right? >> we look through the history of this area, which is a primary cultural icon. after we had a chance to meet with a lot of people in the neighborhood, we were able to get suggestions, and we came up with 90. we took stands from all of these books. >> we will see the words embedded in concrete. >> in addition to some recent additions by some local policy. -- local poets. one of the interesting things is the fact that it is sort of car rental, right? >> it was is that -- carbon neutral, right? >> it was designed with some engineers that allows solar energy to be generated during the day and night, the same equivalent of energy is used by the peace. >> we have a solar array on city

lights bookstore, which collects more energy than we actually use for the peace. >> what we walked across the street and take a look at this work. >> the inspiration for getting the books to be suspended and lit at night. how did that come about? >> after about two weeks of trying to put together a lot of the ideas of the signs, the poetry, the music, the history, the art, movement and the architecture and the materials of the signs that already were on around here, they all kind of came together in this vision of a form of books eliminated. taking on the role of the flickering light. -- books illuminated. also, the metaphor of ideas taking flights and flying

through the air. like ideas of consciousness drifting from one person to another through language. >> the origins of this work really are quite pedestrian. the idea was that the department of traffic wanted to eliminate a right turn from columbus on to broadway, right? i know that project started several years ago, so you have to work collaborative we for that time. what was that collaboration like? >> we were in the studio every day making the books. we came up with a piece with many different elements. there are hundreds of words, and there are 23 books. then, there are about 48 cables. so how do you bring all that together into one cohesive whole? a lot of that was enabled through this collaboration and challenging us. sometimes, we were inspiring

each other. sometimes, we were very critical of the other person's ideas, but what it did was it really honed the work. >> one of the interesting thing about the language that makes it unique i think in the collection of san francisco public arts is that this is the one public arts work that is the most closely related to performance art. i will never forget the dedication performance. >> we wanted to have a surprise not only for you guys but also for ourselves. what we ended up doing was we so little vails onto each of the book's form sas so that they had a pattern that resembled the fortune cookie, and members of the margin and were climbing up these ladders with bamboo poles and pulling on these leases so that the bales were removed -- the veils were removed.

>> it has been up for a couple of months now. what has been your experience? has it met your expectations? >> it has. people who are watching in the area will be focused on the ground and often not see what is going on up above them, and there will come across some of the texts on the plaza, and as they are observing the text, they will start to peace things together, their zero little miracle poems that are commingling the kind of finger prints from the literary past into their own unique, poetic experience. and then, looking. i was hoping that there would be a kind of heightened level of consciousness invited in with this piece. so i think that by creating a work that is very different from many angles, it kind of encourages the investigation of the area. so through investigating the

area, you are locating yourself in space. you are not only seeing the work, but you are seeing in the context of the work. >> san francisco really prides itself in its collection of public art. you have really contributed a very unique work that is really multi-layered and very rich. we really thank you for doing this giveft to see generations. >> i have really enjoyed working on this as well. thank you very much. it has been a real honor.

>> we're here right on the embarqadero where there's an iconic view of san francisco bay. and louis have lent us "crouching spider." in a couple of weeks at the end of april, this wonderful

sculpture will be going away. and to of commemorate this art is jill manson. so jill, we're getting ready to say good buy. >> i know. it breaks my heart. it's the highlight of my career with the city. what has been the impact of the crouching spider in san francisco? >> i think it's been an incredible coup for the city. a lot of her work came from her mother. her family repaired tapestry. she thought of mer mother as the spider, someone who protects her young who prepares

the nest. and she was very, very de voted to her mother. i think it's gotten the public excited about public art. people pay attention to their environment. they wonder what's going to pop up next. so it's been incredibly positive. >> the public's art program, it's reputation has been spread nationally and internationally. so what do you think has been the affect or the utility of having a temporary arts program for you? >> i think with the temporary art work, everyone is sort of willing to take a chance. it allows us to be a little more risky. look at risks that are a little more experimental, a little more edgy. and often it represent less of an investment to public funds because we're not acquiring a work. we're often paying for just the transportation and installation of the work. >> so what do you think it has contributed to san francisco, this 40-year-old program? >> well, we've contributed more

