How can artists collaborate in struggles against displacement and gentrification? How does art bring communities together and foment struggles for place, identity, and recognition? These are some of the questions we hope to consider with Erick Lyle as he shares his experiences creating just such a campaign. Streetopia was a massive anti-gentrification art fair in San Fransisco in 2012 curated by Erick Lyle and Chris Johanson. Bringing together over 100 artists, activists, and writers to work with residents of the Tenderloin neighborhood to formulate utopian aspirations for the city, and to stand in opposition to official city policies of creating a playground for Dot Com Corridor interlopers and displacing long time low income residents. The exhibition, Streetopia, took place in venues throughout the city, featuring daily free talks, performances, skillshares and a free community kitchen out of the gallery. Erick will be presenting in conversation with organizers from Tubman House, the community-driven occupation turning a vacant rowhome across from the site of Freddie Gray's arrest into a center for arts, culture, and grassroots organizing for racial and economic justice.
Streetopia the book brings together all of the art and ephemera from the now-infamous show, and contains writings from: Rebecca Solnit, Chris Kraus, Sarah Schulman, Chris Johanson, Sam Green, Daphne Gottlieb, A.C. Thompson, Renny Pritikin, Amy Franceschini, Antonio Roman-Alcala, Jesse Drew, V. Vale, Kal Spelletich, James Tracy, Isaac Jackson, Amos Gregory, Roxy Monoxide, Eve Ekman, Joey Alone, The Water Underground. Interviews with Ernest Callenbach, Ivy Jeanne McClelland, Sy Wagon.
