For Open Engagement, several projects that take up the conference theme of power

As a local partner for the Open Engagement—2016: POWER conference, Southern Exposure is pleased to present a series of talks, open houses, and exhibitions, as well as launch a new publication. Open Engagement is an annual, three-day, artist-led conference dedicated to expanding the dialogue around and creating a site of care for the field of socially engaged art. The conference runs from April 28 – May 1, 2016 and, in focusing on the theme of power, highlights the ability of socially engaged artists to make desired results happen.

On April 29, the first full day of the conference, seven past recipients of Southern Exposure's Alternative Exposure grant will present projects at various locations throughout San Francisco. Alternative Exposure supports the independent, self-organized work of artists and small groups that play a critical and significant role within the San Francisco Bay Area arts community. Presenting projects include A Simple Collective + Black & White Projects, Art for a Democratic Society, Living Room Light Exchange, Other Cinema, PLACE TALKS, Queens of the Castro, and Stairwell’s.

These events do not require registration for the Open Engagement conference.

Event Program & Schedule

Alternative Exposure Open House: Other Cinema
Other Cinema, an Alternative Exposure Round 6 Grantee, is a weekly microcinema exhibiting experimental and underground film, video, and performance. Founder Craig Baldwin surveys the history of Bay Area alternative spaces, with a focus on Artists’ Television Access, Other Cinema, and the contemporary microcinema scene.
When: 10:00  – 11:30 AM
Location: Other Cinema, 992 Valencia Street, San Francisco
Cost: FREE

Alternative Exposure Open House: Living Room Light Exchange
Monthly salon series Living Room Light Exchange, an Alternative Exposure Round 9 Grantee, invites artists and curators to open up their living rooms for dialogues on current undertakings and unanswered questions, and widen their circle of intimacy to include other thinkers and makers. For Open Engagement, LRLE welcomes video artist, photographer and art director Zen Cohen and Rick Prelinger, archivist, writer, filmmaker, and founder of the Prelinger Archives.
When:
12:00 – 12:45 PM  Zen Cohen speaks in the living room of Adam Gray
1:15 – 2:00 PM  Rick Prelinger speaks in the living room of Jenny Odell
Location: Two living rooms in San Francisco (address details given upon RSVP)
Cost: FREE, RSVP here

Alternative Exposure Open House: Black & White Projects + A Simple Collective
A Simple Collective, an Alternative Exposure Round 9 Grantee, is an organization of artists and arts professionals dedicated to community, equity, and content-driven contemporary art. Founder Rhiannon Evans MacFadyen presents Advantage of Disadvantage at their space, Black & White Projects.
When: 12:00 – 2:00 PM (gallery open 12:00 – 4:00 PM)
Location: Black + White Projects, 2830 20th Street #105, San Francisco
Cost: FREE

Alternative Exposure Open House: PLACE TALKS
Alternative Exposure Round 9 Grantee PLACE TALKS is a series of visual lectures about location by Bay Area artists, writers, designers, and archivists that takes place at the Prelinger Library in San Francisco. For Open Engagement, organizer Nicole Lavelle and Librarian in Residence Charlie Macquarie present talks by artists Carolina Magis Weinberg (Monumental Disorientation: Where is Christopher Columbus?) and Samuael Topiary (Exit Zero: Hayes Valley Freeways to the Future).
When: 2:00 – 3:30 PM (library open 1:00 – 6:00 PM)
Location: Prelinger Library, 301 8th Street, Room 215, San Francisco
Cost: FREE

Alternative Exposure Open House: Stairwell’s
Alternative Exposure Round 5 Grantee Stairwell’s is an itinerant project by artists Sarah Hotchkiss and Carey Lin. Starting at Southern Exposure, they will lead participants on an interactive group walking tour, challenging familiar understandings of everyday surroundings.
When: 3:00 – 4:30 PM
Location: Meet at Southern Exposure
3030 20th Street, San Francisco
Tickets: $5 via Brown Paper Tickets, available beginning April 1, 2016 at stairwells.org

Alternative Exposure Open House: Art for a Democratic Society
Art for a Democratic Society, an Alternative Exposure Round 5 Grantee, is an artist collaborative whose work addresses political activism, urban planning, faux bureaucracies, and class war. For Open Engagement, the collective takes on the persona of a redevelopment agency, asking the public how they would want to change their urban environment. In the form of an impromptu charrette, they ask passers-by to reconsider the use of public space.
When: 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Mission Dolores Park, San Francisco
Cost: FREE

Alternative Exposure Open House: Queens of the Castro
Queens of the Castro, an Alternative Exposure Round 7 Grantee, brings awareness about the differences between gender and sexuality to high schools and universities by empowering LGBT youth and allies to express themselves. They will operate a photo booth located at Southern Exposure, inviting the public to to express themselves using fabulous props and take selfies with drag performers while empowering participants to have frank conversations about gender.
When: 10:00 AM – 4:30 PM
Location: Southern Exposure
3030 20th Street, San Francisco
Cost: FREE