Please Note: Southern Exposure has rescheduled the Cries of San Francisco Market Day to Saturday, June 11, 2011, 12-5 pm from the originally scheduled June 4th date due to an unseasonable storm predicted to hit the Bay Area this weekend. All details of the Market Day will remain the same as previously outlined.

A Project by Allison Smith in Collaboration with Southern Exposure. Curated by... [read more]

Please Note: Southern Exposure has rescheduled the Cries of San Francisco Market Day to Saturday, June 11, 2011, 12-5 pm from the originally scheduled June 4th date due to an unseasonable storm predicted to hit the Bay Area this weekend. All details of the Market Day will remain the same as previously outlined.

A Project by Allison Smith in Collaboration with Southern Exposure. Curated by Courtney Fink

The Cries of San Francisco invokes the historic tradition of street peddling with melodic songs and calls. Nearly 70 Bay Area artists, craftspeople, and other urban workers. The Cries of San Francisco takes the form of a public art event centered around Mint Plaza, an installation and series of events at Southern Exposure, and publication chronicling the project.

The Market Day public art project is the central element of The Cries of San Francisco. On June 4th, 2011, the project will center around Mint Plaza and adjoining blocks of Market Street. Led by Allison Smith as the Town Crier, nearly 70 participants engage in the project, offering goods or services--tangible or ephemeral--embodied by elaborate sculptural costumes and advertized through the melodic street cries called out by each participant. Exchanges take the form of ephemeral acts and actions that cross and blur boundaries of public and private space while others serve as a parody on commodity exchange and the capitalistic nature of the art market, offering up potentially useful models for contemporary artists working in times of economic uncertainty.

Cost: FREE