Sunday, August 30, 2009

New Loci Participant: looking for a lost home

san francisco mobile museum, looking for lociThis is Bruce, and he came to opening night and added a story to our map. Our map is of the Bay Area, and his note was pointing to the far east.

He just got back from Beijing where he spent time looking for the location of his grandfather's home. It got plowed over with a freeway. Other special homes like this that remain are being bought up by folks with nostalgic ties to area. The city is starting to take notice.

It's hard to imagine what it might be like to track down a plowed over home in a place like Beijing.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

Looking for Loci: Doug Robinson Links DEN to SF

doug robinson, san francisco mobile museum[As part of our Looking for Loci, participants will be featured on the blog from time to time. This guest post is by Doug Robinson of Denver. Pictured above and below are images of his creation for the exhibition].

MY GENUS LOCI: Platte Valley Rail yards - Denver

The Denver Millennium Foot Bridge marks the site of an unintended memorial to the Beat poets. Standing like a giant push pin at the edge of the Platte Valley Rail yards it connects our two cities. It starts here and ends at North Beach.
It’s here that Ginsberg boiled with unreleased passion, Kerouac wandered in the weeds drinking cheap wine searching for Paradise, and Cassady grabbed the wheel ready to race across America. The energy was building and ready to explode.

The explosion occurred on October 7, 1957 in San Francisco.The Six Gallery hosted a poetry reading. Kerouac spread his arms in poetic benediction while Cassady passed the jug working the crowd. Ginsberg dropped his H-Bomb as Howl shook North Beach. Ferlinghetti put it in print as City Lights shown round the world.
san francisco mobile museum, doug robinsonThe Millennium Bridge links our cities; poetic inspiration incubated in the Platte Valley, culminating on North Beach. Only few weeded acres of sacred ground remain. Here are some discarded relics I’ve found.
doug robinson, san francisco mobile museumMillennium Bridge: 39 45’ 10.46 North, 105 00’ 09,67 West, elevation 5190’
Doug Robinson, Denver, CO Age: 60

The Mobile Museum is Open


We had a great time last night at the opening. Uli Zinnkann and Mark Glusker helped set up, and Purple Skywalker provided some great jams to make the atmosphere complete. Critter Salon and the Studio for Urban Projects gave us lots of support.

Thanks most of all to co-curator Jaime Kopke for the collaboration & inspiration.

People enjoyed the involvement of the Looking for Loci boxes- they were carefully reading, thinking, laughing and then saying "I'd love to do one of these". A workshop session may be in the works, for now, many folks added a story or two to the map.


san francisco mobile museum
Today is hot in SF, but the SFMM is luckily on the shady side of the street. We're enjoying a regular stream of passers-by. Come say hello if you're in the neighborhood!

We're open today and tomorrow, 12 - 5pm.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

Opening Friday Night in the Mission!

We've been working away in preparation for the debut of our museum experiment. Come visit us this weekend in the Mission and participate. Not only will you get to experience "Looking for Loci", you'll get to listen to the debut of Purple Skywalker too (yes).

You can download an exhibit poster here.

Hours:
Friday, Aug. 28th 5 - 9pm
Saturday and Sunday: 12 - 5pm

Location:

Check back here for future openings or email us: info [at] sfmobilemuseum [dot] org

Thursday, August 20, 2009

SFMM Logo Evolution: a group effort


During the past weeks, we've been iterating our identity. In every sense.

Trying to visualize and synthesize the essence of what it means to be mobile and of San Fran in an iconic sort of way, is not easy.

Thanks to feedback from lots of you on FaceBook, Beth Marx of Gustav Marx Studios, Olimpia Cerda, (formerly of the Exploratorium, now runs Olimpia Cerda Studios in Valencia, Spain) and my husband (and SFMM staff photographer) Mark Glusker- we have the final design above.

Thought it would be fun to share the evolution.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Denver Maker Angela Schwab documents her process

Angela made a box of flipbooks of her favorite places in Denver. If you're into process (like we are) then you'll love her posts about how she made them. Come check her piece out in person next week at the opening. The making of:


...and a movie:

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Unpacking

The Denver and SF "Looking for Loci" boxes are here in the Bay Area, and have been photographed. It's amazing that 37 stories were able to fit into these 2 boxes. We're looking forward to hearing from the Denver folks about their experiences making and exhibiting as the SF leg gets ready to open next week. We'll begin posting those stories shortly.

Welcome to San Francisco, Mobile Museum

Welcome to the San Francisco Mobile Museum blog. This is going to be a place for the public and curators to participate, iterate, and extend the experiences of our exhibits.

Since this is a mobile museum platform, the dates and locations will be evolving. Our opening is on Friday, Aug. 28th, 2009 at the Studio for Urban Projects.

Our first exhibit, "Looking for Loci" is a collaboration with the Denver Community Museum and the good people of Denver and the Bay Area. 37 people children, adults, artists and designers responded to this challenge:
"Cross-City Challenge: Looking for Loci

Have you ever found a place in your home, neighborhood or city, and felt an invisible energy, almost like magic? In Roman culture, this was called "Genius Loci", which referred to a location's distinctive atmosphere, or spirit. In our urban environments these places can be more difficult to find, or lost altogether– but they do exist."

Locate a special place in your city and create a visual tribute to the genius loci of the spot. It can be part of your home, in a park or garden, on a street corner, or just a forgotten place in the alley"

During the Bay Area run, we're inviting folks to call into the exhibit and leave messages which will get transposed to the blog from time to time. There will also be a map of the Bay Area (thanks to Shawn Allen of Stamen Design) where visitors to the exhibit can write/draw/locate their Genius Locis.

For more info, contact us at info [at] sfmobilemuseum [dot] org.