The Evolving Office: an Arte Útil project
April 17- 22, 2017
Diego Rivera Gallery at San Francisco Art Institute
800 Chestnut Street
The Evolving Office: an Arte Útil Project, Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco art Institute, 2017
The Evolving Office: An Arte Útil Project provides a space of engagement where visitors are welcome to hold discussions, read, listen and even inquire further into the Arte Útil archive. In lieu of an exhibition, the office stages a laboratory and investigative space and the visitors are the users of the space. Arte Útil as a concept urges us as artists, writers and creative thinkers to reconsider the potential of art beyond limited notions of aesthetics, to reimagine the ‘function’ of art and its potential effects within society. Art, in this regard, can be a tool for social and political change that aims to offer a beneficial outcome for its users. It is this direct immersion of art into a society and its engagement with various localities, communities, and peoples that makes a space for transformation and collaboration possible; in this way, useful art becomes an arena for action. We endeavour to transform the Diego Rivera gallery into an open, ‘coworking’ office space where visitors (both students and campus guests) are welcome to engage in personal research, host meetings, or spend time with the provided materials.
We invite users to come and make use of the Evolving Office. There are tables to work at, a lounge area for conversing (and napping), and the accidental utility of no wifi! The Arte Útil archive is also available for your perusing pleasure. If you have non-confidential meetings, or just want to sit at a communal table and work without the distractions of email, sms, and the interwebs, please come and join us!