisco, CA | 94123