THIS EXHIBIT & RELATED EXHIBITS & EVENTS HAPPENED SEPTEMBER 17, 2021 THROUGH JANUARY 30, 2022.
Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture (FMCAC) presented OUT OF SIGHT, a participatory outdoor art installation by celebrated artist Lawrence Weiner. OUT OF SIGHT was free and open to the public.ON VIEW
Fort Mason Entrance & Pier 2: September 17, 2021 to January 30, 2022
The Exploratorium: Late September 2021 to January 30, 2022 (Pier 15, The Embarcadero, San Francisco)
McEvoy Foundation For The Arts Presentation At Minnesota Street Project Atrium: October 16, 2021 to January 22, 2022 (1275 Minnesota Street, San Francisco)
Lawrence Weiner, OUT OF SIGHT Activity Guide (English), created by the San Francisco Children's Art Center (SFCAC)
Lawrence Weiner, OUT OF SIGHT Activity Guide (Spanish), created by the SFCAC
In his ground-based mural OUT OF SIGHT, Lawrence Weiner addresses the viewer within a simple hopscotch pattern board. OUT OF SIGHT combines wit and whimsy in a game-like format, encouraging learning and self-actualization through the use of graphical phrases embedded throughout the work. By being able to stand, walk, or jump from one position to the next, OUT OF SIGHT taps into the dynamic “gamification” of learning and self-discovery. The viewer navigates the creation as they see fit -- interpreting the work while interacting with it.
“A person coming in with whatever situation they find themselves in, the minute they have any thoughts about themselves going FROM HERE TO THERE, they will be able to stand in front of the marelle (French for hopscotch) and realize they first have to imagine themselves doing it, that’s assuming a position,” said the artist.
For San Francisco, the artist has created a new color suite for the OUT OF SIGHT marelles that will be presented in English, Mandarin Chinese, and Spanish languages. FMCAC has partnered with The Exploratorium and the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts to install the work across the city’s waterfront and the Minnesota Street arts compound in the city’s Dogpatch neighborhood. San Francisco Children’s Art Center, a FMCAC resident, has created an engagement guide for families with young children to “jump” into conversation with the hopscotch.
“Lawrence Weiner’s OUT OF SIGHT is an ideal artwork for inviting our visitors and public to play on our entry plaza at Pier 15,” says Kirstin Bach, Interim Director of Arts, Exploratorium. “It sets the stage for the discovery and inspiration visitors can find while exploring our exhibits within the walls of the Exploratorium.”
The 1275 Minnesota Street installation, made possible by McEvoy Foundation for the Arts with the support of Minnesota Street Project, is presented in conjunction with Next to You, an exhibition of modern and contemporary artworks from the McEvoy Family Collection that celebrates the joy, vitality, and healing power of the performing arts. Next to You is on view through December 4, 2021 at McEvoy Foundation for the Arts, located nearby at 1150 25th Street, Building B, San Francisco.
“OUT OF SIGHT is a sorely needed dose of cultural medicine that invites us all to be together again," says Susan Miller, Executive Director, McEvoy Foundation for the Arts. “As the arts continue to recover from the setbacks in the pandemic, collaboration across institutions such as his are ever more important in rebuilding our arts’ ecosystems.”
About The Artist
Lawrence Weiner (b. 1942, South Bronx, d. December 2, 2021)
In Memoriam: ArtForum honors Lawrence Weiner.
Lawrence Weiner grew up in the South Bronx. Already in college when he was about 17, he decided to leave it and his family to go venturing around the North American Continent, seeing and experiencing as much of the United States, Mexico, and Canada as he could. Weiner’s first exhibition as an artist was in 1960 in a field in Mill Valley, California. Since then, he has maintained: “Art is the empirical fact of the relationships of objects to objects in relation to human beings and not dependent upon historical precedent for either use or legitimacy.”
Considered a central figure in the development of conceptual art during the 1960s, Weiner is renowned for his predominantly language-based artworks, which he presents as sculpture. His decision to replace the traditional 3-dimensional objects and materials of sculpture with ideas presented in language allows the viewer to source meanings and perspectives from their own private experience or engagement with the work.
Fort Mason Arts Fall 2021 exhibitions were made possible by generous support from Dunn-Edwards Paints.
All Fort Mason Art Programs are generously supported by San Francisco Grants for The Arts and the FMCAC Board of Directors.
Lawrence Weiner, OUT OF SIGHT. OUT OF SIGHT is a project of See The Vision, Grab The Vision, a 501(c)(3) dedicated to producing innovative public art and programming designed to engage, inspire, and empower youth and participants of all ages.
Image Credits: Photos by Charlie Villyard