A to Z – 2023 – Z is for Zuckerberg SF General where the Ethereal Bodies are

I’m kind of grateful to Mark Zuckerberg for donating so much money to San Francisco General Hospital because I’ve been able to use it as the “Z” letter in two of my A to Z Challenges.

I first went to ZSFG to get pictures for my “A is for Archipelago” post so it is kind of fitting that I end there with the Ethereal Bodies. On the official Illuminate SF site the description is of something else, which is too bad.

In any case, when I went the first time it was a little too early to see either the Archipelago or the Ethereal Bodies in their full glory. This is what I saw on that visit. The lights were just starting to come on and even that was kind of neat. It looks like there is a fire in the bottom.

When I went back to get the night time views for Archipelago, I was so excited to see the changing colors in this sculpture. It was designed in 2015 by Cliff Garten who also designed the Monarch. The stainless steel rods “gather sunlight by day and interact prismatically with the LED lights by night which are activated by motion sensors.” Accordingly, the vision changes as you drive around the circular driveway. The tallest point is 21 feet, 8 inches high and it is 19 feet wide, 15 feet deep overall.

I pulled over and was able to get this video without leaving my car, just in case an emergency came through since it is right in front of the emergency room entrance. Fortunately it was a quiet night, at least while I was there. It might be kind of nice to have this light show to focus on if you are a patient in one of the rooms facing the courtyard.

Best Viewing: After dark in the driveway of Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital Emergency Room entrance, 1001 Potrero Avenue, San Francisco.

And with this we have come to the end of the A to Z Challenge for 2023! I hope that you have enjoyed my trek through San Francisco to find the unusual exhibits that make up Illuminate SF. You can bet that I will be on the lookout for the opening night in November this year to see what new installations they have. Maybe it will be enough for another A to Z! I will be doing my reflection post next week sharing more of my insights on this fun experience. See you then and thanks for coming along this year!

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A to Z – 2023 – Y is for YUD

“Y” is another one of those letters that can be tricky to find something to fill in the A to Z Challenge. You can bet I was excited that there was an installation in the Illuminate SF project called YUD.

Finding said YUD was a little more difficult. It was on the list with the “Love Over Rules” exhibit and we know what trouble I had finding that one! You would think that a 60-foot cube would be easy to spot but it is actually down a tiny street called Yerba Buena Lane. It is attached to the Contemporary Jewish Museum and you can visit it during business hours with a paid admission.

It was after hours when I went so I couldn’t get inside and there were some people walking around the plaza that I was unsure about (they were yelling at each other) so I didn’t really walk too far away from my husband and our car. Still, this is pretty impressive, don’t you think? There are 36 diamond-shaped windows around the cube and it was designed by Daniel Libeskind in 2008. Inside, the space can be used for parties or other events and there was a video project done in 2017 that you can read about here.

Best Viewing: After dark stand in the museum’s entrance plaza. The address is 736 Mission Street but it is actually on Yerba Buena Lane.

One more day in our A to Z! We will have a rare Sunday post to finish it off before May starts on Monday. See you tomorrow with what I consider the grand finale!

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A to Z – 2023 – X is for the EXploratorium where you will see Buckyball

I am glad that this installation is located outside of the EXploratorium since X is usually one of the hardest letters to find in the A to Z Challenge.

Buckyball is another one of Leo Villareal’s designs. You may remember him from the Point Cloud post. It was made part of the Illuminate SF project in 2012. The giant ball was inspired by the shape first explored by futurist and inventor, Buckminster Fuller. Hence the name “Buckyball.” There are 4,500 LED lights arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons. I didn’t get a daytime photo but it was pretty impressive at night. You can see by the clock it was about 7:55 PM.

Located on the Embarcadero, it is easy to find and there was a space available for me to pull over and get this short video. You can hear the busy street sounds in the background. The light sequences are driven by chance and there are more than 16 million distinct colors that create random compositions.

I probably could have stayed a little longer but this was one of the first trips I took on my light finding expedition and I wanted to make sure I could get to every stop on my list.

Best Viewing: The Plaza at Pier 15 in front of the Exploratorium. On Thursday nights the Exploratorium opens from 6 to 10 PM for adults only. That might be a great date night!

We only have 2 more letters to go folks. I am both relieved and a little sad to be coming to the end of the alphabet. See you tomorrow with Y.

