CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Art
The Wattis is a contemporary art space that critically engages with audiences, artists, and ideas.
About
Discover art discourses of today
Michelle Lopez, Single Line/Ropehenge, 2025. Nylon, steel, fiberglass, resin, enamel, 88 1/2 x 72 1/2 x 110 in. Co-commissioned by the Wattis and Tufts University Art Galleries.
Mission and Approach
CCA established the Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts in 1998 as a public forum for discussing and presenting leading-edge art and culture. The Wattis works with artists in two distinct ways: as an exhibition space and research institute. We organize exhibitions, artist residencies, public programs, performances, and publications.
Located on CCA's expanded campus, the Wattis is a resource for students and faculty members in multidisciplinary programs at CCA, including the Fine Arts and Visual and Critical Studies graduate programs.
The Wattis centers the artist's perspective and supports artists who take risks and experiment with new ideas. It provides a public forum to established, emerging, and under-recognized artists who challenge our understanding of the art of our current moment. Our exhibitions and programs are free and open to all.
Programs
On view and on our mind
What can we learn from artists today?
The Exhibition Program consists of new productions of commissioned work and exhibitions of specific bodies of existing work by artists from around the world.
The Research Program commits an entire year to a single artist's work. It uses it as a lens to reflect on our contemporary moment more broadly via reading groups, public events, and publications.
Emilio Amero, Photogram (star pattern), ca. 1932. Vintage silver print on paper on mount, 9 3⁄4 x 7 3⁄4 in. Collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.
Upcoming
Exhibition
Viaje a la luna
On view June 12–October 11
Opening Reception: June 12, 2025, 6-8pm
Viaje a la luna (A trip to the moon) is a group exhibition inspired by the only film script written by the renowned Spanish Surrealist poet, playwright, and artist Federico García Lorca. Featuring both national and international artists, the exhibition builds upon themes explored in the script, as well as the social and political context of its creation in the late 1920s. The exhibition draws a parallel to the present, the 2020s, with politically far-right nationalist movements and fascist ideologies once again on the rise, causing the world to become more insular and uncertain.
Exhibiting artists: Emilio Amero, Lola Álvarez Bravo, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Diane Arbus, Nina Canell, Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Ajit Chauhan, Federico García Lorca, Rosalind Nashashibi, Francesco Pedraglio, Tania Pérez Córdova, Álvaro Urbano, Danh Vo
Hiwa K, Pre-Image (Blind as the Mother Tongue), 2017, film still. Single channel HD video, color, sound, 17:00 mins. English and Kurdish, with English subtitles. Courtesy the artist, Prometeo Gallery Ida Pisani, and KOW.
Research
Through July 31, 2025
This year-long research season uses the work of the artist Hiwa K as a lens to consider our contemporary moment. Join us to engage with a series of open questions mapped across public programs such as reading groups, lectures, performances, screenings, and other events.
Visit
Free and open to all
Address
The Wattis is located on CCA's campus at 145 Hooper Street in San Francisco.
Check in at the main entrance and take the exterior stairs to the Wattis on the second level.
Hours and admission
The Wattis Institute is open to the public Wednesday–Saturday, 12–6 pm. Please note that will need to sign in with an ID to access our campus and the Wattis.
Parking and public transportation
Limited parking with a four-hour time limit is available along streets adjacent to the CCA campus.
CCA is accessible by BART with Muni bus connections at Civic Center or 16th Street station or by Muni with nearby stops for the 19, 22, and 55 bus lines.
The Wattis is ADA-accessible through an elevator inside the Simpson Family Makers Building. Take a right inside the lobby and follow the corridor to the Wattis elevator.
Library
Explore our living archive
Ester Partegàs and Stephen Lichty in Conversation
This online collection includes artist interviews plus video and audio documentation of all past lectures, performances, and events. There are also essays about exhibitions, plus reviews, reading lists, and interviews to read.