Alcatraz and the Artist Ai Weiwei At Large

We've lived in EssEff for over 30 years, most of that on Russian Hill with a view of the bay. We see Alcatraz every day, and yet have never set foot on the island. Just one of those things that we've been meaning to get around to but never quite do.  Until today.

Alcatraz from Russian Hill

Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei, in collaboration with the For-Site Foundation, Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the National Park Service has erected a large scale art installation on the historic site which will be on display until April, 2015.

Ai Weiwei self-portrait as a silk kite in "With Wind" installation

"Ai’s sculpture, sound, and mixed-media installations occupy four locations in the former prison: the New Industries Building; a group of cells in A Block; the Hospital; and the Dining Hall. With the exception of the Dining Hall, these areas are usually restricted to the public, but all are open throughout the run of the exhibition. @Large turns Alcatraz into a space for dialogue about how we define liberty and justice, individual rights and personal responsibility. In artworks that balance political impact with aesthetic grace, the exhibition directly and imaginatively addresses the situation of people around the world who have been deprived of their freedom for speaking out about their beliefs — people like Ai himself.  A vocal critic of his nation’s government, Ai was secretly detained by Chinese authorities for 81 days in 2011, and is still not permitted to travel outside China. As a result, the artist was unable to visit Alcatraz during the planning of this exhibition; he has developed the artwork at his studio in Beijing, with the help of the FOR-SITE Foundation."

This was the impetus we needed. Sigrid arranged for tickets, we Uber'd down to Pier 33 and took the ferry to the island.

At Pier 33

Russian Hill from the ferry.

Russian Hill from Alcatraz

The mash-up of tourist attraction / art installation / political statement invokes a bit of cognitive dissonance. The impossible job of resolving these disparate elements falls squarely on the shoulders of the person guiding, exhorting and lecturing the group tour.

Gabby was our guide for the tour and she admirably addressed the challenging task, getting through the canned spiel, answering questions, and herding the group to and through the installations. Both during and after the tour we had adequate time to enjoy and explore the installations before catching the last ferry back.

The work is necessarily large and accessible, the political message is explicit and literal, the aesthetics bright and appealing. Anything small, discrete and subtle would simply be overwhelmed and lost in the setting of the hulking prison and it's depressing history.

Photography was permitted throughout, so without further ado, some images from Sigrid's Canon and my Samsung S5, focused on three of the more visually arresting galleries

With Wind

Trace

Refraction

Like any tourist destination or major museum art exhibit, at the conclusion of the tour we found a variety of books written by and about the exhibit as well as a wide selection of branded swag and souvenir tchotchkes.

As noted, there is nothing surprising about this. Still - given the ambition and artistic message of the installation is focused on the oppression of jailed, tortured and murdered artists and dissidents - some of this crap strikes a jarring note. I can't help but think this trivializes the artist's intent.  An Ai Weiwei mousepad? An AiWewei quote "Once again, the facts have been erased." printed on a giant rubber eraser? Really?

The exhibit notes explain that Ai Weiwei's passport has been confiscated by the Chinese government, he has not been permitted to travel out of China, and he has consequently not directly seen his exhibition or this display. He gets the benefit of the doubt.  But I do think someone on the commercial end of the exhibition has completely jumped the shark.  But let's wrap on a more positive note.

After 30 years, we finally checked the Alcatraz tour off of EssEff staycation list.

Moreover, we both thoroughly enjoyed the Ai Weiwei installation - definitely recommended.

Finally, I was really tickled to see this:

Although you've already seen three images of the dragon kite head in this post, you probably did not notice that the eye of the dragon has a twitter logo for a pupil. And the eyebrow is the artist's twitter handle.  Ai Weiwei is a big fan of social networks.

So I'll be tweeting this review to him as soon as I post it.

UPDATE: For-site takes note

@for_site @aiww Thanks... It's a great and inspiring art installation.
— Mike Wallach (@MWatLarge) December 5, 2014

 Editors Note: Am now frantically proofing the post for typo.

EssEff Fourth of July Fireworks from Russian Hill

Some years we get a clear view of the fireworks from our terrace on Russian Hill. Some years we do not. This year a high fog rolled in.  We could see the displays set for low and medium level, but the high blasts were lost. Still, they produced a very nice pastel colored fog bank.

Thought I'd try to capture the event with my new GoPro. The GoPro's wide angle let us pick up both the Pier 39 and Crissy Field displays, as well as the crowd gathering at the corner of Green an Jones to watch the event. I started the time-lapse about a half hour before the display, and unfortunately ran out of storage before the finale. We'll know better next time.

America's Cup Racing is underway! Sort of.

It's been a long time coming, but America's Cup racing finally got  underway on San Francisco Bay. We have been anticipating this ever since it was announced that San Francisco was selected to host the competition. The excitement was fueled by the knowledge that at least part of the course would be visible from our vantage on Russian Hill.

Over the years we've watched the teasers leading up to this event, including the 2003 Oracle Alinghi Moet Cup Challenge, and the more recent  World Series Regatta.  But today began the real deal.

