>> i am going to read 2 or 3 paragraphs, my last farewell, our national hero. and in english.

fair farewell to a stranger who brightens my well. farewell to all who i love to die is to rest. >> thank you. [applause]. [ foreign speaking ]

[singing].

[applause] thank you very much.

>> welcome to "culturewire." for the past year, the arts commission has been participating in the city's effort to revitalize the central market street corridor.

in addition to the thursday arts market and are in store front, the art commission recently launched the artery project. for the next year, the artery project will bring energy and excitement to market street, recalling the st.'s heyday as san francisco's vibrant and bustling theater district. >> un.n plaza during business hours seize hundreds of passing office workers and students, but the activity winds down at 5:00 every day. theater productions bring some but traffic, but central market is more of a thoroughfare than a destination after the sun goes down. on december 9, the artery project's launch brought a party atmosphere to market street, led by mayor gavin newsom, city

officials flipped the switch on three new art installations that light up the st.'s architecture. a looping a video at 1119 market street was the first words to be some -- the first work to be seen that evening. before the unveiling, the director of cultural affairs spoke to artist jim campbell about the concepts behind bourbon reflection and how he created the work. >> i'm really excited to have your installation on public view starting today here on market street. you created a site-specific work. can you talk about that? >> yes, i looked at two or three different locations, and this one seemed the best. i work with customer electronics, so indoors seemed the best for the work. i also like how close it was 2 market street itself. it is only about 10 feet away, so i chose this location.

>> what is the duration? if someone were to stand in front of your installation today. >> at the moment, it is 12 minutes, but i've been thinking about adding footage over the time because it is going to go through a couple of seasons. >> could you describe a little bit in terms of what your creative process is? >> it is a curtain, and image made up of a curtain, so it is very valuable, and the idea was to use this technology that i've been using for the last 10 years, low resolution imagery, to reflect market street back to the pedestrians walking by. the reason that it kind of works in this environment is that you see people walking by. you see cars going by. you see buses going by, but you cannot help we the people are because it is low resolution. you cannot see their faces. you can see the way they walk. you might be able to tell the kind of car going by. >> what do you think passersby

will experience? >> i was thinking it was going to be a test of the success of the work if people stop and look. i have noticed in the last few nights that people do stop and look. a certain percentage. one of the things i was playing with was the ambiguity of whether it is alive or not, so people walk by, and they might even move like this back and forth, thinking that they are in the image, and they realize that it is a daytime shot, and that kind of thing. >> thanks for being part of life on market street. >> my pleasure. >> after the lighting of urban reflection, mayor newsom led the party to the corner of seventh street. lighting the way down the street were members of the filipino cultural center's youth program, carrying traditional core role lanterns. on the side of the resort hotel is a projection titled

"storylines." working with students from the art commission writer's corps program, paul organized a series of images with text captions. they will change every evening until a different -- and tell a different story. one block away, theodore watson has created an interactive installation that crosses over six street. spaces' begins with a photo capture station on the north side of the street that projects your face on to a building on the south side of the street. on opening night, the installation was an immediate hit with the crowd. we talked with the or what said about his remarkable installation. >> what inspired you to create this interactive piece? >> the work i typically do is kind of interactive installations or both indoor and also outdoor and public space.

for me, what i'm most interested in is how we can use technology to make the city, which is typically quite a static environment architecturally speaking -- how can we make it come alive? >> what i love about your work is there is such sophisticated software and electronics and complex connections that all have to work together to make it successful, but yet, all of that is invisible to the people interact with the work. >> they do not realize there is all these cables and projectors and computers and all this technology behind the scenes, and if you can keep it hidden, it feels like a really magical moment. to me, that is what is inspiring, and that is what makes the public, their eyes light up. >> you feel a little bit like the wizard of oz? >> totally, yes. >> having been on market street for a while and seeing how the public is reacting to your piece, what is your impression

