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Artist conversation between Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo & David Wilson

Wednesday, June 23, 6 pm PT
In Person & Online

Join us for an intimate artist conversation between David Wilson and Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo on Wednesday, June 23 at 6pm. Drop by in person, or tune in on Instagram Live @500cappstreet. David Wilson is the resident artist of The David Ireland House while artist Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo is the curator of Southern Exposure’s current exhibition, We use our hands to support. They have previously collaborated with one another and now find themselves in the same neighborhood doing collective exhibition work. Join the artists as they check in on each other, share stories and, exchange experiences of their work processes in an intimate one-on-one dialog.

This program will take place outdoors on The David Ireland House terrace. Free and open to the public.

Doors: 5:30 pm PT
Program: 6:00 pm PT

Links to the shows:
We use our hands to support, Curated by Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo at Southern Exposure @southernexposuresf

Sittings, David Wilson exhibition after 4 months of residency at The David Ireland House @500cappstreet

About the artists:

Lukaza Branfman-Verissimo is an artist, activist, educator, storyteller & curator who lives/works between Ohlone Land [Oakland, CA] and Powhatan Land [Richmond,VA]. Their work has been included in exhibitions and performances at Konsthall C [Stockholm, Sweden], SEPTEMBER Gallery [Hudson, NY], EFA Project Space [New York City, NY], Leslie Lohman Museum [New York City, NY], San Francisco State University Gallery, Signal Center for Contemporary Art [Malmo, Sweden], Yerba Buena Center for the Arts [San Francisco, CA] and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive [Berkeley, CA], amongst others. For the past 5 years, Lukaza has been the Lead Curator at Nook Gallery [Oakland, CA], collaborating with over 80+ artists, writers, performers & musicians, in a gallery located in their apartment kitchen. They are currently enrolled in an MFA program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA.


David Wilson creates observational drawings based on direct experiences with landscape and orchestrates site-based gatherings that draw together a wide net of artists, performers, filmmakers, chefs, and artisans into collaborative relationships. He organized the experimental exhibition The Possible at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) and received the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) 2012 SECA Art Award. He has exhibited his work with SFMOMA, was included in the 2010 CA Biennial, and presented a Matrix solo exhibition at BAMPFA. Wilson has received grants from The Andy Warhol Foundation, Southern Exposure, The Center for Craft and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. He is based in Oakland, CA.


David Ireland’s Tribute to John Cage

Image: David Ireland, A Variation on 79, Side to Side Passes of a Dumbball, Dedicated to the Memory of John Cage (1912-1992), 1993. Five intaglio prints, two pine boxes, and two metal music stands. Published by C. Editions, San Francisco, printed by Teaberry Press, San Francisco.

In the early 1990’s, David Ireland worked with Tim Berry at Teaberry Press and Tom Cvikota at C. Editions to print and publish A Variation on 79, Side to Side passes of a dumbball, Dedicated to the Memory of John Cage (1912-1992), 1993. The work was published as the first C. Editions project. It is comprised of two metal music stands, five intaglio prints and two pine boxes.

Image: David Ireland, A Variation on 79, Side to Side Passes of a Dumbball, Dedicated to the Memory of John Cage (1912-1992), 1993.  Published by C. Editions, San Francisco, printed by Teaberry Press, San Francisco.

The work highlights Ireland’s experimental and conceptual methods, as they are made by different methods of mark-making with each turn of the page. One process involves rolling an inked musket bullet “dumbball” over the surface of a copper plate 79 times. 79 passes—one for each year of John Cage’s life. Cage died at age of 79. In some marks on the print, Cvikota and Berry mention, “…the effect is a subtly evocative field that suggests an expressive Shodo calligraphic mark.” Apparently, Cage was fascinated by Japanese calligraphy. They further go on, “…what binds the project as a whole is David Ireland’s vision of a performative collaboration, between artist, printer, publisher and viewer.”

David Ireland did not want these sets of prints framed. He wanted them on music stands, where the paper could absorb the oils on people’s hands as they turn the page. He hoped the music sheets could be also played. This is a rare opportunity to see the work mounted in its original intended form, and it is on view during regular visiting hours.

This project acknowledges the tireless work and support of both Thomas Cvikota and Tim Berry in helping us re-mount this work for this current iteration.

Light Repair

Light Repair

Rico Duenas

September 4 – October 2, 2021

Lamp Repair Shop, Garage, Saturdays in September, 12-5pm

Reserve Your Free Tickets

Twilight Tour, Thursday, September 9,  7-9pm

A reading with poets Lourdes Figueroa, Karen Llagas, and friends, Tuesday, September 21, 6:30pm

Lamp Making Workshop, Saturday, September 25, 2-5pm (SOLD OUT)

The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street is proud to present the work of artist and electrician, Rico Duenas. This September, the House is inspired by the transformational power of light in a room and the implications of highlighting and staging stripped-down everyday objects in an elevated view. Duenas works with unassuming objects and construction materials to repurpose them into lamps, and sources of light. Duenas uses brass sheet metal, traditionally used for roofing, found cast iron, and found aged objects and magnifies its patina. Apart from lighting architectural spaces and nooks at the House, Duenas also recreates and repairs light structures implicated by David Ireland to light up specific works like the copper window, and “Delection,” a broken window, and the basement.

