understanding macro and museum trends. we did ethnographic research with visitors, lots of insight, but a key foundational inside or that visitors wanted to connect more viscerally with museums and the arts. they are looking for museums to provide a platform for discussion, interaction, for discussion, even as an outlet for creative endeavors. some of the challenges that will faced museums like the asian is the subject matter is just a bit more difficult for people in the u.s., so the nation has to work harder to provide more context, almost throwing out lifelines to visitors so that they connect with the art and subject matter and interact with it and on the spot from that they grave. that was when this was designed

to do. once a visitor connects with the content, it is a lifelong experience. the depth of the experience is such that it really is a lifelong learning experience, pretty amazing and powerful. at the end of the day, it is moving from pure preservation of art to provocation. provoking dialogue, discussion, you are and new thinking. it has come to life as a visual identity, which we are very excited about but we are more excited about is the experience it will bring about, how to brand the visitor experience. so thank you. [applause] >> thank you, nick, akiko. i knew akiko was the president

of art, but she is so more than that. nick, you sort of scare me. you intimidate me. he is tall, a british accent, used math. people like to stress me out. without further ado, i want to invite our director again to explain some of our upcoming directions. i want to challenge to all, soap ceramics. >> just to follow akiko's interesting example, before i provide you with a preview of one of the exhibitions, art and science has always been together. da vinvi was a great artist but

a scientist as well. sometimes, when i speak to people in the valley, i say, when you have a first-rate product, how did you describe it? of course, there are several phrases you could use, but one of which is, state of the art. when you reach such a quality, you can get the expression, but you need art to describe the utmost excellence of what you do. this is what we want to do, we want to offer. let me give you two examples of upcoming exhibitions to illustrate how we further implement our brand, starting from today, but it is a journey that will take years. you want to implement our brand by stages, so we are constantly working on improving the service and visitor experience. one exhibition that is about to open all daymaharaja the

splendor of india's royal courts. this will showcase 300 years of the indian art and culture. the exhibition will have world class objects such as a large -- it did not fit in the doors. we had to take the walls of of the back of the museum and moved inside. on the way out, you may want to peak at the corner to see it. to protect a work of art, you have to let it sit for 24 hours to acclimatize. this tells you the caliber of the objects in the show. to the right is a wonderful piece of jewelry, a turbaned ornaments. the show also includes objects of multimedia. for example, the largest piece.

it also includes paintings, sculptures, furniture, a tremendous collection of art. as always, our visitors can enjoy the excellence of individual works of art, on an individual basis, but would be what to do differently is to add a new dimension. we want to call out those stories. we want to object to talk about themselves, to tell us what makes a maharaja. how did he conducts his public life? maha means big, raja means king. so literally, and baking. how did he live his everyday life? how did he conducts his religious duties? negotiatinart and politics is an

marriage, in this case, too. so we want to offer our visitors multiple choices. you can enjoy the art on its own individual basis and focus on its artistic quality, stylistic dilution, but also, if you like, there are stories at your disposal to learn. you can make a journey of self discovery. the maharajah has also inspired contemporary artists. engaging with the early contemporary artists like sanjay patel. is there a semblance between the two? i think it is there. we had given him a book, a catalog of the exhibition, showing the wonderful works of art in the show, including this one.

he looked at this and fell in love with the objects in the show and came up with a fresh imbricate -- interpretation of what a maharajah is. this is only in detail of his great creation. not only did he increate fresh works of art, but work inspired by the works from the 300 years of indian culture, but also, through hands lens, in joining these treasures. we can also use his work as a way to encourage visitors to the museum. this is a very strategic corner.

anyone coming out of the bart station, across indicted nations square, you come to this corner. we want to improve the way finding in the city center, to our museum, to enable the visitors to have an easier time. this is sanjay's work. today, we express our community power through parades, and demonstrations. this will help to to guide you to the asian art museum. we live in a historical district. we want to be respectful of the historical integrity and the duty but we're also here to improve service to the public, improved wind-finding, improve the arts in this area. we want our visitors, once they

step inside the museum, before entering an exhibition, you will be able did give the evocative environment of the maharaja. these are some of the sketches. also, wayne-finding, processions. beyond this exhibit, next spring, we have an exhibition at our museum will be doing for the first time in history. we will generate a self- organized major scale contemporary art exhibition called contemporary awakened the past. the subtitle capture of one dimension of our vision, which is making a connection between the past, present, and future, but we want to cross the