of what it is going to be like here? >> i'm already loving it. just the fact that i can look up and see someone seeing how crazy it is, and i have been bumping into people in the street who are recognized only from their portrait. i'm hoping that people will provide a slightly more friendly way to look at each other in this neighborhood. >> it is helping to reinforce and create a sense of neighborhood. so we want to thank you for being part of this project and thank you for bringing "faces" to san francisco. >> the artery project will have installations on market street until june 2011. this revitalization initiative is funded by the national endowment for the arts in an effort to transform market street into a nationally celebrated cultural district. additional projects and events will be launched throughout the

year, including art and storefronts and coordinated nighttime events hosted by the gray area foundation for the arts and the luggage store gallery. to learn more about the artery project, visit sf

>> welcome to culture wire. did you know the city of san francisco has an art collection consisting of 3500 objects? the collection ranges from painting and public buildings to murals, and from bronze busts in city halls, to cite specific

structures. at this time, many of the large works are in desperate need of repair, and a long-term innovative solution is needed to make sure these public treasures will be cared for. >> the story of the arts commission program begins with ruth fromstein. 2010 marks her 50th year as an art dealer. at the helm of the county, she had represented some of the most notable of bay area artists, and continues to look for new talent. >> the artists that i represent, what do i choose them, if asked to do with a background of what the gallery is about. i love the idea of finding new

guys and watching them grow. it is the old fashioned way of having a nunnery, which is having a stable. what you have is loyalty to them, artists are loyal to you. the philosophy behind that, my philosophy, has not changed since i started 49 years ago. i take care of you and you take care of me. it has been that way ever since. >> ruth represents the estate of the world renowned sculptor peter focused. in 1971, he created and the love the untitled public work cited at seventh and bryant. like many other public works of art, this is in need of repair. ruth began conversations with the director of cultural affairs, a andart care was born.

>> we look at all of the local pieces and decided which one needed the most repair, to bring it back to where it was before. that is what i am after. if you drive by right now, you cannot see it coming down seventh street. you can only see it as you come up to it. >> one's culture outside of the hall of justice was one of the first pieces commissioned after the 1969 ordinance. it is significant that we are planning to treat it as part of the art care program. the program intends to take care of the bronze sculpture located in very park, a monument to the korean community of san

francisco. it has been in the park for over 20 years, has become a bit of a magnet for vandalism. we are also looking at several sculptures from henry more, one in front of the symphony building. we are also looking at yen and yang, a much loved peace -- piece. but the team has been damaged over time, so we need to treat -- patina has been damaged over time, so we need to treat it. >> roof and was given a lifetime award for her contributions to and influence over the bay area artist community. >> the lifetime achievement award -- it is embarrassing to me but i have to learn to accept it. this is the way it is.

also, everybody here is good things happening about them after they are dead. i have the opportunity to see this happen while i am still lives. i look at this award as an opportunity for me to find a place for my craft and keep the art program going. >> the director of the program address the crowd and ask for each member to consider donating funds to help save some of san francisco's most important neighborhood landmarks. >> as one of san francisco's living treasures, we respect you and, frankly, we are in off -- awe of your 50 years of tireless effort as an early art on from for north. >> i would like to be perhaps the first donation to our care and present you with a check to get the ball rolling. >> because i know that the arts

commission is very sincere about this, i'm going to make a personal commitment of $10,000. [applause] >> what is significant about the program is the way it is set out allows us to treat the artworks that have the most need, the ones that our conservative have pointed out as the most vulnerable as opposed to ones that might be the most popular were the most miserable -- the most visible. >> it is an opportunity for the public to get involved with these art works located in their backyard and ultimately belong to them. >> i want to do something for the community, just giving back what the community has done for me. it is corny to say, but it is true. it really is what it is. that i would be able to see more pieces cleanup. >>" will check back in the future and see the fruits of conservation and revitalization

efforts. if you would find out more or donate to the art carethe donate to the art carethe artsfartcommission.org.