Thu November 21st Closed
Enjoy this digital journey through our history with the launch of our first online archive. Please reach out if you have intel to share that can help us build this archive!
Public Art
UNDO MEN
Sanctuary City Project
2023–2024
This work shines light on the power of the student-led pro-immigrant movement while examining the impact of policies on the lives of the undocumented community.
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Exhibitions
Art, Action, Change: YBCA Creative Corps Initiative
Presented by YBCA
August 16–September 15, 2024
Discover the intersection of art, action, and community empowerment.
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Public Programs
Nick Dong: Mendsmith Project
Presented by YBCA
July 29–August 18, 2024
Nick Dong uses his jewelers’ skills bring two meaningful pieces of jewelry or personal items to be “mended” into a new commemoration.
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Exhibitions
Nick Dong: 11 to 88
Presented by YBCA
June 6–August 25, 2024
A distinctive world of levitating symbols, illuminated rooms, and cyclical transformations.
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Workshops
Papermaking Workshop with Trina Michelle Robinson
Presented by YBCA
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 1–4 PM
Led by BAN9 artist Trina Michelle Robinson, students will follow a step-by-step process to create their own handmade paper.
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Dance
Sorry I Missed Your Show: Tonic
Presented by YBCA & Fresh Festival
Saturday, February 10, 2024, 3:30–5 PM
Watch a recording of experimental dance work Tonic created by Kathleen Hermesdorf and Albert Mathias, followed by a panel conversation featuring Mathias and others who worked closely with Hermesdorf.
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Public Programs
By Way of Revolution
Artist-led Workshop
Saturday, February 3, 2024, 11 AM–3 PM
Investigate how histories of protest inform our present day moment and the powerful yet often overlooked role that BIPOC women (both cis and trans) play, in this performance art workshop led by artist Helina Metaferia.
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Public Programs
Exploring Leymusoom Garden
Conversation, performance, and screening presented by YBCA
Saturday, February 3, 2024, 1–4 PM
Explore BAN9 artist Heesoo Kwon’s Leymusoom Garden through traditional Korean games and performance, a conversation with Kwon and her multidisciplinary collaborators, and a screening of Kwon’s most recent video work.
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Public Programs
Poets’ Lunch
Presented by YBCA
Thursday, January 25, 2024, 12–2 PM
Listen to a poetry reading, enjoy a catered lunch, and experience cultural offerings from Indigenous poets, scholars and activists.
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Public Programs
Midnight Mass: Live Podcast Recording
Presented by YBCA
Thursday, January 18, 2024, 7–9 PM
Experience a special live presentation of the acclaimed Midnight Mass podcast, as co-hosts Peaches Christ and Michael Varrati explore the Bay Area’s rich connection to the world of cult films.
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Screenings & Films
California Newsreel – Forward to the 6th Decade
Presented by YBCA
Saturday, January 13, 2024, 3–5 PM
Experience a selection of films from the past 20 years advancing the causes of health and social justice, led by outgoing co-director Cornelius Moore and incoming executive director Rachel Poulain of California Newsreel.
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Screenings & Films
fragments: films by Emily Chao
Bay Area Now 9 Looping Film Program
January 3–31, 2023, 11 AM-5 PM
A cycle of four films from filmmaker Emily Chao that offer fragments of memories of people and places, experiences both shared and private, and new considerations of familiar views.
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Public Art
Audio Archive Booth
Sholeh Asgary
2023
Engage with artist Sholeh Asgary’s Audio Archive Booth to record stories, reflections, experiences, hopes, dreams, pasts, and futures of the Iranian diaspora.
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Public Art
Insufficient Memory
Sean Fader
2019–2023
An interactive Google Earth map which allows you to engage with a digital memorial to LGBTQ+ lives.
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Workshops
Cyanotype on Film Workshop
Sunday, December 17, 2023, 11 AM–5 PM
Learn the chemistry, tools, and techniques used to print permanent cyanotype images on 16mm film in this workshop with filmmaker John Davis.
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Screenings & Films
Spectral Evidence
A showcase of expanded cinema
Saturday, December 9, 2023, 12–2 PM
A dynamic film program from Shapeshifter Cinema, featuring three sets of kinetic, multi-projector, and multimedia performances.
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Workshops
Material Cinema Workshop
Workshop presented by Shapeshifters Cinema
Saturday, December 2, 2023, 12–5 PM
Learn how to repurpose castaway mid-century 16mm film through scratching, painting, puncturing, boiling, bleaching, and more in this hands-on material cinema bonanza with filmmaker Ellie Vanderlip.
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Screenings & Films
Prismatic Permutations: Expanded Cinema Performances
Bay Area Now 9 Looping Film Program
December 1–30, 2023, 11 AM–5 PM
An hour-long program of select expanded cinema performances that have been presented by Shapeshifters Cinema over its 11-year history.
