Art Week in San Francisco was a 10-day onslaught of fairs, galleries, and museums kneeling at the altar of what makes us most human: tax write-offs. Game as I was to attend as much as possible, I can attest that San Francisco went hard in the paint; I couldn’t attend everything, but I’ll do my best to deliver the highlights. I was glad to see a number of performance art pieces, a breath of fresh air in what might have become a static bazaar of visuals. Also stimulating were injections of tech into work that could have just as easily been made by hand — Silicon Valley, why not? Light installations, a deeply considered telephone-booth piece at Fort Mason, and a bounce-house/ball-pit combo at St. Joseph’s kept things interactive. If you couldn’t make it out, here’s a wrap-up: the glitz, the glitches, and the vibes.
A robotic arm producing seed-infused earthen bricks for Lily Kwong’s EARTHSEED DOME site-specific installation at the Transamerica Pyramid. 
An 8-foot-by-8-foot-by-6-foot ceramic-and-glass swing set at the Jessica Silverman Gallery by Rebecca Manson. | Courtesy Jessica Silverman Gallery 
A sculptural D.J. booth at the Asian Art Museum, Rave Into the Future by Sahar Khoury.
Weekend one kicked off with a gala at the Transamerica Redwood Park, featuring a performance by six dancers choreographed by Madeline Hollander. The performance accompanied the unveiling of Lily Kwong’s site-specific installation EARTHSEED DOME (on display through July 31), in which robotic arms extruded clay bricks infused with seeds. Over time, the bricks will form a dome in the courtyard, blooming with native grasses and flowers. A short walk uphill led to Jessica Silverman Gallery, showing Rebecca Manson: Time, You Must be Laughing, ceramic butterfly wings arranged to simulate iridescence and a life-size ceramic and glass swing set, was a highlight (it will be there through Feb. 28). Farther west, the Asian Art Museum had its finale of Rave Into the Future, an exhibition centered on dance through the lens of West Asian queer artists. Yerba Buena Center for the Arts wrapped its Mission School retrospective, Bay Area Then, with a poetry reading and diorama building following Margaret Killgallen’s Main Drag installation.
Day two, I crossed the bridge for Marin Art Day. At Headlands Center for the Arts, several artists in residence opened their studios, including up-and-coming painter Maya Fuji. A large room featured ceramic and video work by Josephine Devanbu, alongside performances of the artist grappling with discarded structures as an ode to devotion. Marin Museum of Contemporary Art showed photography by hometown artists, including slides by punk fashion archivist and author Jimmy Jocoy. The day ended at the Fairmont Hotel with ART.FAIR.MONT, a mini-fair overlooking downtown from Nob Hill. Champagne, sleek booths, and beautiful people filled the courtyard while locals whispered about California College of the Art’s impending closure.
Weekend two was spent perusing San Francisco Art Week’s fairs. I moved from Fort Mason’s FOG fair, showcasing blue-chip galleries, to Minnesota Street Project’s Atrium for mostly local fare, and finally to the debut of Creativity Explored x Open Invitational, a progressive fair representing studios from across the United States.
Thursday night at Saint Joseph’s Art Society deserves special mention. The reclaimed church hosted an annual Art Week party, Club Curiosity, complete with a laser show, D.J. set, bounce house, and ball pit. Sculptures, performance films, and interactive works filled smaller rooms along the main atrium, where snacks and cocktails were served. Unscrupulous art lovers double-fisted drinks and soft serve from a Mr. Softee truck outside, embracing the exhibition’s theme of play.
Mexico City’s AGO Projects booth at the FOG Design & Art Fair
FOG Design & Art Fair occupied two Fort Mason buildings, with about 30 booths each. Alongside design houses with their Ikea-on-acid, prefabbed living rooms, galleries were displaying artists in their rosters, offering a valuable snapshot of what’s hot on the market today. Art fairs have become a major source of esteem for cities, bolstering tourism and gallery revenue (excluding said galleries’ travel expenses). At FOG, Bay Area audiences could see Hauser & Wirth, David Zwirner, and hometown favorites like the aforementioned Jessica Silverman within steps of one another.
Beyond the fair, Fort Mason hosted a self-guided tour that included Anthony McCall’s First Light, in which visitors moved through smoky beams of projected light in a dark room (on display through March 8). In the Guardhouse, 1-800-Happy Birthday (on view through Feb. 14.) invited visitors to pick up a payphone and listen to voicemails left for victims of police violence.
Atrium featured a different mix of local and international galleries, including a playful dog-themed installation from visiting gallery Hashimoto Contemporary. This fair was unique in that small San Francisco galleries, East Bay collectives, and nomadic Bay Area galleries showed together here, and this was where I met some of the most personable collectors and gallerists of the week. While the prestige of high-dollar sales wasn’t present like it was with FOG, enthusiasm and investment in the Bay Area’s art future were palpable. I saved the best for last: the inaugural Creativity Explored x Open Invitational Art Fair championing artists with disabilities and residents of inpatient programs. Some of my favorite work of all time comes from Creativity Explored, whose visual language brings joy to an otherwise pressure-driven market. The energy of this fair was a perfect palate cleanser after 10 days of art and a fitting finale to the Bay Area’s legendary art rager. Shout-out to Adeezoe from Creativity Explored for the best hug of the week.
Taylor Snowberger is a painter, arts writer, and art teacher in San Francisco, California.