David Ireland had the habit of creating lamps using utilitarian materials and tools like concrete and copper pipes. He would also light up certain angles of space to highlight colors and textures in an architectural space or on an object. Ireland began his interest in art and art practice through industrial design and stage design. In several installation pieces, he would include a light fixture or a stage and light setup providing the elements of exposing a Brechtian fourth wall in reminding us that spatial mediations can provide you a different experience in lighting and staging “the everyday.”

Duenas’ intervention at the House can be viewed from September 4-25, Wednesday to Saturday. Additionally each Saturday, the Garage will be transformed into a Lamp Repair Shop where Duenas will repair anyone’s broken lamp. The show will open on Saturday, September 4, 12-5pm. There will also be a Twilight Tour on September 9, 7-9pm, A reading with poets Lourdes Figueroa, Karen Llagas and friends and Lamp Making Workshop scheduled for Saturday, September 25, 2-5pm.

Rico Duenas was born and raised in San Francisco. As a child, he spent time on the east coast with his grandfather, a sculptor and founding member of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In San Francisco, he also often accompanied his father to flea markets and garage sales, where his father bought, fixed, and re-sold furniture. It was there that he was introduced to artist Kevin Randolph, who was repurposing lights, and quickly developed a love of lighting and sculpture. He lives and works in San Francisco as a union electrician and artist.

Applications are now open for our 2022 Performing Artist Residency

Calling all Bay Area performance artists and collectives!

The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street is pleased to announce the continuation of our Artist Residency Program with a focus in 2022 on the performing arts.

In January 2021, the NEA reported that “although the COVID-19 has impacted the entire arts sector, nowhere has the effect been more direct, deep, and immediate than on the performing arts.” David Ireland himself collaborated with dance groups including Douglas Dunn + Dancers, and The David Ireland House archive includes costumes, props, and drawings of these collaborations. In light of the pandemic’s ongoing impact on this sector of the arts community, we extend an invitation to performance artists and collectives in the Bay Area to apply for our 2022 Artist Residency Program.

This ten-week residency will begin in February and end in May, culminating in an exhibition or public program events from May 15 to June 21, 2022. This residency is in partnership with Minnesota Street Project.

Diversions (2016), Douglas Dunn + Dancers performance at SFAI David Ireland exhibition reception, Painted coats by David Ireland. Photo: Taryn Haydostian.

The selected artist(s) will use the house as their studio, have access to The David Ireland House archives and study center, and consult with curator Lian Ladia on their final project. The project can be a performance work, multimedia exhibition, a public intervention with the house and/or the surrounding neighborhood, or a presentation of their research through a talk or symposium. A public education component is also suggested to be considered as part of the residency in collaboration with our education team. The artist(s) will be supported throughout the residency and afterward by the staff and resources of The House, extending the impact of the program far beyond the four-month period. There will be a $5,000 honoraria for the individual or collective and up to a $9,000 production budget. Contact Lian Ladia lian@500cappstreet.org with any questions.

The jurors include artist Aay Preston-Myint who is the current Program Manager at Headlands Center for the Arts, performing and community-based programming leader, Julie E. Phelps, Director of CounterPulse, and artist Maria Elena González, Sculpture and Ceramic Department Chair at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Deadline to apply December 10, 2021

Resident announced February 1, 2022

Apply Here

Image credit above: Douglas Dunn + Dancers performance at The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street (2016). Photo: Madison Voekel. Courtesy of Douglas Dunn + Dancers and 500 Capp Street Foundation

Lamp Making Workshop with Rico Duenas

Saturday, September 25, 2-5pm

$160/person ALL AGES*

This event is sold out

Come and tinker with us as artist and electrician Rico Duenas leads a lamp making workshop for all ages to learn the basics of putting together a lamp. All you need to bring is a positive attitude. Materials are included in the workshop. Seats are limited.

Rico Duenas was born and raised in San Francisco. As a child, he spent time on the east coast with his grandfather, a sculptor and founding member of Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. In San Francisco, he also often accompanied his father to flea markets and garage sales, where his father bought, fixed, and re-sold furniture. It was there that he was introduced to artist Kevin Randolph, who was repurposing lights, and quickly developed a love of lighting and sculpture. He lives and works in San Francisco as a union electrician and artist.

*Children 12 years and younger are required to be accompanied by adults

The House At Night/La Casita en la Nochecita

A reading with poets Lourdes Figueroa, Karen Llagas, and friends

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Doors open at 6:30pm. Poetry begins at 7pm.

