The San Francisco Museum of Contemporary Art (ICA SF) opened as scheduled over the weekend in its new building, The Cube Building, 345 Montgomery Street.
This is a big move for ICA SF, which was founded in 2022 and has spent the last two years in a more modest space in Dogpatch. The museum was started with seed funding from Andy Rappaport, the couple behind the Minnesota Street Project, and Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger and his wife, Caitlin Trigger, and is funded by the directors of the first three museums. They are paying Ali Gass’ salary. year.
We learned in late August that a deal with Vornado Realty Trust would allow ICA SF to move into the 73,000 square foot building and stay there rent-free for the first two years.
ICA SF Chairman Ethan Beard said in a statement in August that the move to the Financial District “seems to leverage our agility and scale to quickly adapt to opportunities,” Beard added. It is a permanent system and one that seeks a more sustainable financial path. ”
The museum’s mission is to “make contemporary art relevant to all audiences,” and it is a non-collecting museum that exhibits the work of artists from around the world. The new museum on Montgomery Street, like the Dogpatch space, is free to enter and will host a Maker’s Studio with crafts for all ages every weekend from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Opening exhibitions in the new space include a group exhibition, “Poetics of Dimensions,” curated by Larry Osei-Mensah, which includes “everyday objects such as durags, shoelaces, felt, leather, and single leather. It includes the work of visual artists who have honed their artistic practices by utilizing materials such as plastic. ”
Also on display is a collection of sculptures by New York-based artist Kathleen Ryan. These are larger-than-life depictions of rotten food made of encrusted stones and artificial gemstones.
Telegraph Hill resident Lisa Kenney, who attended the museum’s opening weekend, told the Chronicle she was happy to see the long-vacant former Bank of America headquarters building being used. .
“I’ve looked at this building for years and it’s always been vacant,” Kenny says. “This is a big step towards further revitalizing this area.”
ICA SF is open Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., and in keeping with the tradition of the downtown SF art world, it stays open late on Thursdays until 7 p.m.
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