About the box: Alan Disparte's Crows

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, I'm gathering additional stories from the participants, and putting them online.

Alan Disparte is a professional artist who participated in Looking for Loci. A potent influence in his work is his childhood home from Southern California. It’s been represented in his paintings (see below) and was the inspiration for his Looking for Loci piece.

Looking for Loci, By Alan Disparte

I was surprised at how easy and fun it was to recall the areas or energies that embody my personal “Genius Loci” two primary triggers are Orange Blossoms and Crows, these sounds and fragrances transport me back to my childhood citrus farm in Southern California. These memories for me are special in that Disparte Ranch is still standing and my 86 yr. old mom still tends to her chickens, goats, geese, and garden:

Unfortunately the groves that surrounded our home have been torn out and replaced with tract homes, strip malls and parking lots. My childhood home is now a living 3 acre island in a sea of urban / suburban development:

Surprisingly the crows still hang out there and although their favorite 100 year old Deodar Cedar trees have been recently removed to widen our street and accommodate the busy traffic which now runs along the once dirt road in front of our house, the crows still find refuge in the trees that surround my mothers home. Through out the years the crows have demonstrated tremendous resiliency and like my mother who has fought very hard to keep her ranch they have truly made the best of what could have been a devastating situation.

The other great thing about the Looking for Loci project was having the opportunity of showing in the same venue as my niece Marielle Butters (my niece lives in Colorado) and since the first part of this project began in Denver and because Marielle is a great artist I had a feeling that she would make an excellent participant. The other interesting thing is that both our Loci pieces used birds as the central character and symbolic icon.

Detail from Marielle's box:

I’m glad we were able to participate, it was great fun. - Alan Disparte

A Day in the Park

As mentioned, this weekend began San Francisco Open Studios month. We at the Mobile Museum attempted to situate ourselves in the center of Weekend 1 at Dolores Park. It was a beautiful day and the park was full.

Having our exhibit Looking for Loci - a collection of shadow-box style dioramas and their stories - outdoors was interesting. The contrast of the great outdoors to tiny intimate stories was something we weren't sure about.


We set up the Museum in the round. Visitors carefully circled; reading, looking, and then writing about their own Genius Loci on the Bay Area map. Sometimes the notes were sweet, sometimes snarky (more about the map later), but all were welcome:


Seems that the experiment worked, and worked well. We got to witness the delight of many visitors as they read stories, called in and listened to Nina Simon's box that has an audio tour, or laughed about Rebecca Grey's refrigerator (more about those soon).


Participant Chris Luomanen dubbed us the "museum version of the food cart". Not sure we're quite THAT mobile. Chris has some typically smart musings about the SF food cart scene here:

http://thing-tank.blogspot.com/2009/10/recession-foodies-twitter-food-cart.html

Weather permitting, we'll move the museum to the center of the next Open Studios. Come find us - or follow us on twitter @sfmobilemuseum.

DCM Founder & Looking for Loci Co-Curator Reflects

By Jaime Kopke - Curator, Denver Community Museum

The best part about the Denver Community Museum had always been making connections; with each other, memories, imaginations, our community. Meeting Maria Mortati was one of those random occurrences that happened almost everyday at the DCM. She wrote a post for Museums Now, I read it and we started emailing. Soon she visited. Then over the next several months we kept in touch, she saw several more DCM exhibits in action and we brainstormed.

Meeting neighbors, creating participants

I met Doug Robinson (a frequent DCM participant and Looking for Loci maker) because he often rode his bike by the museum windows. One day I waved and he came in. Two little boys ended up taking a liking to my 800 sq. ft. space and would stop by almost every weekend with their dad just to hang out. Many of the participants were visitors first, intrigued by the objects and inspired to create their own.

You too can be an artist

One of the things I almost always heard while Looking for Loci traveled around Denver was, “I want to do one.” I would tell people there were still ways they could participate - take one of Becky’s cards and go to the library, call in to hear Nina’s treehouse tour...and in SF you can add your own Loci.

