After two years of intense development, we are thrilled to introduce Ars Citizen.
Ars Citizen is an independent art-commissioning and curatorial platform committed to advancing the production and diffusion of contemporary art and ideas. Founded in San Francisco, a center of global influence today, Ars Citizen brings the excellence of major international artists to leaders of cultural, educational, technological and social innovation. Through collaborative partnerships, it aims to commission, produce and promote major artworks while generating relevantly conceived programming including exhibitions, lectures, debates, publications, archives, etc.
Ars Citizen values long-term commitment, networking synergy and international dialogue, and seeks to resonate with the contemporary world, its complexity and pressing challenges.
Ars Citizen is a nonprofit founded by French curator Evelyne Jouanno who has been working with the global contemporary art community for the last 20 years, particularly through Emergency Biennale, a travelling project that she created with the cooperation of 150 international artists, cultural institutions and NGOs around the world. Jouanno explains: “Today the emergency situation has become permanent and globalized. We urgently need art and culture at the core of the influential cities as the key for our future. San Francisco and Silicon Valley have a crucial role to play in this endeavor.”
The organization is co-run with Jeanne Barral, Marie Martraire and Jiajing Liu, and supported by an international Advisory Board: Abby Chen, Betti-Sue Hertz, Constance Lewallen, Emma Lavigne, Franklin Sirmans, Hou Hanru, Joel Slayton, Rudolf Frieling, Sophie Suberville, Tom DeCaigny, and Vincent Worms.
Inaugural project:
Sophie Calle: Missing
Site-specific exhibition and collateral programming
Summer 2017
Ars Citizen curates in San Francisco Bay Area a large-scale exhibition and collateral programs of French conceptual artist Sophie Calle. This project brings together various institutions in a partnership with Ars Citizen to present Calle’s multifaceted body of work. It is centered on the major site-specific and multi-venue exhibition Sophie Calle: Missing presented by Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture on the San Francisco waterfront, from June 29 to August 20, 2017. Missing gathers Calle’s iconic projects spanning the last decade: Rachel Monique, Take Care of Yourself, The Last Image, and Voir la mer, while offering a comprehensive approach to her recurring concepts reflecting on absence.
The collateral programs are respectively presented by UC Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive, FraenkelLab, City Lights Bookstore, and The Roxie Theatre, and will highlight her video work, recent photographic projects, and a wide range of her books.
This project is the first milestone in a longer‐term commitment undertaken by Ars Citizen with Sophie Calle in the Bay Area, the region where the artist’s career began in the late 1970’s.
Other projects:
Sarah Sze
Site-specific permanent work
June 2016
Ars Citizen won the international competition for St. Mary’s Square Public Art Project in San Francisco with the site-specific proposal Book of Rocks by the NYC based artist Sarah Sze. The competition was led by the Chinese Culture Center in collaboration with 500 Pine Street Company, and the City of San Francisco. Unfortunately, due to late yet significant changes to the conditions, Sarah Sze and Ars Citizen withdrew the winning proposal. Ars Citizen is looking for new opportunities for Sze’s project in the Bay Area.
Felice Varini
Site-specific work
October 2016
Organized in partnership with Exploratorium, swissnex, the Consulate General of Switzerland, and Pro Helvetia, Ars Citizen invited Paris-based Swiss artist Felice Varini to San Francisco for a visit to explore the possibilities to create a site-specific installation on the waterfront. During his visit Varini presented his work to San Francisco’s art community and conducted a workshop with students from the San Francisco Art Institute. Early 2017 Varini made a proposal.
Artists we started to work with: Cao Fei, Emory Douglas, Piero Golia, Lynn Hershman, Pierre Huyghe, Ryoji Ikeda, Koo Jeong-A, Shawn Maximo, Tomás Saraceno, Sislej Xhafa