than 1,000 art works to the city. you can find art work in practically every public facility. i jokingly say from a to z. but from the airport to the zoo you will find the mark of the aren'ts commission. the% aplace to every -- the 2% applies to every city department. it allows us to make art work, a part of the daily fabric of life in the city. >> it's libraries. it's parks. it's chouses. >> that's right. it's 2% of the construction cost. it doesn't come out of any other initial program. it's not competing with the health department for money if we didn't spend the 2% for art, it would just be part of the architecture budgets. >> of course we're here. but this program touches every neighborhood in the city. so what are other examples? >> right before thanksgiving we made head lines on "chronicles.

we have an exciting project at the intersection of columbus and north beach. in conjunction with the reconstruction of the m-line and the beautification of ocean avenue, we had a budget to commission art work. we hired an artist to create three large sun spheres made from beautiful golden-colored ceramic tile. and they bring this beautiful, radiant sunlight to ocean avenue. it's sort of a bright moment in the fog. >> one of the things that helps to make san francisco a destination is its reputation as an arts center. and how has this department contributed to that? it contributed to the vibrancy of our city. it reflects our culture diversity. it tells the story of our history of the city. it enables us to create a

cultural legacy for generations to come. the public art component is a vital part of the city's art scene. and in addition, it really conveys an important message that providing public art, free accessible public art 24/7 is an essential city service. >> what if you could make a memorial that is more about information and you are never fixed and it can go wherever it wants to go? everyone who has donated to it could use it, host it, share it. >> for quite a great deal of team she was hired in 2005, she struggled with finding the correct and appropriate visual expression. >> it was a bench at one point. it was a darkened room at

another point. but the theme always was a theme of how do we call people's attention to the issue of speci species extinction. >> many exhibits do make long detailed explanations about species decline and biology of birds and that is very useful for lots of purposes. but i think it is also important to try to pull at the strings inside people. >> missing is not just about specific extinct or endangered species. it is about absence and a more fundamental level of not knowing what we are losing and we need to link species loss to habitat loss and really focuses much on the habitat. >> of course the overall mission of the academy has to do with two really fundamental and

important questions. one of which is the nature of life. how did we get here? the second is the challenge of sustainability. if we are here how are we going to find a way to stay? these questions resonated very strongly with maya. >> on average a species disappears every 20 minutes. this is the only media work that i have done. i might never do another one because i'm not a media artist per se but i have used the medium because it seemed to be the one that could allow me to convey the sounds and images here. memorials to me are different from artworks. they are artistic, but memorials have a function. >> it is a beautiful scupltural

objective made with bronze and lined with red wood from water tanks in clear lake. that is the scupltural form that gives expression to maya's project. if you think about a cone or a bull horn, they are used to get the attention of the crowd, often to communicate an important message. this project has a very important message and it is about our earth and what we are losing and what we are missing and what we don't even know is gone. >> so, what is missing is starting with an idea of loss, but in a funny way the shape of this cone is, whether you want to call it like the r.c.a. victor dog, it is listen to the earth and what if we could create a portal that could look at the past, the present and the future? >> you can change what is then missing by changing the software, by changing what is projected and missing. so, missing isn't a static

installation. it is an installation that is going to grow and change over time. and she has worked to bring all of this information together from laboratory after laboratory including, fortunately, our great fwroup of researche e-- g researchers at the california academy. >> this couldn't have been more site specific to this place and we think just visually in terms of its scupltural form it really holds its own against the architectural largest and grandeur of the building. it is an unusual compelling object. we think it will draw people out on the terrace, they will see the big cone and say what is that. then as they approach the cone tell hear these very unusual sounds that were obtained from the cornell orinthology lab. >> we have the largest recording of birds, mammals, frogs and insects and a huge library of videos. so this is an absolutely perfect

