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Christian L. Frock is a curator who has worked at internationally recognized commercial galleries and regional nonprofits. Additionally, she has been running Invisible Venue as an independent venture since 2005. Invisible Venue began, as the name suggests, without a physical site. Projects such as Charles Gute's Internet-based "HUO Drawings" reflect Frock's international perspective — she studied in London at Goldsmiths — while the site-specific installations she commissioned in her West Oakland apartment are indicative of her geographic roots in the Bay Area.
These projects often spilled out onto the street as billboards, projections and sited interventions. Recently, Invisible Venue has morphed again. Coming up are several public projects by Chris Basmajian, Chris Kubick and Autonomous Organization. These are complemented by an ongoing series of curated conversations about art and public space, which feature local artists and thinkers and are documented for Internet presentation. Says Frock, " I continue to be interested […] to explore the ways in which an artist responds to a space and the ways in which the accidental public engages with art and, in particular, how to create something from nothing."
Another apartment gallery launched in 2005 is San Francisco's Hallway Projects, aka Hallway Bathroom Gallery. Artist Brion Nuda Rosch programs events and installations such as the upcoming "One Day Artist Residencies" with Amy Rathbone, Chris Sollars, Zachary Royer Scholz, and artists yet to be confirmed. Rosch is intrigued by the public/private context of a gallery that exists inside his private living space. Some projects have been realized without a public audience. Others have drawn visitors, who are invited to engage socially with Rosch as guests in his home. He explains, "The space dictates the experience, and visitors dictate their experience within the space." Like Frock, Rosch also emphasizes the importance the Internet plays in connecting privately-realized projects with an audience. Hallway Projects is based in the Mission District, a neighborhood that has long been popular with artists and has a history of cultivating progressive art forms.
Artist Margaret Tedesco opened [2nd floor projects] in the Mission in 2007. Tedesco's parlor gallery exhibits artists working in painting, sculpture, performance, film and photography. For each project, she invites a poet or creative writer to contribute a complementary text, produced as an edition. Shows have included an inquiry into the artist-collector relationship via private investigation by Jill Miller, and an exhibition of drawings and paintings by filmmaking brothers George and Mike Kuchar. The intimate and friendly feeling created during Sunday-afternoon visiting hours is enhanced by occasional artist talks and readings from commissioned authors, including Stephen Boyer and Bill Berkson.
All three spaces take a noncommercial approach, in which creative license trumps sales. Largely self-financing, they operate with remarkably lean budgets. The small scale of these projects also allows for greater flexibility, so that each idea can be realized in the place most suited for it. This spirit of exploration is one of the Bay Area art scene's best features. ■