TONIGHT! Making a Scene: 50 Years of Bay Area Alternative Spaces FREE Opening Event & Performance

Making a Scene, which received critical support from the National Endowment for the Arts, spotlights a rich history of Bay Area artist-run, independent and alternative spaces, as well as the pioneers and contemporary trailblazers of social justice who utilized these spaces as a catalyst and megaphone. Archival material from more than 20 individuals and spaces, and art and installations by more than 30 current and historic Bay Area artists, unite the featured spaces’ disparate, yet overlapping and contingent histories of cultural engagement, community development and social justice. Featured artists and activists created and activated alternative spaces during a time when the United States was alive with radical movements that uprooted and exposed various levels of police brutality, discrimination, and lack of representation for their communities. Making a Scene includes a direct call-to-action that invites the Bay Area to contribute to the collective memory of the region’s spaces in two ways, transforming the exhibition into an incubator for exploration, discovery and contribution. In partnership with Bay Area Society for Art & Activism, exhibition visitors can contribute audio, scan newspaper articles, and catalog lost stories and histories to a Wiki Site, “Collective Memory.” Exhibition July 9–August 20, 2015. Gallery hours: Tues–Fri, 12–7pm and Sat, 12–5pm. Free opening reception with performances and artist talks Thursday, July 9, 2015, 6–9pm. Ticketed event Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party Saturday, July 18, 2015, galleries open at 8:30pm, performances 9pm–midnight. READ MORE: http://www.somarts.org/makingascene OPENING NIGHT ONLY: During the opening event “EcoSexuals” Annie Sprinkle and Elizabeth Stephens exhibit a 7-monitor “Pollination Pod,” a mobile museum of alternative sexual identity, and activate the gallery with a special performance during the opening event. After marrying the Earth, Stephens and Sprinkle have conducted 17 wedding performances in the span of 8 years in 8 countries that included over 3,500 people. They will conduct a “Water Commitment Ceremony” in their Pollination Pod. Bay Area Society for Art and Activism will facilitate contributions to the Wiki Site “Collective Memory.” Dancer of Ceremonies Rashad aka Soul Nubian leads “The Urban Masquerade Parade” with dance messengers: Pippa Fleming, Javier Stell-Fresquez, Dana E Fitchett, Jacinta Vlach. The ancient tradition of the Masquerade is found in many parts of the world as masked performance and spectacle; how do we honor the past and bring it forward? The parade will consist of dancers, live drum instrumentation, and a DJ. This performative ritual will awaken the legacy of forgotten Bay Area performers, including Sylvester, Ed Mock, Marlon Riggs, and other trailblazing artists. Making a Scene Exhibiting Artists: Bay Area Video Coalition Black Magic Arts Collective Brittney Cathey-Adams Lenore Chinn Choke Courageous Duane Deterville Emory Douglas Caleb Duarte Carmina Eliason Chelsea Elisabeth Alyssa Eustaquio Kathleen McDonald Nannette Harris Taraneh Hemami in collaboration with Invisible Venue Marlon Ingram Lucia Leal Judith Leinen Ajuan Mance Aambr Newsome Jeremy Novy Carolina Quintanilla Sandra Ramirez William Rhodes Ross Robinson Sage Stargate Refa Senay Annie Sprinkle Beth Stephens Darryl Thompson Elizabeth Travelslight Sunshine Velasco Lexa Walsh Red Poppy Art House René Yañez Madison Young Contributors of Ephemera & Artifacts to Making a Scene: ArtSpan African American Art & Culture Complex Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Center Bay Area Society of Art & Activism Bay Area Video Coalition Bring Your Own Art Circus Center Crown Point Press Emory Douglas Femina Potens Galería de la Raza John Held The Living Room Project Chip Lord Malidoma Collective Tom Mariani Omiiroo Pomo Afro Homos Queer Cultural Center San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Lexa Walsh The Upper Room