A City in Maps: de Young Residency
As Artist-in-Residence at the de Young Museum (Feb 2015), I am focusing on how San Francisco, Golden Gate Park, and the museum itself can be represented through a repurposing of visitors’ discarded paper trash. Visitors to the Kimball Gallery are asked to contribute a piece of paper trash they might have in their pockets or bag and place it on a map of the park. This experimental map made of found materials shows a view of the museum surroundings that is not necessarily geographically accurate, but reveals something about the diverse and layered social experience of the museum’s audience. Visual imagery on the map will reference specific sites (and art objects) in the museum, but also sites around the city, and beyond, that might come up in a visitor’s contribution. Visual conventions from mapmaking (linear boundaries, arrows, compasses) will help orient the viewer to a subjective sense of space, and handpainted and collaged samples of text borrowed from visitors’ maps and dialogue will provide the basis for viewers to make interpretations and connections. Visitors to the gallery during the residency will get a chance to contribute to the map, to make their own smaller experimental maps, and to view other examples my work.
