Staged just before the U.S. presidential election, Art San Diego will exhibit two of their highly anticipated Art Lab projects with a focus on issues such as immigration and racial violence.
This year will be the third public installation of the Open Walls Project, an Art Lab in partnership with OUTFRONT Media, to engage leading contemporary artists in transforming commercial billboards and community spaces throughout Downtown San Diego into works of public art.
The second Art Lab, titled Heroic Procession, is a collaborative exploration of migration and movement through visual art, dance, and sound that includes Tijuana visual artist Hugo Crosthwaite, violinist Marilu Salinas, and Japanese Butoh dancer Theresa Magario.
“This year’s curatorial theme is [THRESHOLD]—standing at the precipice of what’s yet to come, perched on the brink of something extraordinary, expansive, and ever evolving,” said Eric Smith, CEO of Redwood Media Group, organizers of Art San Diego. “We felt these two exhibitions perfectly fit into the description of the theme and are excited to present them, especially during a time when these topics are timely and being widely discussed. We hope these presentations will continue the conversation in a different and creative way.”
Marcos Ramirez, also known as “ERRE”, and Ann Berchtold have curated this year’s selection of artists for the Open Walls Project. This citywide Art Lab will feature works by a range of internationally collected artists, including “ERRE”, Sam Durant, Rigo23, Andrea Bowers, and Daniel Guzman. All of the chosen artists incorporate social activism in their work and portray contemporary political issues such as deportation and police brutality.
“These are people like me that worry about what’s happening here in the United States, and in the rest of the world,” said “ERRE”. “All participants are visual artists, one of them specializes in drawing, the rest do art installations and use photography in their work.”
The five artists created a total of 10 billboards. Three billboards went up on Monday, October 17 and seven additional works will go up on Monday, October 31. All billboards will be up for one month in locations ranging from the Tijuana-San Ysidro border up throughout Downtown and North Park. The project will culminate with the last billboard, by artist Andrea Bowers, being unveiled at Art San Diego during their Opening Night Preview Party on Thursday, November 3 at 7:30 p.m.
“For me it is very important to respond to urgent things, like what is happening in this country,  and to be aware of the next election it is going to decide the future of the United States,” “ERRE” added. “This is one of the subjects that creates political art and all people need to be involved in politics, not just the politicians.”
Art San Diego will be held from Thursday, November 3 through Sunday, November 6 at the Balboa Park Activity Club.