contemporary art program with our unique characteristics. where are was made, it was always contemporary. so we need to look at the art not only from the time of their making but also from today's perspective. they make a connection between the are being made today. this is one possible work of art. we will and juxtaposed these contemporary works of art with these masterpieces from other collections, whether they were made 100 years ago or two dozen years ago. another thing we are doing, creating a super brand about our contemporary project, making the connection between the part of the past and art of today. the second unique thing about

this exhibition is it will not only be presented in the special exhibition galleries, and will be presented also in the second and third for collection areas. in other words, the whole building is at the disposal of our visitors to engage, enable them to have an experience. making a concrete, active dialogue between the art of the past and the art of today. let me now in by our associate curator of the south asian art to tell us about the detail of the maharajah, as well, snjay patel to tell us about his inspiration. >> we have already heard about the maharajah expedition -- exhibition, have seen some of sanjay's participation in it, but how did these alamance

connect with one another? that is what we are trying to explore further. i have been interested in sanjay's work for some time now. not as much for the work itself, as for the process, because he, like many generations of artists before him, have been bringing stories of the past, subject matter from the past, back to life through their own art, making them into relevant pieces of art with his unique style. that is what attracted my attention towards sanjay. what started out as a project to activate the exterior of the building became something completely different. it took on its own life. when sanjay came back to us with a body of work for what was

supposed to be a simple exterior project, we were completely blown away. >> that is kind of you. first off, she is the smart one. she should know better to pick someone like me. thank you for recognizing my work and inviting me to participate with the museum. before i go into that -- i have to segue. there is one cool distinction with the modern russia. i do not want to give away too much, but all the paintings, he has an awesome mustache. i feeling that is the son of a king. i notice there are not a lot of people here with moustaches except one. one particular person. mr. mayer has an awesome mustache. that is a great sign of his king weakness. it was really exciting.

you hear awaken, expire. i am kind of cynical. that is like the corporate man telling me something. the fact is, they were already doing awaken and inspire. the fact that nick and his team got beyond the idea just speaks to the fact that the asian was already doing this great work. i was telling stories from my roots. when i got the e-mail, i was woken up. she said, do you want to come by to do something with the exterior of the building? i would totally do it. i was open and inspired thanks to her. once i got the assignment, i started digging into the background of the maharajah. did i go down the rabbit hole. i feel like i am a pro, doing

professional art for a long time now that fix our. the one no-no is you do not go off and start and finish something by yourself. typically at picks are, you show your early progression. you are showing it to the director. of course, being an idiot, i got totally obsessed and there went down the rabbit hole. i worked on my birthday. i did not update my facebook. i just worked. i work for about a month. we were lucky and smart enough to set a deadline. in a month i showed her but i had. at that point, i had a two-hour presentation. i showed it to my friends at picks are. they said, you need to get some facts of it -- fresh air. we have a term known as a spanking. that means you have to

discipline it, and trim the fat. we were able to get it to a manageable size. i brought it to the museum. i showed it and apparently it did not stop. happy picks are ending. there was more good news in store, but i will let her explain that. >> the next year project quickly became something bigger than that. it became a second phone call which was, would you like to do a collaborative project where your work is in dialogue, in the same space as amazing work from our collection? that led to another product we are working on, which will open after maharajah, on the second floor of the gallery. here is a preview of what it will look like. >> that is cool.

i do not care if anybody else likes it. that is like the inside of my mind. i'm so happy with this room. i hope you all come back to check it out. we came up with a fund title as well. the museum was marred and serious. the bees, and demons, and views of staches. i think the exhibition opens november 11. i have one more surprise today. i know you want to check out the show, but i have one more surprise. jay put me up to some work. he said, sunday, i am going to give you permission to put your mark on the asian. what does that mean? i think i know i want to do but i do not want to get arrested

because -- this is the city. graffiti is not cool. i do not know, i'm going to try something. bear with me. i'm going to invite everyone else to put their mark on the asian as well. i am going to kick us off first. do not arrest me. i am sorry, nick. no pressure. i am a big fan of staches, so i will start with a beautiful sta che. while i do this, i want to invite -- stick around, is going to get there. how about that? jay, nick, mayor, please come up

and put your mark on the asian. akiko, tony, please come and make your mark. please come up and put your mark on the asian. >> good morning, everyone.

i am the director of the mayor's office of economic and workforce development. we are here to announce the 10- year lease for river bed at 680 folsom st.. 167,000 square foot lease. we have the mayor, ceo of river bed, the owner of the building, as well as david from jll to talk of the significance of this to the city. >> thank you, good morning. welcome to the super bowl of innovation. while we did not enjoy the other super bowl, we have been working on hours. i have always referred to san francisco -- and we continue to

do this -- as the innovation capital of the world. riverbed's decision to sign a 10-year lease and to work with the city to renovate a building here in south market, to make sure they are staying and growing here is a reflection of not only their interest in making sure they continue to find talent that exists in the city, but that the city, working with our state interests as well as our i.t. companies, continue to do everything we can to make sure they feel comfortable and are creating jobs. every time you hear about a major company like river bed making a decision like this that is very significant, this is their headquarters, but it is their global headquarters. to suggest a 10-year lease is important. they have over 500 people working today.