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Screenings & Films
Canyon Cinema Across Time and Space
Bay Area Now 9 Looping Film Program
November 1–30, 2023, 11 AM–5 PM
A selection of films from the Canyon Cinema collection tracing six decades of experimental filmmaking in the Bay Area.
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Screenings & Films
APAture 2023: Unearthing, a film showcase
In partnership with Kearny Street Workshop
October 29, 2023, 2–4:30 PM
A film showcase featuring Adamu Chan, as a part of Kearny Street Workshop’s annual multi-disciplinary arts festival, APAture.
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Screenings & Films
San Francisco Cinematheque: Contemporary Views from the Bay Area
In partnership with San Francisco Cinematheque
October 21, 2023, 3–5 PM
Nine works by ten contemporary Bay Area filmmakers, a cross-section of the Bay Area’s ever-vibrant multi-generational community curated by Steve Polta, artistic director of San Francisco Cinematheque.
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Screenings & Films
Canyon Cinema: Contemporary Bay Area Film
In partnership with Canyon Cinema
October 14, 2023, 3–5 PM
An afternoon of contemporary Bay Area works on film and video from the Canyon Cinema catalog, curated and hosted by executive director Brett Kashmere.
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Public Programs
pARTicipate Workshops with Joyce Nojima
Workshops presented by YBCA
Wednesdays, October 11–November 29, 2–4 PM
A series of stand-alone, drop-in art workshops that are open to the public and welcome participants of all ages.
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Screenings & Films
San Francisco Cinematheque’s CROSSROADS Film
Bay Area Now 9 Looping Film Program
October 6–31, 2023, 11 AM–5 PM
Experience selections from fourteen years of CROSSROADS, San Francisco Cinematheque’s annual film festival in this ongoing daily screening.
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Exhibitions
Bay Area Now 9
Presented by YBCA
October 6, 2023–May 5, 2024
The ninth iteration of YBCA’s signature triennial exhibition highlighting 30 artists working throughout the Bay Area’s nine counties.
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Public Programs
Dance Workshops for Every Body
In partnership with the International Museum of Dance
October 2023–January 2024
Public Programs
Bicycle Silkscreen Printing Workshops
In partnership with Artivate
Saturdays, August 12–September 9, 2023, 1–4 PM
Make your own print using a bicycle silkscreen at these free, drop-in workshops for all ages.
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Public Programs
pARTicipate Workshops
Presented by YBCA
Thursdays, July 20–September 21, 2023, 1–3 PM
Drop-in art workshops that are open to the public and welcome participants of all ages.
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Public Programs
Queer American Memorials Artist Talk: Sean Fader + Maureen Towey
Presented by YBCA
July 9, 2023, 1–3 PM
In this dynamic conversation, Fader and Towey will unveil the design for their new project, Queer American Memorials.
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Screenings & Films
I Hear a Butterfly
Sunday, June 25, 2023
This new short film shares vibrant stories of migration and resilience.
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Public Programs
I Also Want to Be an “Iranian Woman”
Presented by Diaspora Arts Connection
Saturday, June 24, 2023, 2 PM
A live music presentation from Iranian multi-instrumentalist Kamila Thunder.
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Performances
MU–Connector/When the land stands alone
Dohee Lee presented by YBCA
Friday, June 23 & Saturday, June 24, 2023, 7-9:30 PM
A multi-part ritual theater experience from Korean shamanistic performance artist Dohee Lee.
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Public Art
Tend Your Orchard
Cece Carpio and Miguel “Bounce” Perez of Trust Your Struggle
2021–2023
A new mural on YBCA’s glass passageway in collaboration with SOMA Pilipinas.
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Public Programs
Remembering Fereydoun Farrokhzad
Presented by Diaspora Arts Connection
June 3, 2023, 2–4 PM
A music, poetry, and community event in remembrance and celebration of queer Iranian activist, poet, and entertainer Fereydoun Farrokhzad.
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Exhibitions
طراوت | TARAVAT
Presented by YBCA
May 13–July 23, 2023
A record of one Iranian-American woman’s attempts to grapple with the difficult legacy of women’s freedoms and Muslim identity—to transform it visually, to make something both beautiful and uncomfortable.
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Public Programs
طراوت | TARAVAT Open House Reception
May 13, 2023, 2–6 PM
Featuring music, poetry, and conversation with artist Taravat Talepasand to celebrate the opening of the new exhibition.
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Public Programs
Opening Night Party for Future Resonance
Presented by Studio Forward at California College of the Arts
Friday, April 7, 2023, 6–9 PM
Exhibitions
Future Resonance
Presented by California College of the Arts' Studio Forward
April 1–30, 2023
Designers imagine, prototype, and build possibilities for the present moment and for what’s to come.
