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Frank Smigiel

@fsmigiel

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Chief Curator @fortmasoncenter // former Exhibition + Museum Studies Chair @sfaiofficial (RIP) // San Francisco // just looking —
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Ten days left. PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. The room holds his absence first. Then he starts arriving: in the audio, vibration, voices of people who knew him best. In tactile books, fingers find his drawings pressed into the page. Two years in Jess Curtis's archive opened up a universe of curiosity. This dream project created with LisaRuth Elliott @sfurbanwanderer and involved so many fabulous artists who made deeply felt work. @weird_little_sister @silkymaria_ @ori.diwa @bibliotecapopular_brucelee This has been one of the most beautiful events I’ve ever had the opportunity to create and be involved with and I’m grateful for the support this project has received by the outstanding gravity defying and generous dream team @fsmigiel and @marijanekubow and their teams @fortmasoncenter . It’s been a blessing to get to celebrate the spirit of SF radical underground movement of the 1980s-1990s that coalesced partly around 848 Community Space -‘the little space that could’ created by @jessacurtis @keithhennessysf And Michael Med-o Whitson and @krubyblume @jack Davis @mooney.jeffrey and others @ledascout @tracythieriot @mayfieldbrookz @seesonya - It birthed two generations of wildly talented and inspired intercontinental and inte generational artists activists and witches that continue on today. Sat Aug 8 Accessibility Day. Tours 12:30 + 2:30, zine making. Ian Buchanan of Fully Tactile Art SF on site with me and Maia Scott. No registration. Just show up. Aug 14–16 ICE. CAR. RAGE. Jess's 1997 Ice/Car/Cage remade by RUPTURE, directed by Gabriele Christian, performed by jose e. abad, Styles Alexander, Clarissa Rivera Dyas. The ice means something else now. So does the rage. Tickets required. Gallery talks with LisaRuth and me, 6:30 nightly. Gallery is free. Closes Sunday Aug 16. Photos: Mark McBeth, Seth Eisen, Nicholas Bruno #PleaseStayTouch #JessCurtis #GravitySF #FortMason #BayAreaDance #QueerDance #DisabilityArts #AccessibleArt #ContactImprovisation #SFArt #ArchiveAsArt #TactileArt @fortmasoncenter @gravity_sf @rachael.dichter @fullytactileartsf @gabriele.mov @SFUrbanWanderer @setheyezen @tiffany_taylor_sf_bay Taylor @markmcbeth @maiascottmoves LINK IN BIO
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EL LIBRO DE LAS APARICIONES | THE BOOK OF APPARITIONS ▪︎ “The language of the dead”, writes Haytham El-Wardany, “is that of the tiniest imperishable life forms, persistently sending signals, even from beneath the earth”. Writing, an extension of the body, and also a form of reading, finds ways to invoke apparitions. What objects around us can help us read the signals from these "imperishable life forms"? How can we connect with what is no longer present? For this gathering, we invited participants to bring an object through which they feel the presence or signals of someone or something missing from this world. In bringing our attention to these objects we created writings and drawings that explore our relationship with absence. These objects found their way into a collaborative constellation in the form of a book, using photocopy, collage and artisanal bookmaking techniques. Este encuentro explora cómo nos relacionamos con la ausencia a través de los objetos, utilizando el trabajo con la página como un espacio para la improvisación, el ritual (entendido como una manera de archivar el tiempo), para escuchar y transcribir los rastros de las apariciones. "Escribir y leer, no importa dónde, tiene mucho que ver con desenterrar, y captar, las presencias y las ausencias... y el libro como tierra fértil", escribe Ammiel Alcalay. Al final, reunimos y entrelazamos las apariciones en un libro hecho colaborativamente, in situ, con las manos. Un taller concebido por Lorena Marín y Erasmo Pantoja, por invitación de Abby Crane. Tuvo lugar el domingo 19 de julio de 2026, en el marco de PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. JESS CURTIS EXPERIMENTS WITH GRAVITY, una exhibición y laboratorio vivo de sensaciones y movimiento, curado por Frank Smigiel en el Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, en San Francisco. Gracias a The Arion Press por el espacio para este encuentro. #libros #arte #fantasmas #edicionartesanal #libroartesanal
