Ben Kinmont’s Our commons are free presents an exhibition portrait of the San Francisco Diggers through their publications. Radical community actors who emerged within the Haight Ashbury counterculture of the 1960s, the Diggers used mimeographs and offset printing to establish a “free” economy: free food, free medical care, free goods, free housing, and free information. These publications served to build community, share resources, and empower revolutionary living.

Kinmont brings his Street press, on view in the exhibition, to the neighborhood to print and give away Eric Noble’s A short history of the San Francisco Diggers, a 38-page illustrated essay written by Noble for Our commons are free; six different San Francisco Digger flyers from 1967; and a more recent street sheet written by original Digger Billy Murcott, Noble, and Kinmont.

Street Press Details:
On view: Saturday, July 12, 2025
Hours: 12:00 p.m. (Noon) to 4:00 p.m.
Minnesota Street Project Corridor
Between 1201 and 1275 Minnesota Street
San Francisco, CA
Free Admission

Our commons are free is on view through August 10, 2025 in The Store House (Building D) at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Admission is free. Exhibition hours are Wednesday to Saturday, 12:00 p.m. (Noon) to 6:00 p.m., Sunday 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm.

After his Street press activation, Kinmont joins San Francisco Art Book Fair programming to discuss his Our commons are free exhibition project. His artist talk occurs as part of The Lounge at 1275 Minnesota Street, curated by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s David Senior.

Ben Kinmont on Our commons are free
Talk: Saturday, July 12, 2025
5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
The Lounge at 1275 Minnesota Street
Free Admission

Image Information: #1: Ben Kinmont, Street Press (activation in Paris), 2023; #2: Street press activation (Santa Rosa, CA), 2022; #3: Ben Kinmont, Our commons are free, 2025