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Public Programs
If Housing Was a Human Right in U.S. Law
Sunday, March 19, 2023, 2–4 PM
A free workshop exploring systemic housing inequities and grassroots community action.
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Events
2023 YBCA 100 Celebration
Saturday, March 18, 2023, 6–9 PM
The 2023 YBCA 100 Honorees will be celebrated with a dynamic program of live performances, interactive art, food activations, and meaningful connections.
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Performances
The Black (W)hole: calling our young ancestors home
Presented by Destiny Arts Center
Saturday, February 25, 2023
An immersive experience featuring dance, poetry, video, and visual art.
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Public Programs
Dr. Martin Luther King Edition of Belonging: A Weekly Practice Space with Othering & Belonging Institute
Presented by YBCA & Othering Belonging Institute
Sunday, January 15th, 2023, 2 PM
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Public Programs
Voices from the Past | Voices from the Present
Presented by YBCA and Artadia
January 14, 2023, 2 PM
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Public Art
WANDERLUST, A Joyful Noise
June Grant
2022–2023
A public artwork featuring colorful expressions that call attention to locations typically taken for granted.
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Performances
Wicked Bodies
Presented by YBCA
October 28–30, 2022
Wicked Bodies reflects on many issues centering women and their bodies.
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Performances
19th Annual San Francisco Trolley Dances
Presented by Epiphany Dance Theater
October 22–23, 2022
Exhibitions
Brett Cook & Liz Lerman: Reflection & Action
Presented by YBCA
October 20, 2022–June 11, 2023
This exhibition asks the public to consider the role of an artist within an institution—and in the public sphere—as urgent and responsive.
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Exhibitions
Alex Strada and Tali Keren: Proposal for a 28th Amendment? Is it Possible to Amend an Unequal System?
October 20, 2022–March 19, 2023
This incomplete participatory exhibition asks visitors to critically engage with the U.S. Constitution.
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Event
On the Horizon: Bucket Brigade
Sunday, October 9, 2022, 11:30 AM
Join us as we carry ocean water from the Embarcadero waterfront to Mission St. in the historic SF tradition of bucket brigades.
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Public Programs
Connect/Reflect/Enact
Ritual Workshop with artist Dohee Lee
October 7 & November 4, 2022, 10 AM–4 PM
Connect/Reflect/Enact is a multi-part project integrating body-knowledge and art-creation led by artist Dohee Lee.
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Public Programs
Celebrating Healing, Vulnerability, and Alchemy
September 3, 2022, 1-5:15 PM
Including a live music performance featuring Samora Pinderhughes, Karega Bailey, and special guests as well as a screening and panel discussion.
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Screenings & Films
Peter Sellars: this body is so impermanent…
Watch in person at YBCA or stream on YBCA.org
August 12–14, 2022
Screenings & Films
Sa Amin (Our Place)
Presented by SF Urban Film Fest & SOMA Pilipinas
Friday, June 17, 2022, 6–7:30 PM
Digital Conversations
Transformation, Music, and Healing with Keith LaMar and Samora Pinderhughes
May 31, 2022, 3 PM PST
Exhibitions
dreamseeds
May 14–September 4, 2022
You are invited to play, move, question, contribute and dream your way through the space. These artists have been waiting for you.
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Public Programs
dreamseeds: A community celebration of the YBCA 10
May 14, 2022, 12–6 PM
Celebrate the YBCA 10 artists and their creative prototypes.
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Public Programs
Caravan For The Children: May Day March 2022 & D.C. Press Rally | Postcard Drop Off
Presented by Galería de la Raza
May 1 & 2, 2022
Exhibitions
The Healing Project
Presented by Samora Pinderhughes & YBCA
March 24–September 4, 2022
A digital archive, music album, and exhibition from composer and artist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes.
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Event
Culture Aid
SF Urban Film Fest
March 12, 5–7 PM
A celebratory evening of short films, spoken word, and dance performances to showcase San Francisco’s vibrant, diverse, and deeply rooted communities.
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Digital Experience
Artist Power Center Virtual Launch Party
February 19, 2022 11:00 AM–12:30 PM PST
Celebrate the public launch of the Artist Power Center digital web app.
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Exhibitions
Pedagogy of Hope: Uncage, Reunify, Heal
Presented by Galería de la Raza
March 10–July 3, 2022
A textile and photographic based exhibition that surveys the Caravan for the Children Campaign.
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Public Programs
Interactive Studio Hours with the YBCA 10 Artists
November 18–20, 2021, 12–5 PM
Learn about the prototype designs and connect with the YBCA 10 Artist Cohort.
