The LAB
Encyclopedia
The LAB, located in San Francisco's historic Redstone Building
, is a not-for-profit arts organization
and performance space founded in 1984.
The Lab "supports interdisciplinary artists in the development and exhibition of new visual, media, literary, and performing art, with a focus on emerging and established experimental artists whose work crosses material, cultural and presentational boundaries and encourages new artistic and social dialogue between artists and audiences."
The LAB hosts 2 visual and 2 performing artist residencies
per year in their main space, commingled with a full year of programming including exhibitions, performances, workshops and panels.
, Laura Brun, John DiStefano, David Mighell and Tammy Logan. Co-LAB shortly became a project of The.art.re.grup, Inc., which was founded by Alan Millar in 1983. The name of the facility was changed to The LAB in 1985 due to the threat of lawsuit from C O Lab, a photography service located on 9th Street.
The organization was initially located at 1805 and 1807 Divisadero Street in a two-story commercial building in the Western Addition of San Francisco. The downstairs space had been a hippy-haunt and junk-shop for the two decades prior and the tenant's lease was due to expire. After taking over the lease the founders moved in with a couple of other artists, sharing the work effort necessary to raise the monthly rent by presenting events in the 1805 space. The organization's inaugural presentation and fund-raiser featured a performance by seminal industrial music group Minimal Man
, raising sufficient proceeds to cover immediate expenses and keep the founder's nascent vision alive. The upstairs performance space at 1805 featured a 1200 square feet (111.5 m²) hall with hardwood floors, white walls, and movable seats and risers. By summer 1985 the organization had improved the theatre space with modest sound and lighting improvements, built out a control booth, and painted the space black, much to the chagrin of the die-hard 'performance-art
purists' within the cooperative
. By late 1985 The LAB had become a recognized and sought-after venue by the city's experimental music
and performance community.
In 1985, Mr. Millar, Dana Fair and Ramon Vanden Brulle carved a modest gallery space out of the former downstairs junk shop. A solo show by San Francisco painter Dana Fair was the first visual arts exhibition in the new space. Mr. Vanden Brulle curated the follow-up exhibition, a group show that included work by several San Francisco artists, including Mark Durant.
In 1986 Mr. Millar became the organization's first Managing Director, by then devoting all the energies of the.art.re.grup, Inc. to the management, funding and operations of The LAB. In 1987 the organization was stable enough to actually pay a salary for the position and Mr. Millar became the organization's first full-time employee and first Executive Director.
From 1986-90 the organization flourished. During this time, the exhibitions program, in an effort to have a greater impact on an emerging artist's career, moved away from large group shows organized by a single curator
, to an artist's committee selecting emerging local artists for solo and two-person exhibitions. Rex Ray
, Didi Dunphy, Paco Prieto/Jeff Sands, Victor Mario Zaballa and other artists, including Dawn Fryling, had important solo exhibitions that helped launch their careers. After attending the opening of Dawn Fryling's exhibition at The LAB, new SF MOMA curator John Lane invited Ms. Fryling as the first solo artist in SF MOMA's new artists series. Glen Helfand, Patti Davidson and Scott MacLeod
were early members of the visual arts selection committee.
and perestroika
, beginning with the invitation and presentation of four young poets from Moscow to the United States for a series of readings in Connecticut, New York City, San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. As a follow up to that series of events, The LAB collaborated with San Francisco artists and presenters to bring the work of over 100 performing, visual, literary, film and video artists to the U.S.S.R. for a month long festival in 1990. The LAB then brought the work of over 40 Russian artists working in diverse media to the sister festival in San Francisco in 1991. These festivals were co-sponsored locally by Artists' Television Access
, Cinemateque, Intersection for the Arts
, Southern Exposure
, SF Camerawork and others.
mural
s visible in the lobby of the Redstone Building
and entrance to The LAB. Around that time, Elisabeth Beaird became the Administrative Director and Laura Brun, the Artistic Director.
, Beth Custer, Paul DeMarinis
, Anthony Discenza, Didi Dunphy, Elbows Akimbo
, Felipe Dulzaides
, Guillermo Gómez-Peña
, Beth Lisick
, Alan Millar
, Trevor Paglen
, Amy Rathbone, Rex Ray
, James Stark, Lise Swenson, and many more
Redstone Building
The Redstone Building, also known as the Redstone Labor Temple, was formerly called "The San Francisco Labor Temple" was constructed and operated by the San Francisco Labor Council Hall Associates. Initial planning started in 1910, with most construction work done during 1914...
, is a not-for-profit arts organization
Not-for-profit arts organization
A not-for-profit arts organization is usually in the form of a not-for-profit corporation, association, or foundation. Such organizations are formed for the purpose of developing and promoting the work of artists in various visual and performing art forms such as film, sculpture, dance, painting,...
and performance space founded in 1984.