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Yesterday jose e. abad danced a solo in the gallery at PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. and I am still carrying it around. after the world, a gesture\ was a work in progress showing with jose, accompanied by Nik Kniehase. It came out of the loss of Jess, of Shakiri, and of others dear to jose. Drawing on the philosopher Federico Campagna, jose works from the idea that a world is a made thing, an artificial construct held together by the story a people tells about reality. When that story loses its ring of truth and its significance for living, the world it sustained disintegrates, and new and alien worlds emerge from the ruins. Over twenty minutes the piece moved between the interior of the gallery and the world outside it, building a small bounded world of time and space and relation that dissolved the moment it ended. TOMORROW, Friday July 31, 4 to 6 PM: REHEARSING OTHERS. jose teaches the tools and scores behind the piece. Social improvisation, revolutionary imagination, and the idea that other worlds get made through practice, myth, and collective embodied acts. Free. Max 26 people. RSVP link in bio. SATURDAY Aug 1, 12:15 PM: Rachael Dichter, Co-Artistic Director of GRAVITY, performs “you used to be naked.” In 2013 she and Jess made a duet where they stood side by side facing the audience and improvised a conversation, every sentence beginning “I want you to.” He had recently asked her to perform it again. Revisiting it on the two year marker of his passing, the piece has become about passing itself, about transition, and about the deep unknowability of death and what comes after. A short curator talk and a tour follow. I will be in the gallery until 4 PM giving free tours, so drop in any time. PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. Jess Curtis Experiments with Gravity closes August 16. Fort Mason Center Storehouse, Building D, 2 Marina Blvd. Video and stills: Mark McBeth. Performance photos: courtesy Rachael Dichter, Mark McBeth, Robbie Sweeny. #PleaseStayTouch #JessCurtisGravity #joseeabad #RachaelDichter #FortMason SFDance Improvisation DisabilityArt QueerArt BayAreaDance ExperimentalDance
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Friday, July 24: free curator tours at 2:30 PM (with Seth) and 6 PM (with Seth and LisaRuth Elliott), just walk in. Then at 7 PM, sublunary, sublunary, sublime, sublime, a durational performance collaboration with Abby Crain (she/her) and Styles Alexander (they/them), audio description by Rachael Dichter. Fort Mason Night Market runs 5 to 10 PM, gallery open until 8 PM. Parking is limited. LINK IN BIO —— Saturday, July 25: Docent Day. Guided, interactive tours built for blind and low-vision visitors and open to anyone who wants to join, led by Ian Buchanan and Maia Scott, walk in anytime. Then at 4:30 PM, gravity is a field; i move beside you, scores by Perel and Abby Crain, a group work exploring loss and healing through 7 PM. Everything above is free. Both performances are part of the Activation Stage, led by artists Curtis mentored. Closing weekend, August 14-16, RUPTURE company restages Ice/Car/Cage as ICE/CAR/RAGE- live, directed by Gabriele Christian. Fort Mason Center, through August 16. #PleaseStayTouch #JessCurtisGravity #FortMason #SFDance #DisabilityArt
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What an evening it was💫 Thank you to everyone who joined us last Friday for the opening of #𝗔𝗻𝗱𝘆𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘆: 𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀. The evening brought together people from across San Francisco’s arts, civic, and cultural communities, including Mayor @danielluriesf,@notthatgodot, #KatePatterson, @fsmigiel, Superintendent #DavidSmith, @merideemoore, #RandiFisher, and many others. Your support helps make #SanFrancisco such a vibrant and creative city! 👉 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝘆 𝗚𝗼𝗹𝗱𝘀𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘆: 𝗥𝗲𝗱 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀 is on view through July 30. Visit our website for open hours and more information. 📸 by @drewaltizerphotography
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I’m honored and humbled to see My Work, Your Food, Our Land grow. The mural with the same name is now documented in this publication by @fortmasoncenter. The mural is no longer at its location, but it's immortalized in this catalog. Thank you to @fsmigiel, @marijanekubow, and all the team at @fortmasoncenter for making it possible, as well as to @haightstreetart for being such a crucial part of this amazing project. I’m grateful and fortunate to be able to bring visibility to a community that has been discriminated against and overlooked for decades, and has gone through so many political and social oppressions, which are crucial to our everyday lives. Now more than ever, this is relevant; agriculture and immigration go hand in hand, and that affects us all, especially our food. Their work is essential for us to keep having food, and they are the ones who care for the land that others want to destroy. If you want to learn more about this project and the mural, you can get your copy on the @fortmasoncenter website. Link in bio. Soy honrado y agradecidao de ver crecer Mi Trabajo, Tu Comida, Nuestra Tierra. El mural homónimo ahora está documentado en esta publicación de @fortmasoncenter. El mural ya no se encuentra en su ubicación, pero está inmortalizado en este catálogo. Gracias a @fsmigiel, @marijanekubow y a todo el equipo de @fortmasoncenter por hacerlo posible, así como a @haightstreetart por ser una parte crucial de este increíble proyecto. Me siento agradecido y afortunado de poder visibilizar a una comunidad que ha sido discriminada e ignorada durante décadas, y que ha sufrido tantas opresiones políticas y sociales, cruciales para nuestra vida cotidiana. Ahora más que nunca, esto es relevante; la agricultura y la inmigración van de la mano, y eso nos afecta a todos, especialmente a nuestra alimentación. Su trabajo es esencial para que sigamos teniendo alimentos, y son ellos quienes cuidan la tierra que otros quieren destruir. Si quieres saber más sobre este proyecto y el mural, puedes conseguir tu copia en la página web de @fortmasoncenter. #farmworkers #artistamexicano #yourfoodmyworkourland #mural #bayareaartist
