Sites Unseen

Sites Unseen will present its first large scale public art installation Sunday, October 9, 2016 from 3PM–6PM at a free all-ages event adjacent to the Moscone Center Garage at 255 Third Street in downtown San Francisco’s Yerba Buena neighborhood. At 3:30PM, project and community leaders will gather at the northwest corner of the garage to present opening remarks.

The event, open to all, will celebrate the installation of “Moscone Contemporary Art Centre & Garage,” artist Barry McGee’s multi-colored painted artwork installed in several locations on the exterior of the Moscone Center Garage. The event will also feature temporary, participatory programming by local artists Ramekon O’Arwisters and Leah Rosenberg, and by Los Angeles-based artist collective Fallen Fruit.

“Sites Unseen will enhance the Yerba Buena neighborhood’s existing reputation as an arts hub by activating underutilized areas to foster social interaction, community pride, and economic opportunities,” says Jonathan Moscone, Chief of Civic Engagement at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and a member of the Sites Unseen Advisory Committee.

Through 2018, the organization will partner with public, private, nonprofit, and community sectors to program seven alleys in the Yerba Buena neighborhood—Annie, Clementina, Jessie East, Lapu Lapu, Minna, Natoma, and Shipley Streets—with public art that celebrates San Francisco and responds both to the specific conditions of the sites as well as artistic and cultural values that engage local, national, and international communities.

“The alleys provide a platform for both local and national artists at all career stages to showcase work within the curatorial framework. We want to help shape these public spaces as destinations for sustained collaborative discourse, innovation, and discovery for everyone, and offer opportunities for exciting performances and happenings that will bring people to the alleys again and again,” says Sites Unseen co-founder and San Francisco Arts Commissioner Dorka Keehn.

Sites Unseen’s curatorial framework reconsiders the role of the neighborhood’s alleys, positioning them as places of respite and reprieve where one can elect to take a moment to simply exist in place. The project will bring together a variety of artists to explore what this kind of ‘living space’ can mean in the contemporary urban environment, inviting them to create site-specific works that in some way respond to the needs of each place.

“Public art is a reflection of our neighborhood’s creative canvas and an important way to enliven, inspire and intrigue everyone who sees it. We’re excited about how Sites Unseen will energize our alleys and provide art to the public,” says Cathy Maupin, executive director of the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District, a nonprofit that works to improve the quality of life in Yerba Buena.

“The SFMTA supports public art and is honored to help place Barry’s artwork at our facility, which will further our efforts to bring public art to more locations throughout the city,” says Ted Graff, SFMTA | San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s Director of Parking.

Project director Jessica Elena Shaefer says, “Sites Unseen encourages the exploration of ways in which various forms of artistic practice can transform urban public spaces. We’re looking forward to helping Bay Area cultural producers gain more support and visibility both locally and globally.”

For more information, visit sitesunseen.org.