Arletta Anderson & Adam Smith, in partnership with the Tenderloin Museum and CounterPulse, present an evening of oral histories and portrait-taking of Tenderloin residents, community members, and a few stalwart volunteers. In front of a live audience, interviewees will discuss their relationship to and memories of San Francisco and the Tenderloin and how these spaces have shifted their bodies and lives over time. "Through live interviews we hope to create a portrait of not just how the city is, has, and continues to change, but how individuals have also changed over time. In this current political climate, taking a moment to come together to share our stories and reflect on our capacity to experience change is paramount to our humanity and relationship to community," Anderson and Smith shared.
Watch or participate-throughout the evening, attendees will have the opportunity to be interviewed while having their portraits taken. Oral Portraits is an invitation to reflect on living in an ever-changing landscape and hopes to capture a brief moment in participants’ lives through the simple acts of photography and conversation.
Arletta Anderson & Adam Smith make multidisciplinary work that brings together movement, theater and music. Currently artists-in-residence at CounterPulse, their newest work weather // body will be presented there April 20th through the 29th. Oral Portraits is a performance research project in support of that work. Arletta Anderson & Adam Smith are a dance artist and a theater artist, respectively. Locally, Arletta has danced with GERALDCASELDANCE, Christy Funsch, Simpson/Stulberg Collaborations. Adam is most known for his work with the San Francisco Neo-Futurists and his critically acclaimed docu-theatre experiment, Theatre Show. Together they create multidisciplinary performance that brings together movement, theater and music. Their work exists in real time: there are no characters, no fake sets, no suspension of disbelief. Anderson and Smith have shared their work at ODC (Pilot Program), The Garage, Exit Theatre, and in the Boulder Fringe Festival in Boulder, CO. www.counterpulse.org/event/edge-residency-2017
The Tenderloin Museum celebrates the rich history of one of San Francisco's most overlooked neighborhoods. Through history exhibitions, resident-led walking tours, community programs, and the presentation of original artwork, the Tenderloin Museum invites all comers to learn about the roots of our dynamic neighborhood, and reclaim our city's past and future. The 31 blocks of the Tenderloin District are a microcosm of San Francisco, peopled by immigrants and iconoclasts, artists and activists, sinners and saints. All are welcome to join us in telling its story. www.tenderloinmuseum.org
CounterPulse is a space for art and community located in the heart of the Tenderloin in San Francisco. CounterPulse provides space and resources for emerging artists and cultural innovators, serving as an incubator for the creation of socially relevant, community-based art and culture. CounterPulse acts as a catalyst for art and action; creating a forum for the open exchange of art and ideas, sparking transformation in our communities and our society. We work towards a world that celebrates diversity of race, class, cultural heritage, artistic expression, ability, gender identity & sexual orientation. We strive to create an environment that is physically and economically accessible to everyone. www.counterpulse.org