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Public Programs
Parol Lantern Festival
Presented by Filipino-American Development Foundation & SOMA Pilipinas
November 13–December 11, 2021
Screenings & Films
Diasporas of Resilience
SF Urban Film Fest
Saturday, October 2, 2021
An afternoon of film programs and artist talks around immigration to the South of Market, the power of mutual aid, and the power of writing a community narrative.
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Screenings & Films
SoMa Social Landscapes
SF Urban Film Fest
Saturday, September 25, 2021
An afternoon of exploring the social landscapes of the South of Market with artist talks, film screenings, and panel discussions.
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Events
Generations of Filipinx Power
SF Urban Film Fest
Saturday, August 28, 2021
A night of artist talks, one-act plays, and film screenings celebrating Filipinx power in South of Market.
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Events
Reopening Celebration
August 7, 2021 11:00am - 6:00pm
Join us in person to experience new interactive artist activations, intimate conversations, and more.
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Exhibitions
Echo Location: The Cultural Geopolitics in South of Market
SF Urban Film Fest
August 5-October 23, 2021
A new exhibition exploring the complicated history and celebrating the future of the South of Market.
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Public Art
Now We Are Here
Fredericko Alvarado
July 15, 2021–September 11, 2022
A site-specific mural in YBCA’s Grand Lobby inspired by the Wiphala flag.
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Festival
SF Urban Film Fest 2021
SF Urban Film Fest
February 14–21, 2021
This year’s festival explores enduring injustices and environmental destruction alongside the resilience of neighborhoods and the communities that fill them.
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Public Art
MOURNING IS AN ACT OF LOVE
SF Urban Film Fest
February 12—May 10, 2021
Films, photos, and participatory art ask us to reconsider memorials making, and reimagine how we build public experiences that are rooted in our histories, acknowledge our grief, and use love to inspire us to work together for our collective future.
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Digital Experience
Ritual for a Radical Future
Spell Writing Workshop with the Coven Intelligence Program on YBCA.org
December 21, 2020 12:30–1 PM PST
Coven Intelligence Program will lead a seasonal ritual that teaches the basics for writing spells .
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Screenings & Films
Bayview is Alive: Film Screening & Panel
Presented by SF Urban Film Fest
December 17, 2020, 4-5:30 PM
Short films based on historic murals highlighting the Bayview’s everyday heroes and a panel discussion featuring Bayview community leaders.
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Screenings & Films
AFTER LIFE (we survive) presents Rea Tajiri’s LORDVILLE
On view on YBCA.org
December 11, 6 PM–December 13, 2020, 11:59 PM
Watch Tajiri’s documentary and a new conversation between the artist and AFTER LIFE curator Thea Quiray Tagle.
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Exhibitions
AFTER LIFE (we survive)
Presented by YBCA
November 9, 2020–February 7, 2021
A new multimedia public art experience that brings artists together to explore speculative and real modes of survival.
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Screenings & Films
Jeffrey Gibson: Nothing is Eternal
Presented by YBCA and the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art
October 30–November 3, 2020
Conceived during this pandemic era, the immersive video work depicts the American flag in unsettling stillness, as a marker of territory, and projected onto bodies, while set to a heartrending soundtrack.
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Digital Experience
City Is Alive
Presented by SF Urban Film Fest & YBCA
October 17, 2020, 7–9 PM
A one-day celebration of the Bayview’s everyday heroes who have fought for resources and have brought joy to the neighborhood
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Public Art
The Monument as Living Memory
A Collective Architectural Intervention led by Caleb Duarte
October 12, 2020–April 18, 2022
This work illustrates the closure, dismantling, and restructuring of institutions, the toppling of monuments, and the uprising of a palpable collective spirit across our country.
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Public Art
Tosha Stimage: Infinite center, infinite sun
The Lawn Art Project
September 25 – October 25, 2020
The first of a series of installations for the public to take part in, curated by YBCA for the Lawn Art Project.
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Digital Conversations
Alchemy of the Reset with Carlton Turner
Live on YBCA.org
July 1, 2020, 12 PM
Brett Cook, Liz Lerman, and Meklit Hadero are joined by Carlton Turner
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Digital Conversations
Count Us In: Showing Up For the Census Right Now
Presented by SF Urban Film Fest & YBCA & Art+Action
June 30, 2020, 4–5 PM
A virtual conversation about the importance of the Census for San Francisco and the Bay Area.
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Digital Conversations
Alchemy of the Reset with Pedro Noguera
Live on YBCA.org
June 24, 2020, 12 PM
Brett Cook, Liz Lerman, and Meklit Hadero are joined by Pedro Noguera
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Digital Conversations
Alchemy of the Reset with Natalie G. Diaz
Live on YBCA.org
June 17, 2020, 12 PM
Brett Cook, Liz Lerman, and Meklit Hadero are joined by Natalie G. Diaz
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Digital Conversations
Alchemy of the Reset with Diane Ragsdale
Live on YBCA.org
May 27, 2020, 12 PM
Brett Cook, Liz Lerman, and Meklit Hadero are joined by Diane Ragsdale.