Hopefully this won’t be the last installment and the connections keep growing... Denver, SF - where should we go next? The museum is mobile now!

--
PS: you can keep up with Jaime via her blog: Design Klub
--

Above image: Looking for Loci exhibiting at CTA Architecture offices during a Denver First Friday Artwalk.

About the Box: Fun House Mirror

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them with their stories, adding to them where possible.
Genius Loci: 1999 Broadway, Denver
By Samantha Schmitz

This is a place downtown that makes me feel like a child. It is a bit of unnoticed whimsy in the middle of offices and traffic. This mirrored column outside of the offices at 1999 Broadway is like a fun house mirror on the sidewalk. I can stand there for long periods of time watching the traffic and light rail bend around the way, appearing to almost crash into the surrounding buildings. Also it is 1999 Broadway, so that’s cool.

Note: we don't personally know Samantha here at the SFMM, so we did a little sleuthing. Turns out 1999 Broadway is a quite tall building, designed by Fentress Architects. From Wikipedia:

"1999 Broadway is a 544ft (166m) tall skyscraper in Denver, Colorado. It was completed in 1985 and has 43 floors. The building was designed by Fentress Architects and is the 4th tallest in Denver. 1999 Broadway has a unique shape, it is shaped like a triangle with a scoop in the side. This is caused by the desire to retain the historical Holy Ghost Catholic Church at the base."

About the box: DCM curator's garden

Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. Looking for Loci co-curator Jaime shares:


Genius Loci: My Garden, Denver
By: Jaime Kopke

I live in a tiny white house that used to be home to the carousel horses over 100 years ago. Set back from the street, hidden by a row of unkempt hedges, sits my magic garden. An enormous century-old rose bush guards the decrepit gate. The vines and the weeds are constantly creeping in, though I battle them only half-heartedly because I love the wildness of this place. Rose bushes of every color and scent fill one side, while the other hosts my overgrown plot of vegetables and flowers. It’s a place where potted plants rest next to wooden saints and candles hang from the trees. This old house is filled with history and secrets and the garden is where they are hidden.

About the box: Take Me to the Cleaners

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. It's a bit hard to see in this image, but this box has a transparency in front of it, and behind, it is filled with dryer lint.


Genius Loci: "The World's Largest Discount Laundromat"*
By: Kirsten Vermulen

Smiley's Cleaners has seen a lot of dirty laundry. A classic Colfax haven for cleaning up and drying out, "the world's largest discount laundromat" is a home-away-from-home to all. With 24-7 rumble and spin, Loci finds no shortage of socks to steal or unmentionables to mangle.

*Apparently, there is more to Smiley's than lint. A Google search takes me to:

CD: A Swan at Smiley's
Blog: Life Behind Smiley's
Flickr: Somebody included it in their photostream
Yelp: Smiley's Cleaners

Box detail.

About the box: Becky loves the Library

Genius Loci: the Library
By: Becky Geller

A library is the perfect institution.

Denver Public Library provides endless information while respecting privacy. It is simultaneously chaotic & calming, with an underlying current of complete organization. Each branch combines innovative design with homespun comfort that welcomes its patrons. I think the reason I am so taken with the library is that these contradictions sit naturally with each other.

While Denver is celebrated by its library, the information is universal-- please take a call number and learn something new.* Zombie painted by Héctor Cobián.


*Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. As you can see in the detail above, Becky had library call numbers that visitors could pick up and head to their local library and search for. Giving them an opportunity to share in her Genius Loci or make one of their own.

About the box: Headquarters?

Genius Loci: Headquarters
By: Susanne Pierce Maddux

I've chosen my design office in San Francisco for my company Hero Bags. This room is a special place in my house on the second floor, an old sun room with windows on all 3 sides.

The room looks out on my south facing garden and all of the gardens and lush trees of my neighbors.

It's quiet, sunny and peaceful.

