The San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art’s annual auction has long been considered a premier event in the South Bay for art lovers to add interesting pieces to their collection. And there’ll be plenty to bid on at Saturday’s event, but Executive Director James Leventhal wants the event to do more than just raise money for the downtown gallery and its artists.
He wants to use the event to celebrate art and artists — and to maybe unlock the artist in everyone who comes through the doors.
“We all need uplifting right now,” he said. “We want to bring the kind of experience for people that the Tech does or the Children’s Discovery Museum does.”
As part of that, the auction will have a very different feel than in the past. It’ll start with a big celebration with music, cocktails and stilt walkers outside the gallery on South First Street, followed by a tribute to Bay Area artist Gale Antokal, who recently retired from San Jose State’s art department. Then, the party will move inside for the auction — but in a way that invites guests to experience the other shows on display showcasing the work of Adia Millett and Heesoo Kwon.
“Slowly but surely, we want to focus a bit more on the event itself, reinforcing the mission of the SJICA: supporting artists and the SJICA’s role as a place for learning, a collaborative platform and incubator,” Leventhal said. “There is an over 40-year-old tradition here that we want to celebrate.”
The auction committee chose to celebrate Antokal’s career in part because of her tremendous influence on and association with other Bay Area artists, including the late Jay DeFeo, who was Antokal’s teacher. As an art teacher at San Jose State, Antokal taught Masako Miki, whose “Night Parade of One Hundred Demons” is installed on the ICA’s façade; Erin Salazar, the founder of arts catalyst Local Color; and globally recognized artist and NXTHVN founder Titus Kaphar.
The auction of more than 50 works and experiences will include one of Antokal’s pieces, “Cascade 11.21.21” as well as some from her SJSU colleagues like Binh Danh, Robin Lasser and Tony May. Millett and Kwon also have pieces in the auction.
Tickets for Saturday’s auction are $250 each, but the ICA is hosting a free artists’ mixer on Friday night, happening along with the monthly South First Fridays art walk, from 5 to 8 p.m. That will include a special tribute to Antokal as well. Get more information on the auction at www.icasanjose.org.
THE TECH GOES BIG FOR SWIFTIES: Taylor Swift got to be Santa Clara mayor for a day, sold out Levi’s Stadium and has a hit concert movie in theaters. And now she’s got a museum for the rest of this week. The Tech Interactive has rebranded itself temporarily as The Swift Interactive to celebrate “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” coming to the San Jose learning center’s IMAX Dome theater for a limited run.
There’ll be 6 p.m. screenings on four nights between Nov. 2-5 on the Tech’s IMAX Dome Theater, and this will be a special version designed to be shown on the dome’s wraparound screen. Of course, the only thing that might beat the IMAX image is hearing Swift’s music with the 13,000-watt sound system. Tickets are available at www.thetech.org/eras.
“Renaming The Tech Interactive to The Swift Interactive for this exciting event is not just about celebrating a pop icon; it’s a reflection of the undeniable truth that Taylor Swift’s influence on the world is as substantial as tech itself,” CEO Katrina Stevens said. “Music, technology, and innovation intersect in remarkable ways, and this collaboration embodies the power of creativity, both in science and the arts, to inspire positive change.”
GOBBLE GOBBLE: Can you believe it’s already November? We barely got our Halloween decorations up before trick-or-treaters started knocking on the door Tuesday, and now it’s time to start thinking about Thanksgiving on Nov. 23 — just three weeks away. Of course, for more than 20,000 people in the Bay Area that also means thinking about that morning’s Applied Materials Silicon Valley Turkey Trot, the biggest Thanksgiving Day race in the nation. If you haven’t registered yet, you should pick up the pace because prices increase on Friday. Go to www.svturkeytrot.com to sign up.
QUICK CHANGES: It’s been a busy week at 3Below Theatres in downtown San Jose. After Sunday’s performance of “Disenchanted” — the “princesses gone wild” musical — the entire set was struck to prepare for the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” event on Halloween with the Barely Shadow cast. On Monday, rehearsal started for the next San Jose Playhouse production, “Sondheim on Sondheim,” and now the “Disenchanted” set is being put back together for that show’s final four performances this week. Oh, and did you know all this was happening while volunteers were helping Guggenheim Entertainment move its stuff from one warehouse to another? Check out the upcoming offerings, including a “Frozen” sing-along, at www.3belowtheatres.com.