+ Read more
Digital Conversations
See Black Women
Stream at YBCA & MOAD's Facebook Pages
May 19 & May 26, 2020, 4 PM
A two-part conversation featuring nine Bay Area Black Womxn Artists and Curators about visibility, grief, and our present paradigm shift in culture and practice
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Art & Civic Experience
Come to Your Census: Who Counts in America?
A Digital Art & Civic Experience
April 1–October 1, 2020
A digital art and civic experience that examines the issues around the 2020 Census and its direct impact on each individual living in America.
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Performances
Rightfully Ours
Co-presented by San Francisco Girls Chorus and Berkeley Ballet Theater
February 29, 2020, 7:30 PM
Inspired by the legacy of the women who fought for the passage of the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
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Screenings & Films
Pocket-Size Cinema in Spain: Experiments in Super-8
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
February 27, 2020, 7:30 PM
A program of contemporary and historic films made in Super-8mm by Spanish filmmakers.
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Dance
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Presented by San Francisco Performances
February 19–23, 2020
The West Coast premiere of Taylor’s final work, “Concertiana,” and other signature dances that defined dance in America.
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Screenings & Films
let me tell you what home looks like
SF Urban Film Fest
February 8, 2020, 7 PM
As cities gentrify, black artists and activists create new narratives, shift the audience gaze, amplify unheard voices, and showcase their resilience.
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Screenings & Films
Diaspora: Identity and the Pathos of Global Labor
SF Urban Film Fest
February 6, 2020, 6:30 PM
Films and a panel discussion explore personal experiences of diaspora within the global labor market.
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Festival
SF Urban Film Fest 2020
SF Urban Film Fest
February 3–8, 2020
Exploring Place and the Populist Revolt, investigating how cities are ground zero for the struggle to find or hold on to a place, for both incumbents and newly arrived.
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Screenings & Films
Be Water: Civil Disobedience and the Fight for Democracy in Hong Kong
SF Urban Film Fest
February 3, 2020, 6:30 PM
Alex Yong Kang Chow co-curates this event looking at the Hong Kong demonstrations from the lived experience of the student protestors.
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Screenings & Films
Interludes: New and Recent Films by Nathaniel Dorsky
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
January 23, 2020, 7:30 PM
New and recent works by the master filmmaker Nathaniel Dorsky.
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Performances
Transitions
Presented by The Nocturnists
January 16, 2020, 7:00 PM
Join us for an evening of medical storytelling on the theme of “Transitions.”
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Dance
The Christmas Ballet
Presented by Smuin Contemporary Ballet
December 12–23, 2019
Light up your holiday season with Smuin’s The Christmas Ballet!
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Public Art
WE ARE THE ASTEROID III
Justin Brice Guariglia
December 9, 2019–April 30, 2020
Guariglia’s solar-powered LED highway message board draws audiences into lively discussions about the climate crisis.
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Screenings & Films
Celebrating Jonas Mekas 2: Walden
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
December 8, 2019, 5 PM
Cinematheque closes its 2019 exhibition year with a rare screening of Mekas’ legendary film.
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Public Programs
Sarah Rifky
Presented by Curatorial Research Bureau
November 14, 2019
Curator and writer Sarah Rifky talks about her experience founding and running small-scale arts organizations.
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Public Programs
Transforming Community Development through Arts and Culture
November 13, 2019, 3–6:30 PM
A celebration of the power of the arts to advance equitable and resilient communities.
+ Read more
Screenings & Films
Everywhere at Once: Films by Sylvia Schedelbauer
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
November 7, 2019
Sylvia Schedelbauer appears in person to present a retrospective of recent films.
+ Read more
Public Programs
Endangered Spaces: San Francisco
Presented by The New York Times & YBCA
November 7, 2019
Michael Kimmelman and June Grant address the politics of public space and how they have affected the city of San Francisco.
+ Read more
Screenings & Films
Something Between Us: Films by Jodie Mack
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
October 24, 2019
Jodie Mack appears in person to present a collection of works.
+ Read more
Public Programs
Na Kim
Presented by Curatorial Research Bureau
October 24, 2019
Graphic designer and curator Na Kim talks about her dynamic design practice.
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Dance
Fall Season 2019
Presented by Alonzo King LINES Ballet
October 1–6, 2019
Experience the communion of jazz luminaries Charles Lloyd and Jason Moran with dance pioneer Alonzo King.
+ Read more
Screenings & Films
Makino Takashi: Memento Stella
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
September 26, 2019
Makino Takashi appears in person to present this digital video work.