I love it.
Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. This is our one and only contributor who cited their office as their Genius Loci.

About the box: Stealing Print

Genius Loci: Baker neighborhood,Denver, CO
By: Kim Owens

I’ve always dreamed of visiting an old, vacant house and discovering something magical.

Then it happened.

While house hunting, I visited a 1800s house in Denver’s Baker ‘hood and below the vintage linoleum were newspapers dating back to 1925. There was Denver’s history preserved. It was fascinating to see an ad for the new Charlie Chaplin movie; that a cab driver was resisting the fad of new fangled automobiles. I couldn’t resist taking a piece.

Don’t tell anyone.


Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. We want to know... have you ever stolen anything at an open house?

About the box: New Meaning to Navy Seals

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them with their stories, adding to them where possible.
Genius Loci: Alameda Point
By Danielle Guidici Wallis & Patrick Wallis

Our Genius Loci is at Alameda Point, formerly the Alameda Naval Air Station.
Active from 1936 through 1997, it is vast, windy and mostly empty. It sits patiently awaiting redevelopment which has yet to happen due to the cost of remediation... it was identified as a superfund cleanup site on July 22, 1999.

Our Loci is just East of the USS Hornet, an aircraft carrier that now serves as a military museum. There is a breakwall where folks fish and seals sun bathe on the decrepit docks. Pelicans dive into the waters and snowy egrets wade in the shallows. It is a strangely beautiful place.

About the box: Livin' a Mod Dream

Genius Loci: 5327 E. Colfax Ave., Denver, CO
By: Jill Warner

We opened Mod Livin’ almost ten years ago in an an old pharmacy building on the famous Colfax Ave.

This is a place that we dreamed about...a place that we could satisfy our love for design! When the concept of Mod Livin' began it was a dream - a place where we could sit back and think about what if we opened our own business and did it in a way that sustained our life.

You always hear "Do what you are passionate about and you will never work a day in your life" Well maybe that is not true...but what we have created is a place where people can come and share the love of modern design. Not a day goes by that we don't meet someone that truly has made our utopia a reality!


Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. Mod Livin' was a proud supporter of the Denver Community Museum, our collaborator on Loci. Above is a mini Verner Panton.

About the box: Predominanty about birds

Genius Loci: The Bird Room, Loveland, CO
By: Marielle Butters

In my youth my father bred birds – watching these magnificent creatures from my height of two feet I began to obtain the uncanny notion that they were not only imprisoned physically by a metal cage but they were, like people, mentally caged by schemas and perceptions strong as steel that may never be forsaken.

As a child I pitied the birds for living in such a small space, but in truth, that space is no smaller than that set aside for each person who can see only so far in a society plagued by hegemony.

Curator's note: Marielle is the niece of Looking for Loci contributor Alan Disparte.

About the box: Flipbook Dogwalk

Curator's note: This is part of extending the Looking for Loci exhibit. If you'd like to read about the making of this piece, go here (including a movie).

Genius Loci: Berkeley Park, Denver
By: Angela Schwab

My Genius Loci is an area in Berkeley Park Neighborhood, located a few miles NW of downtown Denver.

I filmed an hour-long evening walk with the dog to share our route and some favorite points along the way: Berkeley Dog Park, Tenn Street Coffee & Books, and Tennyson True Value Hardware Store.

I consider these spaces to be essential resources and energizing gathering places in the community, and I love that these spots would not exist without the participation and contribution from residents in this charming neighborhood.

About the Box: Chris' brain (2)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. In addition to being a talented product designer, he is also the Dad of Dinah, and wrote about their family's "making of" on his blog.

Genius Loci: My Head By Chris Luomanen

Sadly, my Genius Loci is in my head, which is like a big cluttered workshop with partially finished projects lying around all over the place. I go there to relax, pick up one of those dusty projects and putter. Sometimes things get done, sometimes I just make a bigger mess. I should probably get out more.

