PHOTOGRAPHY AND VIDEO RETROSPECTIVE OF THE RECOLOGY® ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM
December 1, 2016 - January 28, 2017
Location: SF Camerawork, 1011 Market Street, Fl 2
Opening Reception & Artist Performance: Thursday, December 1, 2016, 6 - 8 PM
Special Shuttle Event: Saturday, January 21, 2017, 1 - 3 PM

PRESS RELEASE

SF Camerawork is pleased to present the Photography and Video Retrospective of the Recology Artist in Residence Program, on view at the gallery from December 1, 2016 to January 28, 2017. Featuring the work of 22 artists, the exhibition highlights the Recology San Francisco Artist in Residence Program’s (Recology SF AIR) role as a unique site for the creation of lens-based work. This will be the first ever exhibition to focus exclusively on photography and video created by artists in the program. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, December 1, from 6 to 8 pm.

In its 26th year, the Recology SF AIR Program provides Bay Area artists with studio space at the Recology San Francisco Transfer Station and Recycling Center, as well as access to materials in the Public Disposal and Recycling Area (the public dump). Artists work for 4 months on-site, and residencies culminate in public 3-day exhibitions. Over 150 artists have had residencies since the program’s founding.

In addition to supporting local artists, the program’s mission is to educate the public about reuse and resource conservation. The program was founded in 1990 when curbside recycling was established in San Francisco, and was developed by Recology, San Francisco’s provider of collections, recycling, disposal and composting services. The Recology SF AIR Program was conceived by artist and activist Jo Hanson, and was the most innovative part of an education plan to teach people about recycling. During their residencies artists speak to youth and adult tour groups about their artwork and their experiences scavenging and witnessing the results of hyper-consumerism, easy disposability, planned obsolescence, and our general love of “stuff.” The artists, as well as the public who view their work, often walk away from the experience with changed views about their relationship to materials and their own consumption practices.

Photographs and videos in the exhibition reflect each artist’s unique response to the materials they encountered, as well as to the Recology site itself. Incredibly diverse, the artworks explore a range of ideas related to materiality, the formal properties of video and photography, issues of memory, identity, and loss, cinematic approaches to place, as well as environmental concerns.    

In addition to artwork on view at the SF Camerawork Gallery, two special events will take place. On the night of the opening Jeremy Rourke will perform live with two short videos he made while at Recology. Additionally, during the length of the exhibition from dusk to dawn, a 3-channel site-specific video installation by Michael Damm will be presented in the windows of SF Camerawork and viewable from the street below. The work reprises a similar installation completed during his Recology residency. 

LIST OF ARTISTS
Miguel Arzabe, Jeremiah Barber, Bill Basquin, Phil Bonner, Kristin Cammermeyer, Michael Damm, Patrick Haywood, David Hevel, Jamil Hellu, Matthew Gottschalk, Robin Lasser, Ma Li, Jenny Odell, Paula Pereira, Kate Rhoades, Don Ross, Jeremy Rourke, James Sansing, Chris Sollars, Nomi Talisman, Banker White, and Noah Wilson.

OPENING RECEPTION
Thursday, December 1, 2016, 6 - 8 PM
Jeremy Rourke will perform live alongside his two short videos

SPECIAL SHUTTLE EVENT
Saturday, January 21, 2017, 1 - 3 PM
Come see the retrospective at SF Camerawork and then take our free shuttle bus between SF Camerawork and the Recology Artist in Residence Studios! Visit the current exhibition of Recology AIRs: Ramekon O'Arwisters, Anja Ulfeldt, and Jinmei Chi