In Flux: Recalibrating the Unknown
curated by Jeremy P.H. Morgan

presented by SF Artists Alumni (SFAA)
at The Museum of Northern California Art (monca)
3/21/2024 - 5/12/2024
Opening Reception: March 22nd, 5-8PM

IN-FLUX: Recalibrating the Unknown features works by 170+ SFAI alumni, staff, and faculty and is curated by Jeremy P. H. Morgan.

With the 2022 closure of San Francisco Art Institute - a bedrock of contemporary American art education for 150 years - as a backdrop, this exhibition will encourage and invite artists to consider the role of art as a means of revealing possibilities within the current dynamic fusion of social, environmental, economic and epidemiological challenges.

"The theme of "INFLUX" invites us to consider the complexities of our present moment and reflect critically on our experiences. For those of us involved in this exhibition, our connection to the San Francisco Art Institute (SFAI) runs deep, as students, staff, or faculty. The illustrious history of the school is part of our lived reality, shaping our perspectives and practices. We remember what a wonderful “cauldron of creative activity” San Francisco Art institute actually was while celebrating a sense of an unfolding and redefining of the SFAI community’s traditions and concomitant visions". Jeremy Morgan (curator)

Don't miss out on Jeremy Morgan's recent Spotlight Series talk with Julie Blankenship.

Articles of Belonging is a multi-media installation within the In Flux exhibition that proposes collaboration – coming together for mutual benefit - as a hopeful and cogent antidote to complex challenges.

The theme is healing. Articles of Belonging offers no solutions except to say, “let's turn towards each other.” A group of 10 to 15 SFAI alumni met twice a week to create a series of installations and experiences. The underlying idea is that community building and problem solving together is more fruitful than pointing fingers.

Articles of Belonging takes place in interstitial spaces—a closet, fireplaces, a small library— within the museum. Visitors to the exhibition can use these sites for restoration and reclamation or take part in collective community building projects.

How do you … in a world In Flux? extends the collaborative element of Articles of Belonging beyond the physical space of monca. Anyone with internet access is invited to respond to the prompt online at sfaa.art. Responses will scroll on TV monitors in the museum throughout the exhibition and will be accompanied by the Waves soundtrack.

In Community Security Blanket, the actions of knitting and sewing serve as both metaphor and motivator for interconnection. Anyone who wishes may participate in the making of a blanket composed of small, individually knitted squares. Knitting may be done remotely and sent in to monca or may be done at a communal table in the monca library. Throughout the duration of the In Flux exhibition, community participants are invited to come to the monca table to sew the squares together into a blanket (Image credit: Eleni Exarchou).