The corner of Fulton and Larkin streets are alive with public art and civic life thanks to a sustained effort by the Asian Art Museum working in collaboration with the Civic Center Commons Initiative on the Village Artist Corner. For over a year, the museum has brought in a rotation of San Francisco artists to create site-specific work on “The Dragon” and activate the surrounding area through public programming on the first Sunday and second Wednesday of each month. The Village Artist Corner is used by Tenderloin / SOMA / San Francisco residents, people who have to call the streets home, tourists, professionals, artists and youth; it’s a microcosm of our larger city. The ways that artists use and activate that space offers insights into how public art can revive civic life.  

On Friday, Oct. 5, San Francisco artists Megan Wilson, Christopher Statton, Celi Tamayo-Lee, Mary Claire Amable and Jason Wyman will join in conversation with Fay Darmawi, executive producer of the SF Urban Film Festival, about what they learned while working at the Village Artist Corner in 2017. Wilson and Statton will share their experiences of painting directly on the sidewalk in the Civic Center for almost 5 months, installing Wilson’s Flower Interruption. Tamayo-Lee and Wyman will share stories from their installation with Mary Claire Amable called #StickyQuestions, which invited residents and visitors to answer deeply personal questions in public.  

About halfway through the conversation, visiting Indonesian artists Vina Puspita and Nano Warsono will join the panel. They are the current Village Artist Corner artists and are part of a cultural exchange between Clarion Alley Mural Project, the Asian Art Museum and Indonesian artists. Puspita and Warsono will compare their experience as public artists in Yogyakarta to their time at the Village Artist Corner.  

PUBLIC ART + CIVIC LIFE is the perfect event for city planners, arts administrators, artists, civil servants, and nonprofit leaders to learn how local and international artists are using art as a civic tool.  The guiding question for the conversation stems directly from the Civic Center Public Realm Plan: “How do we cultivate a neighborhood gathering space and public commons for all San Franciscans?” Asked another way: How do we revive civic life?