The Lab "supports interdisciplinary artists in the development and exhibition of new visual, media, literary, and performing art, with a focus on emerging and established experimental artists whose work crosses material, cultural and presentational boundaries and encourages new artistic and social dialogue between artists and audiences."
The LAB hosts 2 visual and 2 performing artist residencies
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
per year in their main space, commingled with a full year of programming including exhibitions, performances, workshops and panels.
Early history
The LAB was founded as Co-LAB in 1984 by a group of art students from the Interdisciplinary and Experimental Arts Center (InterArts) at San Francisco State University. Founding members included Alan MillarAlan Millar
Alan Millar is the former Head of Philosophy at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Millar received his PhD at Cambridge. He researches philosophy of mind and the theory of knowledge.-External links:*...
, Laura Brun, John DiStefano, David Mighell and Tammy Logan. Co-LAB shortly became a project of The.art.re.grup, Inc., which was founded by Alan Millar in 1983. The name of the facility was changed to The LAB in 1985 due to the threat of lawsuit from C O Lab, a photography service located on 9th Street.
The organization was initially located at 1805 and 1807 Divisadero Street in a two-story commercial building in the Western Addition of San Francisco. The downstairs space had been a hippy-haunt and junk-shop for the two decades prior and the tenant's lease was due to expire. After taking over the lease the founders moved in with a couple of other artists, sharing the work effort necessary to raise the monthly rent by presenting events in the 1805 space. The organization's inaugural presentation and fund-raiser featured a performance by seminal industrial music group Minimal Man
Minimal man
Minimal Man was an American industrial and experimental rock project, formed in 1979 in San Francisco, California. The group was founded and led by Patrick Miller, a visual and sound artist who moved to San Francisco in the late 1970s...
, raising sufficient proceeds to cover immediate expenses and keep the founder's nascent vision alive. The upstairs performance space at 1805 featured a 1200 square feet (111.5 m²) hall with hardwood floors, white walls, and movable seats and risers. By summer 1985 the organization had improved the theatre space with modest sound and lighting improvements, built out a control booth, and painted the space black, much to the chagrin of the die-hard 'performance-art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
purists' within the cooperative
Cooperative
A cooperative is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit...
. By late 1985 The LAB had become a recognized and sought-after venue by the city's experimental music
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
and performance community.
In 1985, Mr. Millar, Dana Fair and Ramon Vanden Brulle carved a modest gallery space out of the former downstairs junk shop. A solo show by San Francisco painter Dana Fair was the first visual arts exhibition in the new space. Mr. Vanden Brulle curated the follow-up exhibition, a group show that included work by several San Francisco artists, including Mark Durant.
In 1986 Mr. Millar became the organization's first Managing Director, by then devoting all the energies of the.art.re.grup, Inc. to the management, funding and operations of The LAB. In 1987 the organization was stable enough to actually pay a salary for the position and Mr. Millar became the organization's first full-time employee and first Executive Director.
From 1986-90 the organization flourished. During this time, the exhibitions program, in an effort to have a greater impact on an emerging artist's career, moved away from large group shows organized by a single curator
Curator
A curator is a manager or overseer. Traditionally, a curator or keeper of a cultural heritage institution is a content specialist responsible for an institution's collections and involved with the interpretation of heritage material...
, to an artist's committee selecting emerging local artists for solo and two-person exhibitions. Rex Ray
Rex Ray
Rex Ray is an American fine artist and graphic designer based in San Francisco. His work has been exhibited at galleries and Museums throughout the US and Europe including Turner Carroll Gallery, Gallery 16, Crocker Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, MCA Denver...
, Didi Dunphy, Paco Prieto/Jeff Sands, Victor Mario Zaballa and other artists, including Dawn Fryling, had important solo exhibitions that helped launch their careers. After attending the opening of Dawn Fryling's exhibition at The LAB, new SF MOMA curator John Lane invited Ms. Fryling as the first solo artist in SF MOMA's new artists series. Glen Helfand, Patti Davidson and Scott MacLeod
Scott MacLeod
Scott MacLeod is a Scottish rugby union footballer. He currently plays as a lock for Edinburgh and the Scottish national team....
were early members of the visual arts selection committee.