Emirtates Team New Zealand Kicks Italian Butt

 The competition begins with the Louis Vuitton Cup - a  round robin tournament to determine which challenger will face current champion Larry Ellison's Team Oracle. The first scheduled race in the round robin today was between Emirates Team New Zealand and Italy's Luna Rossa.

 I was ready. Since I am recovering from a recent rotator cuff repair, there was nothing to do but settle into my new recliner, log into YouTube and Twitter coverage on my laptop, orient the recliner to the front window, keep the cold pack on the shoulder, have binoculars and camera standing by, fire up the time-lapse app on the Droid, sit back and enjoy.

Yes - you read that right - a recliner. Since I am in recovery mode Sigrid insisted I get a recliner while the arm is in a sling.  FTW! This is a piece of furniture that was considered an unacceptable mis-match to our decor for the last 20 years of our residence in the condo yet it is here now.  But I digress...

What a race! Emirates smoked Luna Rossa at the start, extended their lead around the first turn and into the downwind leg. By the time Emirates appeared on the portion of the course visible from my recliner, Luna Rossa was nowhere to be seen.  In fact, Luna Rossa was never seen by anyone at anytime during the race. Because Luna Rossa was pouting about a rule decision and decided to not race. Really:

"With a terse announcement posted on its website Saturday, Luna Rossa Challenge wrecked plans to unveil America's Cup racing Sunday on San Francisco Bay by saying it won't take part in the opening race. The Italian team said it would wait until an international jury decides its protest against safety measures introduced by regatta director Iain Murray. The jury is schedule to convene Monday. It is not known how long it will take to decide what has become an extremely thorny issue. Instead of a race Sunday, fans will see only Emirates Team New Zealand on the race course beginning at 12:15 p.m."

So all the Kiwis had to do was complete the course and not capsize the catamaran to win the first point of the tourney.  Whatev.  It was a chance to preview the races that will be taking place all summer leading into the big series for the Cup in the fall.  Some pics and video from the historic first "race" on the bay:

For more reportage on America's Cup Opening Day events, check out the on-the-ground-coverage by The Other Mike blogging at Civic Center:

"The first Louis Vuitton Cup race was set for today, between New Zealand and Italy, but the Italians have just announced they are boycotting today's race because of recent design change demands being made by Oracle USA, supposedly for "safety." An international sailing jury will announce a ruling on the issue Monday, at which point either litigation or racing or both will ensue. So far, this event has been eerily cursed and perfectly bizarre." 

True. 

Chronicle article features Russian Hill

A 1982 view of Russian Hill & The Summit from Coit Tower. The year before I moved to EssEff

 Our local fishwrap is running a weekly feature on the "Hills of San Francisco" by architecture critic John King. The Summit building (prominently displayed as the background pic for this blog) is featured in the Wednesday May 29 article on Russian Hill. The article was behind a paywall, but the Chronicle has apparently relented and released it to run wild and free across the intertubes. Particularly interesting is the history of how this building and neighborhood set the pattern for neighborhood activism, height limitations, and using CEQA as a tool to block development.

Russian Hill's lofty role in height debate
Russian Hill pivotal in city's debate over building height
by John King

"...While Fontana Towers grabbed the headlines, several modern high-rises rose on Russian Hill itself. The most striking is the Summit at 999 Green from 1965, 32 stories developed by Joseph Eichler where the upper floors flare outward. Next door are four Willis Polk cottages from 1916, which are among the two dozen homes between Broadway, Jones, Vallejo and Taylor streets that survived the 1906 earthquake or were built shortly afterward...The block dominated by Eichler's Summit is now the Russian Hill-Vallejo Street Crest national historic district. At the very top, framing a park with a sloping lawn and aged trees behind a classical balustrade, two modest shingled buildings occupy sites cleared in the 1960s for towers that never got built. They were developed by longtime residents eager to preserve the ambiance. The hill's settled aura comes with a price."

"A brute of a building" - Herb Caen

More pics are featured in John King's summary blog post at the SF Gate free site:

"Russian Hill is the stuff of which San Francisco legends are made. Snug stairways lead to homes by Willis Polk and Julia Morgan. Hyde Street is a shady nook with cable cars rumbling by. Jack Kerouac lived with Neal and Carolyn Cassidy at 29 Russell Place in 1952, and Armistead Maupin reimagined Macondray Lane as the anything-goes Barbary Lane in 1976.

It’s also a terrain of modern slab towers, startling juxtapositions that are all the more startling when you consider that no big buildings have been added since the 1960s. Instead, residents of the hill fought hard to stop anything tall from being added to the landscape after the initial wave — an effort that helped fuel the citywide antipathy to towers in the 1970s and 1980s."

Herb Caen described The Summit as "a brute of building" in his iconic column. I guess one advantage of living in The Summit on Russian Hill, is that I don't have to look at it while enjoying my view.

SF Bay and Coit Tower from The Summit

Rainbow over Baghdad by the Bay

Like waves, the Pacific storms are rolling in sets of three this year.

Pineapple Express

In a short break after the middle wave over the weekend we had a nice double rainbow over the bay.

Click to biggify.

Not sure what to think about that "pot of gold" to be found down at Fisherman's Wharf.

I'd hate to see a tourist get it.