500 Capp Street – The David Ireland House

The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street is now open to the public.

The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street presents exhibitions and educational programs celebrating Ireland’s artistic legacy and hosts collaborative events to strengthen San Francisco’s cultural community, bringing together artists, scholars, teachers, students and the public, as Ireland’s home did during his lifetime.

SITTINGS

A solo exhibition by Bay Area artist David Wilson developed over 4 months in residency at The David Ireland House in 2021. Wilson imbues a generosity of his process by making space for others to be creative through his invitations of maps and imprints. Expanded through poetry and sound recordings available here.

FOXY

Who is FOXY? This and other questions about narratives of art making from the period of Ireland’s life, the 1970’s to 2009, will be answered on August 21, 2021 through the launch of a performance-based oral history project of recorded stories about David Ireland and his home at 500 Capp Street.

What We’re Up To

Open

To touch, feel, listen to an old house - and see the lights from the window, reflect on the cracks on the glistening walls ahhh.. The David Ireland House Artist Guides had a wonderful summer workshop with the Columbia park boys and girls club in the Mission led by artist and educator Amy Berk @amyberk67. This is the second iteration of our public education curriculum this year featuring conceptual art for middle schoolers and teens. We miss them already. #columbiaparkclubhouse #davidirelandhouse #boysandgirlsclubsf #amyberk

Open

Today, Saturday July 17 is the release of a new recording at Sittings Site 1 (and our final installment of this site recording series!) by Sophia Shen @misssheeeeeep. Born in Zhangzhou, in southeast China, Sophia Shen is a composer, sound artist, pipa performer and improviser. Sophia met us at Site 1 for a beautiful morning performance of the Chinese instrument the pipa.

Drop by The David Ireland House 500 Capp St garage anytime Saturday from 12pm to 5pm to grab a copy of the maps to all three Sitting Sites. Once you have the directions, you can visit this public space any time you please. Site 1 will feature Sophia Shen's sounds for two weeks, Site 3 will continue to feature Norma Cole's @normaco poetry reading for another week (care of @delaplanesf), and Site 2 will feature the carnatic saxophone recording of Prasant Radhakrishnan @prasantmusic for the duration of the show.

Enjoy!

*also, since this is an experiment in engaging public space, the sites are likely to change, be affected, and be in varying states of 'functioning,' so thank you for your patience and openness to the chance elements of working in the elements. Feel free to email info@500cappstreet.org with any questions / concerns / ideas etc. Thank You!

Open

Today, Saturday July 10, is the release of a new recording at Sittings Site 3 featuring a poetry reading by the legendary Norma Cole. Norma @normaco is a poet, visual artist, and translator. She was born in Toronto, Canada, and has authored various books of poetry. In a review of her 1996 collection Contrafact, Erin Moule of Lemon Hound noted that Cole’s “meanings unfurl and gesture, resonate, play emphatic and contrapuntal gamings with language’s fluency.”
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This is the final installment of the Site 3 poetry recording series, curated by the amazingly talented Sophie Appel @appelappel and Cole Solinger @vactionsnackbar of Delaplane Gallery @delaplanesf. If you missed Todd Blair, James Cagney, Trisha Low, Gin Hart, or Tongo Eisen-Martin's site recording, we are sharing the videos of their readings and other site recordings on https://vimeo.com/500cappstreet

Drop by The David Ireland House 500 Capp St garage anytime Saturday from 12pm to 5pm to grab a copy of the maps to all three Sitting Sites. Once you have the directions, you can visit this public space any time you please. Site 3 will feature Norma Cole's reading for two weeks, Site 1 will continue to feature DJ Sin Amore's @chingona_chicana cumbia mixtape for another week, and Site 2 will feature the carnatic saxophone recording of Prasant Radhakrishnan @prasantmusic for the duration of the show.

Enjoy!

*also, since this is an experiment in engaging public space, the sites are likely to change, be affected, and be in varying states of 'functioning,' so thank you for your patience and openness to the chance elements of working in the elements. Feel free to email info@500cappstreet.org with any questions /concerns / ideas etc. Thank You! #delaplanesf #ribbonspublications #davidirelandhouse #normacole

Open

#objectoftheday David Ireland, Untitled, 1976. Play-Doh and paper on wire grid. Located at the Bedroom Hallway at The David Ireland House for David Wilson’s “Sittings” exhibition, 2021. Photo by Henrik Kam @henrikkamfoto #davidirelandhouse #500cappstreet #henrikkamfoto #sittings #ribbonspublications

Open

This Saturday July 3 is the release of a new recording at Sittings Site 1 by the incredible DJ Sin Amores @chingona_chicana. DJ Sin Amores (Crystal Mendoza) brought her bag of records for a plein air cumbia DJ set and left behind a live mixtape of bangers including a hit from Los Disco Duro @losdiscoduro on Oakland's own Discos Mas @discosmas label. Come visit the site and let Crystal guide your own private cumbia ceremony.

Drop by The David Ireland House 500 Capp St garage anytime Saturday from 12pm to 5pm to grab a copy of the maps to all three Sitting Sites. Once you have the directions, you can visit this public space any time you please. Site 1 will feature DJ Sin Amore's cumbia mixtape or two weeks, Site 3 will continue to feature Todd Blair's Creative Growth @creativegrowth poetry reading for another week (care of @delaplanesf), and Site 2 will feature the carnatic saxophone recording of Prasant Radhakrishnan @prasantmusic for the duration of the show.

Videos of past site recordings that you may have missed are being archived at https://vimeo.com/500cappstreet

Enjoy!

*also, since this is an experiment in engaging public space, the sites are likely to change, be affected, and be in varying states of 'functioning,' so thank you for your patience and openness to the chance elements of working in the elements. Feel free to email info@500cappstreet.org with any questions / concerns / ideas etc. Thank You!

David Ireland

1930 – 2009

American artist David Ireland is admired internationally for a diverse body of work concerned with the beauty inherent in everyday things and the making of art as a part of daily life.

The David Ireland House

David Ireland’s residence at 500 Capp Street in San Francisco’s Mission District is widely considered the centerpiece of his prolific career.