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A to Z – 2023 – W is for Wind Baffles

Designed by !melk in 2022, the Wind Baffles are lit from the outside and though made from steel, they look a lot like giant flowers. They are situated in a tiny park in the middle of the South of Market District. It was easy to spot these as I drove down the street.

Best Viewing: After dark along Mary Street between Natoma and Minna.

Really short post today. I was awakened at 3 AM by a call from the doctor that one of my MIL’s blood tests came back at a critical level and he wanted us to take her to the ER to get checked immediately. Three hours later a repeat blood test was in her usual range. Not sure we needed to wake up a 97-year-old and drag her to the hospital for something that was nothing. She is home and fine but I’m exhausted. See you tomorrow for X.

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A to Z – 2023 – V is for Valencia Street where you will find the Handsignals

It is fortunate for me that San Francisco has streets with names that start with “V” so I can use them in my A to Z Challenge!

As you can imagine almost every street corner in the city has traffic signals. If you are wondering whether to stop or go, these symbols are not going to help with that. Instead, the Handsignals represent the themes in the Mission District’s culture. I can identify the people, the knife and fork, the sun, the bike and the mustache down at the bottom. The third one looks like a mask and the fourth one looks like a bird. I’m not sure what those are supposed to represent. Designed by Matthew Passmore/MoreLab in 2014, the signpost marks the entrance to McCoppin Hub Plaza.

The plaza itself was closed when I went by but the signals blink on and off in an irregular pattern both day and night. On the other side, McCoppin is spelled out in black letters on a yellow background.

Unfortunately I couldn’t cut down the palm tree and there was no other vantage point available for me to get the whole thing. It also appears that the sun does not shine at the moment LOL.

Sorry about the video. I can't make it smaller on Blogger when it comes over in this format from WP. 

Best Viewing: Stand on Valencia Street sidewalk to get a close up of the artwork. If you get there early enough, you can walk up the terraced steps of the multi-level McCoppin Hub Plaza to get a higher view of the neighborhood.

There are four more letters to go. I think the Illuminate SF installations I have for them are some of the best of the series so hang with me!

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A to Z – 2023 – U is for Untitled

I am really glad that they didn’t come up with a name for this installation in the Illuminate SF gallery otherwise I might have had a problem finding an exhibit for the letter “U.”

When I was driving my son to work in SF every day a couple years ago we drove up Van Ness Avenue and they were doing some major construction. This is part of what they were working on. It is called Untitled and it was designed by Jorge Pardo in 2022.

There are two sets of sculptures with 13 lighted spheres soaring as high as 21 feet at the highest point. They are located between Geary and O’Farrell Streets at the Muni stop. To me they look like giant lollipops.

Best Viewing: After dark on Van Ness Avenue between Geary and O’Farrell. The lights go on 20 minutes before sunset and go off 20 minutes before sunrise.

Sort of short today. See you tomorrow with “V.”

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A to Z – 2023 – T is for Traxon Technologies who created the lighting sequence for the Coding

I have been attempting to show some of the interesting light shows in the Illuminate SF project for my A to Z this year. There are some that are inside San Francisco International Airport but you have to be flying somewhere to get past security to see them. I miss the old days when you could just meet someone at their gate or even just wander through the airport to see the different art displays they have. Oh well.

One of the installations is very visible and it’s right around the corner from where I live so it was not too hard to get the shots I needed. This is called Coding and it was designed by Johanna Grawunder in 2019. During the day it looks like this. The yellow tags point to North, East, West and South. The square and rectangle windows apparently spell out San Francisco in Morse code.

At night it looks like this. The undercarriages of the elevator shafts change color ever so slightly. It takes 24 hours to change so I only have this example. You can see some subtle differences.

This is at the long term parking facility and it definitely wasn’t busy when I was there. We had to go through the gate so I could get close enough to take the pictures but we weren’t there long enough to get charged thank goodness.

Best Viewing – SFO Long-Term Parking Garage, anytime after dusk.

And that’s that. See you tomorrow!

Side note: I don’t know about others but this year I am getting a lot of spam comments. Fortunately they are being caught by my spam finder but it is frustrating to think that there’s a creep on the A to Z!

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A to Z – 2023 – S is for The Seed

Today is Saturday and for our last letter this week in the A to Z Challenge we have the letter “S.” Fortunately, Illuminate SF has The Seed that I can use.

