CCA Wattis Institute Presents Capp Street Project: Beatriz Santiago Muñoz

San Francisco, November 6, 2008

The Puerto Rico–based artist Beatriz Santiago Muñoz will present the world premiere of her new film Flowers of Antimony on Tuesday, November 25, at 7 p.m. at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. There will be a reception from 6–7 p.m. Both the reception and the screening are free and open to the public.

This is Santiago's first-ever solo project on the West Coast. Her film explores the complex issue of anarchism and how it has evolved from its original incarnation—a group-centered, utopian practice—to encompass a variety of strategies, from tree-dwelling protests to veganism to open-source computing, enacted by individuals with diverse motivations who come together for specific activities and moments. Santiago mirrors this within her film, as she investigates alternative forms of protest and different possibilities for the creation of social change.

Santiago is the fall 2008 Capp Street Project artist in residence at the CCA Wattis Institute; her project is organized by Wattis Institute Deputy Director Claire Fitzsimmons. Santiago produced the film over the course of her residency, working with a number of Bay Area anarchist and radical-leftist individuals and groups, including the Long Haul (based in South Berkeley) and Free Radio Berkeley (a now-silenced alternative radio station). As is typical of her practice, she did not work with professional actors. The participants act out unscripted, improvised narratives that exist in the collective memory or as official histories.

Santiago's films and videos have the appearance of straightforward documentaries. The seams of their narrative construction, however, whether manifest as artifice, play, discomfort, or humor, are consciously evident. Santiago's collaborators may be haphazard associations—people who happen to cross her path—or people with whom she has deeper relationships, formed over the course of months. Her subjects become removed from the accepted, codified structure of their lives and the society in which they live in order to effect social and political change.

About the Artist
Beatriz Santiago Muñoz was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, in 1972, where she continues to live and work. In 1997 she received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She will be a guest curator of the 2da Trienal Poli/Gráfica de San Juan: América Latina y el Caribe (April 18-June 28, 2009). Her work has been featured in the group exhibitions Infinite Island: Contemporary Caribbean Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York (2007); Slash Fiction, Gasworks, London (2007); and 24/7 Wilno-Nueva York Contemporary Art Center, Vilnius, Lithuania (2003).

About Capp Street Project
Since its creation in 1983, Capp Street Project has given more than 100 local, national, and international artists the opportunity to create new work through its residency and public exhibition programs. Capp Street Project offers artists the opportunity to formulate ideas and experiment in a variety of exhibition spaces while discovering and reacting to the San Francisco Bay Area. The project provides artists with the time and the resources to conceptualize, plan, and execute new work. Artists are encouraged to continue their experimentation and dialogue with the community throughout the exhibition period. The online Capp Street archive is available at www.cca.edu/library/capp.

About California College of the Arts
Founded in 1907, California College of the Arts (CCA) is noted for the interdisciplinarity and breadth of its programs. It offers studies in 20 undergraduate and seven graduate majors in the areas of fine arts, architecture, design, and writing. The college offers bachelor of architecture, bachelor of arts, bachelor of fine arts, master of architecture, master of arts, master of fine arts, and master of business administration degrees. With campuses in San Francisco and Oakland, CCA currently enrolls 1,740 full-time students. Noted alumni include the painters Nathan Oliveira and Raymond Saunders; the ceramicists Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, and Peter Voulkos; the filmmaker Wayne Wang; the conceptual artists David Ireland and Dennis Oppenheim; and the designers Lucille Tenazas and Michael Vanderbyl. For more information about CCA, visit www.cca.edu.

Lead sponsorship for Capp Street Project: Beatriz Santiago Muñoz is provided by the Nimoy Foundation.

Founding support for CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts programs has been provided by Phyllis C. Wattis and Judy and Bill Timken. Generous support provided by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Grants for the Arts / San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund, Ann Hatch and Paul Discoe, and the CCA Curator's Forum.