Russian Arts Exchange
In 1989, at the suggestion of John High, The LAB's literary curator, The LAB launched an impressive series of cultural events with the U.S.S.R. during the age of glasnostGlasnost
Glasnost was the policy of maximal publicity, openness, and transparency in the activities of all government institutions in the Soviet Union, together with freedom of information, introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev in the second half of the 1980s...
and perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, beginning with the invitation and presentation of four young poets from Moscow to the United States for a series of readings in Connecticut, New York City, San Francisco, Long Beach and Los Angeles. As a follow up to that series of events, The LAB collaborated with San Francisco artists and presenters to bring the work of over 100 performing, visual, literary, film and video artists to the U.S.S.R. for a month long festival in 1990. The LAB then brought the work of over 40 Russian artists working in diverse media to the sister festival in San Francisco in 1991. These festivals were co-sponsored locally by Artists' Television Access
Artists' Television Access
Artists' Television Access is a non-profit art gallery and screening venue in San Francisco's Mission District in the United States of America. ATA exhibits work by emerging, independent and experimental artists in its theatre and gallery space as well as on its weekly Public-access television...
, Cinemateque, Intersection for the Arts
Intersection for the Arts
Intersection for the Arts, established in 1965, is the oldest alternative non-profit art space in San Francisco, California. Intersection's reading series is the longest continuous reading series outside of an academic institution in the state of California....
, Southern Exposure
Southern Exposure
Southern Exposure may refer to:*Southern Exposure - a San Francisco non-profit art space.*Southern Exposure - a 2007 album released by FireHouse guitarist Bill Leverty...
, SF Camerawork and others.
The Mural Project
In 1996 the LAB commissioned the Clarion Alley Mural ProjectClarion Alley Mural Project
Clarion Alley Mural Project is an artists' collective formed in October 1992 by a volunteer collective of six North Mission residents: Aaron Noble, Michael O'Connor, Sebastiana Pastor, Rigo 92, Mary Gail Snyder, and Aracely Soriano...
mural
Mural
A mural is any piece of artwork painted or applied directly on a wall, ceiling or other large permanent surface. A particularly distinguishing characteristic of mural painting is that the architectural elements of the given space are harmoniously incorporated into the picture.-History:Murals of...
s visible in the lobby of the Redstone Building
Redstone Building
The Redstone Building, also known as the Redstone Labor Temple, was formerly called "The San Francisco Labor Temple" was constructed and operated by the San Francisco Labor Council Hall Associates. Initial planning started in 1910, with most construction work done during 1914...
and entrance to The LAB. Around that time, Elisabeth Beaird became the Administrative Director and Laura Brun, the Artistic Director.
Current staff
Currently, Eilish Cullen serves as the Executive Director and Mary Anne Kluth as the Associate Director.Past performances and exhibitions
Artists who have been presented or exhibited at the LAB include Nao Bustamante, Rebeca Bollinger, Bruce ConnerBruce Conner
Bruce Conner was an American artist renowned for his work in assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography, among other disciplines.-Early life:...
, Beth Custer, Paul DeMarinis
Paul DeMarinis
Paul DeMarinis is an American electronic music composer, sound, performance, and computer-based artist.-Education:In 1971, Demarinis received a B.A. in Music and Filmmaking Interdisciplinary from Antioch College...
, Anthony Discenza, Didi Dunphy, Elbows Akimbo
Elbows Akimbo
Elbows Akimbo was an Avant Garde performance art ensemble that emerged from San Francisco's underground scene of the late 1980s and stopped producing work in the mid 1990s....
, Felipe Dulzaides
Felipe Dulzaides
Felipe Dulzaides is a Cuban-American artist.Felipe Dulzaides’ is an artist whose work includes video, installations, photography, assemblages, neon, performance-actions, drawings, social sculptures and concept based public art projects...
, Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Guillermo Gómez-Peña was born in Mexico City and moved to the US in 1978, where he established himself as a performance artist, writer, activist, and educator. He has pioneered multiple media, including performance art, experimental radio, video, performance photography and installation art...
, Beth Lisick
Beth Lisick
Beth Lisick is an American writer, performer, and author of four books. With Arline Klatte, she co-founded the Porchlight Storytelling Series of open-mic spoken word performances in San Francisco in 2002. Her spoken word performances were featured at the Lollapalooza festival in 1994, the South by...
, Alan Millar
Alan Millar
Alan Millar is the former Head of Philosophy at the University of Stirling, Scotland. Millar received his PhD at Cambridge. He researches philosophy of mind and the theory of knowledge.-External links:*...
, Trevor Paglen
Trevor Paglen
Trevor Paglen is an American artist, geographer, and author.He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a PhD in geography from the University of California at Berkeley, where he currently works as a researcher.Paglen is the author of three books...
, Amy Rathbone, Rex Ray
Rex Ray
Rex Ray is an American fine artist and graphic designer based in San Francisco. His work has been exhibited at galleries and Museums throughout the US and Europe including Turner Carroll Gallery, Gallery 16, Crocker Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, MCA Denver...
, James Stark, Lise Swenson, and many more