this additional new space than they have signed a 10-year lease for has 160,000 square feet that will allow riverbed to grow and potentially add over 650 additional jobs on top of their 500. i.t. work is growing in the city. certainly, we want it to grow. we have a lot of i.t. solutions to be had. riverbed's technology is important, allows technologies to have i.t. management's -- companies to have a i.t. management from the date of filing to storage, all those wonderful things that technology people will have a much better way to explain and i do. i do suggest to you that this is, yet again, another example of how we are working with ceo's to make sure that we sit

down and talk. it was literally last fall that we sat down. we knew they were looking, they knew they were growing. it was not going to be in some other place that we would lose them to. we had some great partners. we just came together very well and focused on what we could do to make sure they stayed here. they know there is talent here. that is not a question. but are there other things that stabilized their ideas come interest to work here long term, and growing here, as we have had that philosophy. we want i.t. companies to stay here and grow. as a result, we are evolving our policies on a weekly basis to continue attracting companies like riverbed, making sure they

feel comfortable. the end result is more people get employed. you will see numbers continue to go down in our unemployment rate. it is at 7.6%, but i am guessing that it will go down further, hopefully, with all the companies that are still talking to us about what we can do to help them. as we do, they are hiring left and right. it is exciting for me to join today with jerry, let him explain what it is they do, in a very detailed way. again, it is the team, what the city does to make sure we stay as the innovation capital of the world. thank you very much for allowing me to announce this. we will have a chance to visit their bed soon. i think, -- river bed soon. i think, once they get their release started, they will move in in 2014, and then that goes

until 2024. i hope to see them continue to grow. we will be down there cheering them on, understanding more about the involvement of their products. >> riverbed started in 2002 and it is exceedingly gratifying from where i stand to see a company of its size and stature in the technology world, make a decision to remain in san francisco and to grow its global headquarters here. with that, i want to introduce the ceo of your bed. >> thank you. it is exciting for us -- we just announced this internally to our employees on friday. we sent around a photograph of the new building. when you work in technology in the bay area, you realize every day it is a war for talent. we are fighting to get the best and brightest. it is all about and look for

property, and that comes from the minds of the people we attract. we found san francisco is a key location for attracting that power. my business partner and i started the company 10 years ago. we will be passing 1700 employees worldwide, over 500 in the city. that number will grow and grow. starting on our second decade in the city and hopefully for a long time to come. we are a little unusual for technology companies in the city. many of them are web-based companies. we are a deep, in the strongest drink network technology company. we make heavy-duty equipment for the largest government and corporate networks. we are more like cisco foor othr companies like that. i had to have some discussions with my early investors while i was not in silicon valley.

i am glad we had that conversation, made the investment. we had a good run here. we just finished a quarter of $200 million, $800 million run rate. we hope to pass $1 billion soon and we soldier forward as we move into our new headquarters in downtown san francisco. >> we would not be here celebrating a police announcement without a building. i encourage you all to look at what 680 folsom street looks at today, juxtaposing it with these renderings. it is not only good for the economy, but for the urban landscape. i want to thank michael for his work to date for helping to transform this location. >> this is about the 20th project we have done in san francisco. it is visually challenged in its current state, but we think we have put together a great

design. our partners and others have hired the best architects with som -- one of the best, sorry. we are pleased with the design. both jerry and his company had decided to go here, but it was also the mayor and city office hoping to keep technology companies here. it is a joint effort. after you take up the skin of the building, it has amazing attribute that you have read about in our press release. 35,000 feet square plates. floor to floor slabs in the city, which is unusual. that tenants in this building will have some amazing space, some amazing views, and our r ehab will be as good as anyone. we are happy to be involved with

the city. thank you very much. >> it really did take a team of folks to bring this deal together. we had great assistance from david from lasalle in helping to close this deal for the city and riverbed. >> good morning, everyone. it was a real honor to represent their best technology in this transaction, a 14-month process. i want to thank and congratulate jerry and his real estate team for the pro-active way they have managed their headquarters, getting a head start. mike and his solid team of putting this building together. mayor lee and jennifer for the continued great work they are doing in helping us represent some of the leading technology companies, here in san francisco. it is a real pleasure to be here. thank you very much. >> we are going to break and then the mayor t