I got a picture of The Seed in 2021 when I went through the Castro for that year’s A to Z but it was in the daytime. While that looks nice, it is a bit more interesting after dark.

The Seed was designed by Aphidoidea in 2017. It is a collection of six dandelions (only 3 were working when I was there) that are 13 feet tall. They are meant to represent the idea that a single wish blown away can inspire a movement.

I couldn’t do much about the guy sitting in front of the statue. It is true that this is one of the busiest intersections in the city. I was lucky to be able to pull into a gas station across the street.

Sorry about the size of the video. I can't seem to change it.

If I had been paying better attention, right on the other corner from this installation is the Hope Will Never Be Silent saying. Instead, I parked and got these pictures/video and then went around the block and parked again. Typical tourist, no?

We finished another week! One more to go. I have a few coming up that are pretty interesting I think. Hope you are enjoying this trip through the streets of San Francisco. Have a great rest of your weekend.

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A to Z – 2023 – R is for Reading the Language of the Birds

Of all the creative license I have been using to cover my A to Z Challenge letters, this one is by far the biggest stretch. The letter “R” is not actually anywhere in the description of installation or its designer’s name. However, what seem to be flying birds are actually supposed to be books and books are usually Read so…

On the corner of Columbus and Broadway in the pedestrian plaza that links Chinatown and North Beach you will find this scene of “books” positioned in such a way to look like birds in motion. The artwork on the side of the building is representative of the North Beach scene.

Language of the Birds, as it is called, was designed by Brian Goggin and Dorka Keehn in 2008. It is the first solar power-offset public artwork in California. The artists teamed with scientist David Shearer and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (owner of City Lights bookstore which is right around the corner) to provide solar power to the city’s grid to offset the energy used by the artwork. You can hear the busy street sounds in the background. This was the night my husband and I had dinner at the Stinking Rose which is just up the street.

A shorter one from just a little up the street. This one really makes it look like birds flying I think.

And now as I am writing this, I am re-Reading the description on the Illuminate SF website and it says that if you look at the ground under the flock you will see pages that look like they have fallen out of the books. Of course I was looking UP so didn’t look DOWN to see that and have no pictures. From the designer’s web:

“Passing under the flock, pedestrians notice words and phrases embedded in the plaza floor that appear to have fallen from the pages. On closer inspection the fallen words are in English, Italian and Chinese and were selected from the neighborhood’s rich literary history, ranging from the Beats, to SF Renaissance poets and Chinese writers, over 90 authors are represented including Armistead Maupin, Gary Snyder, William T. Vollman, and Jade Snow Wong.

The artists created the design of the plaza floor in Atrium of the SFMOMA. Retaining their original font, individual words from chosen phrases were cast from the third floor gallery of the museum. Words fluttered down 60 feet landing on a paper replica of the plaza thus determining their resting place in the final artwork. Influenced by practices like reading tea-leaves and Japanese gardening techniques. The words intersect in ways that allow for new unique interpretations and meanings.”

Doesn’t that sound cool?

Best Viewing: After dark stand across the street on Columbus Avenue to get the full effect and then walk over to the plaza to get a close up view. Don’t forget to look down to see the words on the ground.

I think we need to go back to the Stinking Rose for dinner so I can get a picture of the words on the sidewalk and also take a peek in City Lights bookstore, don’t you? (I wrote about City Lights in my last SF A to Z.) One more letter this week and then we have a rest day.

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A to Z – 2023 – Q is for Quotes on Anima

In the A to Z Challenge, the letter “Q” can be a difficult one but luckily I was able to find some quotes!

Anima is a cylinder of curved metal that is lit from inside to cast shadowy bits of poetry and ancient text in a halo across the plaza in front of Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

The illuminated words are in different languages and include pieces from the Human Genome Project, Dr. Leslie Taylor, Louis Pasteur, Greek physician Claudius Galen, Roman historian Pliny and a quote from Qi Bo, physician to the Chinese Emperor.

It was designed by Jim Sanborn in 2006 and is located at 1700 Owens Street in front of the Alexandria Real Estate Equities building. There is a plaque that details the quotes but I couldn’t get a good picture of it. I also couldn’t really read any of them because most were in a different language. I did manage to find the Qi Bo section, so that counts as my “Q” right?

Best Viewing: Anytime after dusk. I will say that this was very easy to get to and is in a quiet place so you can park and walk around to read it all.

“R” you ready for tomorrow?

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