Geoffrey Farmer, (studied 1991), replicated the SFAI courtyard fountain as part of his installation The Way Out of the Mirror for the Canadian Pavilion at the 2017 Venice Biennale: “I was holding a copy of Howl, the epic poem by Allen Ginsberg….I was in my studio reading about the San Francisco Art Institute students who had organized Ginsberg’s first reading of Howl on 7 October 1955. I had been an SFAI student myself in 1991. I was 24 years old and I heard Ginsberg sing Father Death Blues, which rattled me. It was also when I first learned about the Venice Biennale. I discovered a copy of a 1970 artscanada magazine about Michael Snow in the School’s library. I somehow thought that if I went back to that moment of discovery I might find something. I found Allen Ginsberg and the memory of a poem he recited.” [thank you Tanya Zimbardo for this!]
With permission, SFAA is re-posting the emails Jeff Gunderson Librarian/Archivist Anne Bremer Memorial Library has been sending out since March 2020. Please enjoy this magnificent archive.