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⁠This Wednesday, pick your arena. ✨️ Meditative 16mm light experiments or a live painting showdown?⁠ ⁠ • 6–8:30PM @fortmasoncenter: A one-night 16mm screening connected to "Anthony McCall: First Light," featuring the films that inspired his iconic "Line Describing a Cone." The evening begins with a pre-screening tour led by Chief Curator @fsmigiel, followed by the screening in collaboration with @sfcinematheque. *RSVP required for screening.⁠ ⁠ • 7–10PM @publicworkssf (21+): @artbattlesanfrancisco. Artists go head-to-head, transforming blank canvases into finished works in just 20 minutes. Three rounds. Live voting. Bid on the pieces before the night ends. Fast. Loud. Decided by the crowd. $27 tickets.⁠ ⁠ Same night. Very different frequencies. Choose accordingly. 😎⁠ ⁠ 🖼️ Cover: courtesy of Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture⁠ ⁠ #artguidesf #sanfranciscoart #sfart
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Thank you Bay Area for showing up for @carriehott and my shows at @etalgallerysf. such a beautiful place and an amazing community of artists. felt extra meaningful during this heartbreak of a time with the news of CCA closing. I feel thankful for this place and art community that is at the core of who I am.
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Fort Mason Art and the Kramlich Art Foundation present “Anthony McCall: First Light”, on view January 10th through March 8th, 2026, at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture in San Francisco.
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As momentum builds at Pier 29, we’re highlighting more of the artists, writers, and cultural workers whose ideas will help bring color to our new public space. Their work reflects curiosity, experimentation, and the Bay Area’s long tradition of thinking differently. Johanna Jackson is an artist whose sculptural and functional objects turn everyday forms into places of feeling, care, and quiet strangeness. Her practice blurs the line between the handmade and the poetic, often extending into collaborative furniture and domestic worlds. Frank Smigiel is a curator, educator, and the Director of Arts Programming & Partnerships at Fort Mason Center. His work bridges performance, visual art, and queer histories through collaboration, conversation, and community energy. Chris Ware is a storyteller and image-maker whose intricate, deeply human narratives explore memory, time, and the architecture of daily life. In books like Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth, Building Stories, and Rusty Brown, he expands what comics can hold as both literature and visual art. Alongside them are Michelle Mansour, Stephanie Fine Sasse, Jonn Herschend, and Mark Dion. Together, they’re part of the growing circle of voices informing Art + Water as we shape a lively, public, and deeply San Francisco space. You can explore all of our visiting artists anytime at artpluswater.org! More to share soon. Portrait of Johanna at YBCA by @jo_o.e
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At Friday night’s Fort Mason Art Walk, I had the chance to hear artist Oscar Lopez @oscar_lopez_art and @fortmasoncenter chief curator Frank Smigiel @fsmigiel talk about “Your Food, My Work, Our Land” — Oscar’s breathtaking mural in the public art corridor between Buildings B and C. This work expands on a screen-printed poster first distributed at Bay Area farmer’s markets, now transformed into a sweeping visual narrative of agricultural labor past and present. Oscar spent months visiting small farms and interviewing workers across the Bay Area, depicting them with the monumental dignity of the great Mexican muralists and the Mission Muralismo tradition. The mural doesn’t just honor those who keep us fed, it calls on us to witness their work and see the people behind our food system, those whose labor is often overlooked but whose efforts sustain us all. On view through September 29th GO SEE!! Oscar’s mural is both a tribute and a call to action, a reminder that art can cultivate gratitude, visibility, and solidarity. Fort Mason has produced a really fabulous catalog for this exhibition. To purchase, see the link above in my bio!
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Honoured to have curated this program BE WATER, MY FRIEND : AN ANIMATION INTERVENTION - Join us on Tuesday, March 4th at 6-7:30pm, Gallery 308, Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture. This is the first of two closing programs for Kota Ezawa’s exhibition Here and There - Now and Then, presented by FMCAC in collaboration with SFMOMA. Artists in this exciting program include @jane_cheadle , Al Jarnow, @karlkaisel , Amy Kravitz, @leilei_animation , Len Lye, @hellopetermillard , @edwinrostron2 , Vicky Smith, @xophx , @kialytihngang . A big thankyou to all the participating artists and to @fsmigiel for this lovely invitation to curate this program!
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