+ Read more
Public Programs
Ute Meta Bauer
Presented by Curatorial Research Bureau
September 26, 2019
Internationally-renowned curator and professor of contemporary art talks about her curatorial work.
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Exhibitions
The Body Electric
September 6, 2019–February 23, 2020
Works by an intergenerational and international group of artists who have seized upon the screen as a place to rethink the body and identity.
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Dance
Four Acts of Light & Wonder
Presented by Garrett + Moulton Productions
August 9–11, 2019
An evening of radiant dance and live music celebrating the irrepressible nature of the human spirit.
+ Read more
Screenings & Films
Remembering Phil Solomon
Presented by San Francisco Cinematheque
August 8, 2019
This tribute includes several of Solomon’s greatest films.
+ Read more
Convenings & Conferences
Where We Are: Defining Youth Engagement and Social Practice
Presented by YBCA
July 27, 2019
A convening that explores youth organizing, civic engagement, and social practice.
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Exhibitions
Art of Peace
July 23—August 25, 2019
Art and artists raising awareness about the continued escalation of death due to gun violence in our country.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Identity & Pride
Youth Exploration of Self
June 18—July 14, 2019
A show exploring broad themes of identity, including gender, ethnicity, culture, community, and love.
+ Read more
Event
Public Square
June 1, 2019
YBCA Fellows unveil their yearlong projects through workshops, visual and performance art, dance, music, and more.
+ Read more
Performances
A Tribute to A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders
UnderCover presented by YBCA
May 16—18, 2019
UnderCover honors the album with a genre-bending tribute show.
+ Read more
Performances
We Have Iré
Paul S. Flores presented by YBCA
May 10–12, 2019
A multidisciplinary theater work exploring the true stories of Afro-Cuban immigrants living in the United States.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Suzanne Lacy: We Are Here
April 20–August 4, 2019
The first full retrospective of the Los Angeles–based artist, co-organized by YBCA and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.
+ Read more
Performances
Requiem Mass: A Queer Divine Rite
Holcombe Waller presented by YBCA
November 16–17, 2018
A performance that remembers those who suffered persecution for their sexual orientation and gender expression.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Bay Area Now 8
September 8, 2018–March 24, 2019
An exhibition that focuses on what is being created in studios across the region is not just desirable, but vital.
+ Read more
Public Art
Andrea Bowers: Climate Change is Real
September 7–18, 2018
A public art project commissioned for the Global Climate Action Summit.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Futurefarmers: Out Of Place, In Place
April 20—August 12, 2018
A collective, playful, inquiry-based approach to art making that spans multiple disciplines and ways of inhabiting the world..
+ Read more
Exhibitions
The Open Workshop: New Investigations in Collective Form
March 9—July 29, 2018
A group of design experiments by Bay Area design-research studio The Open Workshop.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Yishai Jusidman: Prussian Blue
December 1, 2017–March 25, 2018
A series of paintings rendered almost exclusively in one of the earliest artificially developed pigments used by European painters—Prussian Blue.
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Edgar Arceneaux
December 1, 2017—March 25, 2018
Edgar Arceneaux explores historical patterns around race and representation through drawings, installations, and theater.
+ Read more
Performances
Transform Fest Fall 2017: Program C
Presented by YBCA
September 16 & 21, 2017
Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Larry Arrington, Sandra Lawson Ndu, Minoosh Zomorodinia & Fogbeast perform.
+ Read more
Performances
Transform Fest Fall 2017: Program B
Presented by YBCA
September 15 & 23, 2017
Fauxnique and RAWdance perform.
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Performances
Transform Fest Fall 2017: Program A
Presented by YBCA
September 14 & 22, 2017
Visual and performance artist Jesse Hewit and street-dance theater company Embodiment Project perform.
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Festival
Transform Fest Fall 2017
Presented by YBCA
September 14–23, 2017
Seven newly commissioned performances by prolific Bay Area artists—spanning from contemporary dance to experimental performance—to pop-up installations, community conversations, and even a late-night party that creates dance floor citizenship
+ Read more
Exhibitions
Space Brainz–Yerba Buena 3000: Damon Rich & Jae Shin
June 30, 2017–January 28, 2018
Where the art center becomes a laboratory for dissecting how power works through built space.
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Public Art
Abeyance (Draves y Robles y Vargas)
Jerome Reyes
June 21, 2017-June 21, 2021
Abeyance honors three Bay Area natives by sharing their stories of migration, displacement, and resilience.
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Exhibitions
Tania Bruguera: Talking to Power / Hablándole al Poder
June 16–October 28, 2017
A survey exhibition that presents all of Bruguera’s long-term, socially engaged art projects to date.