Reserve Your Free Tickets

To poet Lourdes Figueroa, “Everything is Poem” and on Tuesday, September 21, 7pm at night, she will be reading several with fellow Bay Area poet Karen Llagas and friends. Figueroa further states, “Every project is a movement, a ritual full of lessons and love. I dive in with my whole body, the entirety of what has made me, made you, essentially made us — siempre letting the heart & lung of the work guide me.”

At night, foregrounded by the light sculptures of Rico Duenas, the House glows a certain way – contextualized by the Brechtian installations of David Ireland, poetry takes center stage for this event. Join us as we open the house at twilight once again. Tickets are limited.

The poetry reading will take place outdoors on our terrace. Please dress accordingly. 

Special thanks to Nina Sazevich for the title. 
Photo of the House at Night by Eric Ruby.

Lourdes Figueroa is an oral poet. Her poems are a dialogue of her lived experience when her family worked in el azadón in Yolo County. The words el azadón are used by the ones who work in the fields — the work of tilling the soil under the blistering sun. She is the author of the chapbooks  yolotl and Ruidos = To Learn Speak, completed during her Alley Cat Books Residency. She received her MFA in Poetry at the University of San Francisco. She works and lives in San Francisco with her wife, filmmaker Peggy Peralta. She is a native of limbo nation. Lourdes believes in your lung and your throat.

Photo of Lourdes Figueroa by Peggy Peralta

Karen Llagas’s first collection of poetry, Archipelago Dust, was published by Meritage Press in 2010. A recipient of a Filamore Tabios, Sr. Memorial Poetry Prize, Hedgebrook residency, and a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize, her poems have appeared in Rhino Poetry, Crab Orchard Review, the anthologies Troubling Borders, An Anthology of Art and Literature by Southeast Asian Women in the Diaspora (University of Washington Press, 2014), The Place That Inhabits Us: Poems of the San Francisco Bay Watershed (Sixteen Rivers Press, 2010), among others. She lectures at UC Berkeley and lives in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Programs

Opening of Below the lighthouse is the darkest part of night

Saturday, October 30, 12-5pm

An exhibition of the work of New York-based artist duo Zakkubalan, featuring their 2017 collaboration with composer Ryuichi Sakamoto async – volume – and new work created in conversation with The David Ireland House

Reserve tickets here

Working in the intersection of film and photography, New York-based artist duo Zakkubalan, Neo S. Sora and Albert Tholen, present a multimedia exhibition of new and older work at The David Ireland House at 500 Capp Street this fall. This is Zakkubalan’s first solo exhibition in the U.S.

Below the lighthouse is the darkest part of night features their 2017 collaboration with renowned composer Ryuichi Sakamoto entitled async – volume -, a 24-channel video installation that conjures an oblique, behind-the-scenes portrait of the composer and his creative process. Natural field audio captured in Sakamoto’s New York studio entwines with music from his 2017 solo album async to create an ever-shifting ambient soundscape. Twenty four small screens, each playing a looping video, are arranged in a darkened room like a photographic montage and create a womblike window into Sakamoto’s audiovisual environment. The piece collapses into a murky, abstracted space-time, allowing viewers to enter the composer’s subjectivity, where his everyday surroundings become indistinct from the music that they inspire. Below the lighthouse is the darkest part of night marks the first U.S. showing of async – volume –, which was on view as part of the Singapore Biennale 2019 and has been exhibited in South Korea, China and Japan.

The exhibition also features several new works created in response to The David Ireland House itself, which will be installed throughout the historic home. Zakkubalan takes inspiration for these pieces from Ireland’s long held fantasy that the House had been built by a sea captain. Bringing together film, sound, and sculpture, Zakkubalan shines a light on this cherished myth while preserving the fiction by drawing out it’s maritime metaphor. Abstract images of the ocean mingle with shifting light on the curved walls of the House. Sounds of an aging wooden ship mix with 500 Capp Street’s quiet creaks. A shimmering seascape is mapped to the carefully preserved imperfections and cracks in the plaster. 

About Zakkubalan

Zakkubalan (est. 2016) is New York-based artist duo Neo Sora and Albert Tholen working in the intersection of film and photography. The pair graduated from Wesleyan University, and Tholen is a 2017 alumnus of Sony Picture Classics’ IFP Marcie Bloom Fellowship in Film. They have exhibited installation and video work at the 2019 Singapore Biennale, 2019 Dojima River Biennale, Watari-um Museum of Contemporary Art, and the 2017 Reborn-Art Festival, among others. Zakkubalan’s latest fiction short film The Chicken (2020), directed by Sora and produced by Tholen, premiered at the 2020 Locarno Film Festival and has gone on to play festivals around the world, including the New York Film Festival and the Hong Kong International Film Festival.  It was written up in Variety and Cahiers Du Cinema, and Filmmaker Magazine named Sora one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film.