FOG DESIGN+ART Announces Programming for 2020 Fair

FOG Design+Art opens on January 16 at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, with a Preview Gala benefitting the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) on January 15. This year’s fair features a series of thought-provoking conversations and panel discussions in the FOG Theater that delve into topics and issues relevant to our modern world. The curated discussions include conversations and panels with artists, designers, curators and other innovative thinkers, with a particular eye to art, culture, and technology. The programming is organized by FOG Steering Committee member Susan Swig.

The programming events will take place throughout the run of the fair, providing a platform for engagement while fostering conversations between leaders in design and art, the Bay Area’s creative community, and the public. Program tickets are free with admission to the fair, from January 16–19, 2020, at Fort Mason Center.

The 2020 fair features 48 exhibitors, with six new galleries participating for the first time: Gallery FUMI (London), Jenkins Johnson Gallery (San Francisco), Lehmann Maupin (New York), Mercado Moderno (Rio de Janeiro), Nathalie Karg Gallery (New York), and Tina Kim Gallery (New York). In addition, FOG’s iconic installation 21POP by Stanlee Gatti, which artfully celebrates makers, will return to the fair’s entryway this year.

Programming highlights include:

• Conversations with contemporary artists expanding on exhibitions taking place in the Bay Area during FOG including:

- A talk with artist Simon Denny and Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco curator Claudia Schmuckli.

- A conversation with artist Rashaad Newsome and ARTnews editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas.

- A talk with curator and writer Jacqueline Francis with artists Adia Millett and Cheryl Derricotte, responding to representations of race and identity in the exhibition, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963–1983, at the de Young Museum.

• Talks looking at the intersection of art and technology including:

- A conversation between Tina Vaz, head, Artist in Residence and Analog Research Lab at Facebook, and Elena Soboleva, Director of Online Sales at David Zwirner, about how tech companies are creating innovative spaces for artists

- A panel discussion about the way digital collecting is impacting and changing the art market with leaders in the field, including Artsy Director, Corporate Development & Market Intelligence Alexander Forbes, Gagosian Director Ken Maxwell, [On Approval] Founder Andrew McClintock, and Lobus Co-CEO Sarah Wendell Sherrill.

• Conversations that address social issues relevant to our modern world, including:

- A discussion, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment, about how to balance gender representation in museums and private collections. This panel features artist Andrea Bowers, SFMOMA senior curator Gary Garrels, activist collector Komal Shah, and ARTnews editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas.

- A look at community building through architecture with architects Tatiana Bilbao and Marshall Brown and led by SFMOMA Architecture + Design curators Joseph Becker and Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher.

• Programming that celebrates art and design in its many variant forms, including:

- A talk focused on the intersection of food, art, and design with artist Rosana Castrillo Díaz, MARCH conceptual lifestyle store owner, Sam Hamilton, chef Corey Lee, and gallerist Anthony Meier.

- A conversation about art and museum making with Megan Steinman, director of The Underground Museum and artist Rodney McMillian.

- A discussion about Radical: Italian Design 1965–1985 with The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston curator Cindi Strauss and collector Dennis Freedman, presented by Christie’s.

The full schedule, with program descriptions follows below:

Thursday, January 16

Noon–1:30 p.m.: Innovators Luncheon presented by RIMOWA

Honoring Brian Chesky in conversation with Ron Conway

Separate tickets required. Contact 415.618.3263 for details. Proceeds from the Innovators Luncheon benefit SFMOMA’s exhibition and education programs.

3:00 p.m.: Unpacking the Politics of Tech: A Conversation with Simon Denny

A conversation with contemporary artist Simon Denny and Claudia Schmuckli, curator of contemporary art and programming, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Denny will discuss his work, including his new Document Relief sculptures and an Amazon “worker cage” patent drawing sculpture that will be included in Uncanny Valley: Being Human in the Age of AI, curated by Schmuckli, opening at the de Young Museum, San Francisco in February 2020. Denny’s work will also be on view at Altman Siegel Gallery concurrent with FOG, where he will exhibit new sculptures themed around how the technology industry interfaces with individuals, communities, and governance.

4:30 p.m.: Collecting in the Digital Age

Alexander Forbes, Director, Corporate Development & Market Intelligence, Artsy; Ken Maxwell, director, Gagosian Gallery; Sarah Wendell Sherrill, co-founder, co-CEO, Lobus; Moderated by Andrew McClintock, owner of Ever Gold [Projects] and founder of [On Approval]

The last decade has seen the emergence of many 1.0 digital tools and platforms for engaging with art online—everything from sales platforms for galleries, collectors, and auction houses to art-specific CRMs, logistics, data, and inventory systems. A panel discussion on the topic of these developments moderated by Andrew McClintock from [On Approval] and Ever Gold [Projects] will include Kenneth Maxwell from Gagosian, Sarah Wendell Sherrill from Lobus, and Alexander Forbes from Artsy. The panelists will share their experiences navigating this new terrain as we enter a 2.0 version of the art world online. The discussion will cover Gagosian's new online viewing room initiative, Artsy's platform for discovering and collecting art, Lobus's artworld data aggregator, and [On Approval]'s service which makes collecting art more accessible through subscription-based experiences. Panelists will discuss the demographics of online art collectors, the services that are available to them, and the implications these new tools have on the art market today and into the future.

