Official unlocking: Sunday, March 20, 2016
Headlands Center for the Arts
944 Fort Barry
Sausalito, CA 94965
Hours: Sunday–Thursday noon–5pm
Headlands Center for the Arts announces the opening of a new commission by Bay Area artist Carrie Hott in its historic, artist-renovated campus. The Key Room is a multifaceted multi-media project that serves as both a permanent art installation and visitor resource center in Headlands’ main building. The official unlocking of The Key Room on March 20 also coincides with the centennial year of the National Park Service (NPS), which Headlands will be celebrating throughout 2016.
Installed in the first floor of Headlands’ main building—a former military barrack turned art center—The Key Room is a matrix of stories told through images, text, sound, and video. Components of Hott’s installation include: original visual imagery made by Hott; video stations of images from Headlands’ and NPS’ archives and footage of the site; a shelf of objects from the Center’s own material history; and a bank of phones playing prerecorded audio tracks, sounds, and interviews with key players in the Marin Headlands’ history. The materials provide perspectives on everything from local history, geology, and ghosts to nature, wildlife, and architecture. Additionally, The Key Room provides timely information, including a roster of current Artists in Residence and a series of interpretive materials in the form of self-guided walking tour pamphlets created by invited artists.
To celebrate the unlocking of The Key Room, Headlands will host a day of free programming on March 20, from noon to 5pm. The launch event will extrapolate a handful of The Key Room‘s themes through interactive activities and storytelling by Holly Blake (staff, 1988–present), Phoebe Brookbank (Artist in Residence ’88), Sarah Fran Wisby (Artist in Residence ’14), Constance Hockaday, Walter Kitundu (Artist in Residence ’08), Scott Oliver (Artist in Residence ’09), and Mark Thompson (Artist in Residence ’86). A display of over 600 objects from Headlands’ history will be on view, and the Mess Hall Café will be open all day.
The Key Room will be open to the public during Headlands’ events and regular open hours, and is partially viewable by window at all times.
About Carrie Hott
Carrie Hott is an interdisciplinary artist based in the Bay Area. Her practice spans a wide range of media including drawing, installation, video, and multi-media presentations and tours. Through her practice, Hott works to find origins, connect tangents, and locate invisible histories for the environments we live in and the systems that structure our lives. Frequent themes in her work include the history of artificial light, blackouts, and whales. Hott grew up in Arizona before moving to the Bay Area, and she received her BFA from Arizona State University and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.
About Headlands Commissions Program
Since its founding over 30 years ago, Headlands Center for the Arts has commissioned artists to creatively rehabilitate and repurpose access to and use of its historic site, including: David Ireland’s Rodeo Room and Eastwing (1986); Bruce Tomb and John Randolph’s The Latrine (1988); Ann Hamilton’s Mess Hall (1989); Leonard Hunter and Mark Cavagnero’s Building 960 (1999); and Amy Franceschini and Michael Swaine’s Reverse Ark Victory Garden (2008). Headlands Commissions Program seeks out artists who engage with cultural history both local and global, and directly supports the development of new and important projects in this arena. These projects—which also include publications, presentations, installations, and exhibitions—invite audiences to re-imagine our cultural landscape through the creative reinterpretation of places, objects, and historical narratives.
About Headlands Center for the Arts
Headlands Center for the Arts is a multidisciplinary, international arts center located in the Marin Headlands and is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. Headlands’ programs provide opportunities for research, experimentation, professional development, and peer-to-peer exchange for artists working across disciplines at critical times in their careers.