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Performances
Last Blue Couch in the Sky
Kim Epifano presented by YBCA
June 2–4, 2017
Featuring site-specific dance and performance happenings in the street, on fire escapes, and throughout public space.
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Performances
Dearest Home
Kyle Abraham presented by YBCA
May 16–20, 2017
A work about love, longing, and loss that weaves together movement and vulnerability with cross-cultural conversation and community action.
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Performances
For You
Erika Chong Shuch presented by YBCA
April 1, 2017
Erika Chong Shuch crafts performances informed and inspired by select submissions from local creatives.
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Performances
The Blues Project
Dorrance Dance presented by YBCA
March 16–18, 2017
A dynamic evening of rhythm, original live music, explosive energy, and raw emotion.
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Exhibitions
Teddy Cruz & Fonna Forman – Visualizing Citizenship: Seeking a New Public Imagination
March 10–June 18, 2017
Presenting case studies for more expansive and inclusive ways of thinking of the relationships between the United States and its neighbors
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Dance
Clas/sick Hip Hop
Amy O'Neal & UnderCover presented by YBCA
February 16–18, 2017
Clas/sick Hip Hop brings you “Opposing Forces” and “UnderCover Presents: A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.”
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Performances
A Tribute to The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
UnderCover presented by YBCA
February 16–18, 2017
Fifteen Bay Area ensembles pay homage to Grammy award–winning, iconic artist Lauryn Hill.
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Performances
Opposing Forces
Amy O'Neal presented by YBCA
February 16–18, 2017
Utilizing tropes of contemporary performance to expose fears around feminine qualities in our culture through the hyper masculine dance style of breaking.
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Exhibitions
Lynn Hershman Leeson: Civic Radar
February 10–May 21, 2017
An acclaimed retrospective of Bay Area artist Lynn Hershman Leeson’s revolutionary career from the 1960s to the present day.
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Performances
les vérités
Gregory Dawson presented by YBCA
January 27–28, 2017
“les vérités” builds on the rich, raw, highly energized style of movement that dawsondancesf has been building for the past decade.
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Performances
Honduran Garifuna Dance Party!
Aurelio presented by YBCA
December 4, 2016
Aurelio, a torchbearer of the Garifuna musical tradition, marries the music and the movements of his Caribbean coastal culture.
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Performances
The Poet of Havana
Carlos Varela presented by YBCA
December 3, 2016
Legendary Cuban nueva trova singer-songwriter Carlos Varela, showcases a musical style that developed in post-revolutionary Cuba.
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Performances
Edward Simon and Ensemble Venezuela
Presented by YBCA
December 2, 2016
Pianist and composer Edward Simon leads Ensemble Venezuela in creating and showcasing underrepresented Venezuelan music.
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Performances
I Am Home: A Musical Reflection on Love, Migration and Identity
Diana Gameros presented by YBCA
December 1, 2016
Diana Gameros presents an evening of Latin-influenced indie-pop, folk, jazz, and orchestral music.
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Performances
SF Sonido Fest
Presented by YBCA
December 1–4, 2016
A four-day music festival featuring a rich diversity of Latin American & Caribbean singer-songwriters.
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Performances
/pe-LO-tah/
Marc Bamuthi Joseph presented by YBCA
November 18–20, 2016
/peh-LO-tah/ links culture and sport to the complexities of soccer as a conduit for both global joy and global corruption.
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Performances
Retribution
Tanya Tagaq presented by YBCA
November 18, 2016
A complex, exhilarating, howling protest that links lack of respect for women’s rights to lack of respect for the planet, to lack of respect for Indigenous rights.
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Performances
In Concert with Nanook of The North
Tanya Tagaq presented by YBCA
November 17, 2016
Tanya Tagaq’s intense, evocative vocalizations, based on Inuit throat singing traditions, help reclaim the controversial 1922 film “Nanook of the North.”
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Exhibitions
Erick Meyenberg: The wheel bears no resemblance to a leg
October 14, 2016–February19, 2017
An intricate case study of participation and coproduction between an artist and a specific community.
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Exhibitions
Tom Sachs — Space Program: Europa
September 18, 2016—January 15, 2017
Tom Sachs and his team of astronauts set their sights on the next frontier of space exploration.
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Exhibitions
The Ocean After Nature
June 17–August 28, 2016
An exhibition that considers the ocean as a site reflecting the ecological, cultural, political, and economic realities of a globalized world.
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Performances
This Was Made Here: A Diasporic Odyssey
Meklit presented by YBCA
May 19–21, 2016
This performance teases the senses weaving American jazz and traditional Ethiopian rhythms.
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Performances
Luciano Chessa
Presented by YBCA
April 30, 2016
A retrospective self-portrait by the internationally renowned artist Luciano Chessa.