Friday, January 17

9:00–11:00 a.m.: ArtBites, presented by SFMOMA’s Modern Art Council

Design-inspired breakfast by Jane

Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism

Lauren Taschen, publisher, collector, and activist in conversation with Julia Watson, designer and author Lo-TEK, Design by Radical Indigenism

Separate tickets required. Visit sfmoma.org/fog for details. Proceeds from ArtBites benefit SFMOMA’s exhibition and education programs.

1:00 p.m.: Food, Art, and Design: An Intersection

A conversation between artist Rosana Castrillo Díaz, chef Corey Lee, and store owner Sam Hamilton, about the crossovers of art and how it blurs and blends in their respective arenas. The conversation will be moderated by gallerist Anthony Meier.

3:00 p.m.: Community Building through Architecture: A Conversation with Tatiana Bilbao and Marshall Brown

Architects Tatiana Bilbao and Marshall Brown discuss their respective practices, how architecture informs social change, and the methodologies they use in their designs. Operating between the domestic and the urban scale, each architect has envisioned approaches to transforming community while looking at historical contexts and envisioning the future. SFMOMA will host two exhibitions dedicated to their work this spring. Tatiana Bilbao: Architecture from Outside In will open on March 21, while Marshall Brown: Dequindre Civic Academy will open on May 9. Moderated by Joseph Becker, associate curator of architecture and design, SFMOMA

4:30 p.m.: Ways of Being Seen: Creating Visibility for Women in Art

Andrea Bowers, artist; Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture, SFMOMA; Komal Shah, activist collector and SFMOMA trustee; Moderated by Sarah Douglas, editor-in-chief, ARTnews

Recent data has shown that progress on creating equality for women artists has been slow, and incomplete. What will hasten progress? At the beginning of a year that marks the hundredth anniversary of the 19th amendment, this panel will explore what is needed to right the balance. Among the issues discussed will be what can be gained through quantitative analysis and what can be better achieved through qualitative analysis; the role artists play through their work; activist collecting; the increasing role of women collectors; curatorial efforts to bring women artists to the fore; and the expansion of the critical conversation around women’s work.

Saturday, January 18

12:30 p.m.: Radical: Italian Design 1965–1985, The Dennis Freedman Collection

A conversation with curator Cindi Strauss and collector Dennis Freedman, Presented by Christie’s

Dennis Freedman, collector; Cindi Strauss, Sara and Bill Morgan Curator of Decorative Arts, Design, and Craft and Assistant Director, Programming, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

In the 1960s, young Italian architects and designers established the avant-garde Radical movement that culminated in distinctive and often utopian projects, including designs for furniture, lighting, and objects. Influenced by Arte Povera, Pop art, and Minimalism, the imaginative designs of the period explored form, color, and scale, and took advantage of burgeoning technological advances in materials and processes to develop a new language of design that had an outsized influence on design history. This conversation between curator Cindi Strauss and collector Dennis Freedman will explore the objects and ideas of the period as seen through The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's upcoming exhibition of Freedman’s prestigious collection Radical: Italian Design 1965–1985, The Dennis Freedman Collection.

3:00 p.m.: Mutual Muses: What Can Art and Technology Learn from Each Other

Elena Soboleva, director of online sales, David Zwirner Gallery; Tina Vaz, head, Artist in Residence and Analog Research Lab, Facebook

A discussion about the ways in which tech companies are creating innovative spaces and programs for artists, the way brick and mortar galleries are looking to explore the digital space, and how the two fields can support and challenge one another.

4:30 p.m.: Real Talk: Speaking to Soul of a Nation

This talk will feature a discussion between writer, historian, and curator Jacqueline Francis and artists Adia Millett and Cheryl Derricotte about the way artists grapple with race and identity, in response to Soul of a Nation, on view at the de Young Museum.

Sunday, January 19

11:30 a.m.: Rashaad Newsome: Artist Talk

Artist Rashaad Newsome and ARTnews editor-in-chief Sarah Douglas will be in conversation about Newsome's artistic practice, and his current exhibition To Be Real and the interactive A.I. Being. on view at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture and the San Francisco Art Institute.

1:00: The Whole Damn Museum

Rodney McMillian, artist; Megan Steinman, director, The Underground Museum

McMillian and Steinman will be in conversation on art and museum making. Their talk will orbit around McMillian’s solo exhibition, Brown: videos from The Black Show, an opera of performances about the American South, on view now at The Underground Museum.

Programming support is provided by ARTnews, Artsy, and Siol. For further details, please visit www.fogfair.com