About the box: Lawyer's Take (3)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. In our initial request, we asked all participants to design their boxes in landscape format. Rebecca, being a lawyer of course broke the rules... with style.

Genius Loci: Fridge, Bernal Heights, SF
By: Rebecca Grey

Its the fridge. It contains life's greatest joys.


PS: Rebecca is the Mom of Dinah, wife of Chris.

About the box: Bonsai & Power Lines

Genius Loci: Various locations around Denver
By: Jesse Howard

In any urban environment, there often exists conflict between natural and built environments. Perhaps the most fascinating is the unintended macro-bonsai trees created by groups of linesmen with the highly coveted job of trimming tree branches away from power lines.


Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. This curator is now intrigued to look at the relationship between trees and power lines in through the lens of high craft.

About the Box: Sleeping on a bunny's tale (1)

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, we've photographed the boxes and are posting them online. Dinah was one of our youngest, yet most magical participants. Her entire family participated- Mom and Dad will be featured next. Dad (Chris Luomanen) wrote about the "making of" on his blog.

Genius Loci: Rabbit Hutch
By Dinah Grey, Age 6

If I could go anywhere I would get shrunk down really small and live in a rabbit hutch. I would ride the bunnies all day long. And at night I would sleep with my head on their fluffy tails.

That or go to sushi.

About the box: Nina Simon takes us into the Trees

Curator's Note: As part of extending the "Looking for Loci" exhibit, I'm gathering additional stories from participants, and putting them online. Nina Simon is a museum experience developer and force behind Museum 2.0. Call 1-641-715-3900, ext. 74622# for an audio tour of her diorama.


Looking for Loci, by Nina Simon
Genius Loci: Tree House

I've always been obsessed with treehouses. In 2007, we moved off the grid in the Santa Cruz mountains from Washington DC. After much bushwhacking and deliberation, we found a redwood on the edge of our property with huge spiraling branches and incredible ocean views. It took five months to build a simple plywood platform 80 feet up in the tree. The tree platform is a magical expression of the risk and reward of living this crazy, creative rural life.

I've always dreamed of living in one - the more fantastical, the better. When my partner and I got married, we decided to get tattoos of treehouses instead of rings to mark our commitment. To me, they symbolize both imagination and rootedness, the beauty of nature and the power of human engineering. Ours is very humble (a platform, really), and this diorama shows the partial view from the platform. I'd like to believe we will build more but that first effort was so time-consuming that I think it will be several years before we have an Ewok village in the sky.

I've played with voicemail boxes as a simple audio device for exhibits before. In this case, I thought some people might stay on the line to answer the question I ask at the end ("What is that place for you?") but the question is pretty heady and goes by quickly, which I think disincentivizes answering. It sounds too rhetorical and last minute. And so instead of answers, I get a bunch of hang-ups after a few seconds. Those are nice too - I get to hear a bit of what's going on at that particular exhibit event, and it's like being transported into a social world where this little box I made months ago lives on.

Visitors sharing a cell phone listen to Nina's audio tour of her treehouse:

PS: if you're a treehouse design fan, this simple google search [as of this posting] finds some amazing resources of all types, and some fab designs:

http://bit.ly/Qq988

However, if you're looking for the magical possibilities that a treehouse can bring, then we'll leave that to your imagination, ingenuity, and choice of tree.

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.

About the box: Confluence

Genius Loci: Denver
By: Charles (39), Annnika (10),Elise(8), and Mia (6)

Our Loci is the confluence of Cherry Creek and the South Platte River. This meeting of waters is the birthplace of our city, Denver, the place we call home.

Children's laughter can be heard, dogs park, and couples walk as the city erupts around the force of nature carving its way through the urban landscape as it has done for thousands of years. Humanity and nature form their own confluence in this Loci of Denver.

Curator's note: While the exhibit has stopped running, the pieces exist online. What I love about this family project is the detail, craft and coordination. Notice the materials and implicit thought in the image above.