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Performances
The Unlearning
Theresa Wong presented by YBCA
April 29, 2016
This work questions whether war is a cycle that repeats itself or if it can be broken through deeper individual unlearning and learning.
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Performances
The Crossing
Edward Schocker and the Crossing Ensemble presented by YBCA
April 29, 2016
A performance that invites audiences to physically experience sound.
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Music
New Frequencies Fest 2016
Presented by YBCA
April 28–30, 2016
An annual ode to eclectic contemporary music featuring visionary musicians and sound explorers.
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Performances
Memory Trace
Pamela Z presented by YBCA
April 28, 2016
An exploration of the concept of memory inspired by her late mother’s affair with memory loss.
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Exhibitions
Slow Dialogues: Time, Space, and Scale
April 22–July 10, 2016
A site-specific dialogue with social, cultural, and environmental conditions of the Bay Area.
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Performances
echo::system–treadmill dreamtime running in place
Grisha Coleman presented by YBCA
April 15–17, 2016
A full sensory experience, the work inspires a significant perspective shift in how we interact with our environment.
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Exhibitions
Samara Golden: A Trap in Soft Division
March 11–May 29, 2016
Golden attempts to stage the sixth dimension–a place where the future, present, and past exist simultaneously.
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Exhibitions
Take This Hammer: Art + Media Activism from the Bay Area
March 11–August 14, 2016
Who is an activist? What role does art play in social change?
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Performances
Analogy/Dora: Tramontane
Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company presented by YBCA
March 10–13, 2016
A meditation on perseverance, resourcefulness, and resilience while suggesting the amorphous nature of memory.
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Performances
The Odyssey–from Vietnam to America
Vân-Ánh Võ presented by YBCA
January 22–23, 2016
The Odyssey–from Vietnam to America explores the personal and spiritual journeys of the Boat People.
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Exhibitions
Metahaven: The Sprawl
December 17, 2015–April 3, 2016
The project explores the mutation of propaganda in the age of social media.
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Exhibitions
Kevin Cooley: Golden Prospects
December 17, 2015–April 3, 2016
Cooley blurs the lines between the natural and the environmentally harmful.
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Exhibitions
Office Space
November 7, 2015–February 14, 2016
The exhibition cleverly subverts contemporary office culture to explore labor practices in the 21st century post-industrial economy.
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Exhibitions
Work in Progress: Investigations South of Market
November 7, 2015–February 16, 2016
New works on site that delve into the layered history of the South of Market neighborhood.
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Exhibitions
Earth Machines
August 14–December 6, 2015
This exhibition considers the relentless stream of new technological products in light of their underlying material precariousness and profound ecological impact.
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Exhibitions
Won Ju Lim: Raycraft is Dead
August 14–December 6, 2015
Lim presents a new iteration of an ongoing body of work that considers our relationships to the spaces we occupy and own.
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Exhibitions
Radical Presence: Black Performance in Contemporary Art
June 13–October 11, 2015
The first comprehensive survey of performance art by visual artists of African descent from the United States and the Caribbean.
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Exhibitions
Shana Moulton: Picture Puzzle Pattern Door
April 16–August 2, 2015
A multimedia installation featuring a humorous, playful, and sometimes painful world where kitsch, mysticism, pop culture, and spirituality collide.
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Exhibitions
Nate Boyce: Polyscroll
January 23–April 5, 2015
A body of work that emphasizes the hand drawn and painterly representation, in order to forefront how our tools create the semblance of space and depth in 2D and 3D within the longer history of painting and sculpture
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Exhibitions
Lucy Raven: Hollywood Chop Riding
November 14, 2014–January 11, 2015
Lucy Raven uncovers the complexities at play in technology.
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Performances
Dohee Lee: MAGO
Presented by YBCA
November 14–15, 2014
Dance, music, animation, and ritual take you on a mythical journey where continents, seas, internal landscapes, ancestral legacies, and a woman’s earthly journey intertwine.
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Exhibitions
Alien She
October 24, 2014–January 25, 2015
A view into the passion and diversity of Riot Grrrl, a pioneering punk feminist movement that emerged in the early 1990s.
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Exhibitions
Landscape: the virtual, the actual, the possible?
October 24, 2014–January 25, 2015
The exhibition considers visual, perceptual, and conceptual systems that have become increasingly unstable, both physically and metaphorically.
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Exhibitions
Jacqueline Kiyomi Gordon: It Only Happens All of the Time
March 7–June 15, 2014
Gordon explores sound’s ability to establish different levels of intimacy.
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Exhibitions
Public Intimacy: Art and Other Ordinary Acts in South Africa
February 14–June 8, 2014
An exhibition that brings together twenty-five artists and collectives who disrupt expected images of a country known largely through its apartheid history.
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