opportunity for us to team up with a world renown, very creative inspirational artist and put the sounds and sights of the animals that we study into a brand-new context, a context that really allows people to appreciate an esthetic way of the idea that we might live in the world without these sounds or sites. >> in the scientific realm it is shifting baselines. we get used to less and less, diminished expectations of what it was. >> when i came along lobsters six feet long and oysters 12 inches within they days all the oyster beds in new york, manhattan, the harbor would clean the water. so, just getting people to wake up to what was just literally there 200 years ago, 150 years ago. you see the object and say what is that. you come out and hear these

intriguing sounds, sounds like i have never heard in my life. and then you step closer and you almost have a very intimate experience. >> we could link to different institutions around the globe, maybe one per continent, maybe two or three in this country, then once they are all networked, they begin to communicate with one another and share information. in 2010 the website will launch, but it will be what you would call an informational website and then we are going to try to, by 2011, invite people to add a memory. so in a funny way the member rely grows and there is something organic about how this memorial begins to have legs so to speak. so we don't know quite where it will go but i promise to keep on it 10 years. my goal is to raise awareness and then either protect forests from being cut down or reforest

in ways that promote biodiversity. >> biodiverse city often argued to be important for the world's human populations because all of the medicinal plants and uses that we can put to it and fiber that it gives us and food that it gives us. while these are vital and important and worth literally hundreds of billions of dollars, the part that we also have to be able to communicate is the more spiritual sense of how important it is that we get to live side by side with all of these forms that have three billion years of history behind them and how tragic it would be not commercially and not in a utilitarian way but an emotio l emotional, psychological, spiritual way if we watch them one by one disappear. >> this is sort of a merger between art and science and advocacy in a funny way getting people to wake unand realize what is going on -- wake up and

realize what is going on. so it is a memborial trying to get us to interpret history and look to the past. they have always been about lacking at the past so we proceed forward and maybe don't commit the same mistakes. >> here we are at the embarcadero. we are standing at one of locations for the street artists. can you tell me about this particular location, the program? >> this location is very significant. this was the very first and only location granted by the board of supervisors for the street artist when the program began in

1972. how does a person become a street artist? there are two major tenants. you must make the work yourself and you must sell the work yourself. a street artist, the license, then submitting the work to a committee of artists. this committee actually watches them make the work in front of them so that we can verify that it is all their own work. >> what happened during the holiday to make this an exciting location? >> this would be a magic time of year. you would probably see this place is jammed with street artists. as the no, there is a lottery held at 6 in the morning. that is how sought after the spaces are. you might get as many as 150 street artists to show up for 50

spaces. >> what other areas can a licensed street artist go to? >> they can go to the fisherman's wharf area. they can go in and around union square. we have space is now up in the castro, in fact. >> how many are there? >> we have about 420. >> are they here all year round? >> out of the 420, i know 150 to sell all year round. i mean like five-seven days a week. >> are they making their living of of this? >> this is their sole source of income for many. >> how long have you been with this program. how much has it changed? >> i have been with the program since it began 37 and a half years ago but i have seen changes in the trend. fashion comes and goes. >> i think that you can still

find plenty of titis perhaps. >> this is because the 60's is retro for a lot of people. i have seen that come back, yes. >> people still think of this city as the birth of that movement. great, thank you for talking about the background of the program. i'm excited to go shopping. >> i would like you to meet two street artists. this is linda and jeremy. >> night said to me to print them -- nice to meet you. >> can you talk to me about a variety of products that use cell? >> we have these lovely

constructed platters. we make these wonderful powder bowls. they can have a lot of color. >> york also using your license. -- you are also using your license. >> this means that i can register with the city. this makes sure that our family participated in making all of these. >> this comes by licensed artists. the person selling it is the person that made it. there is nothing better than the people that made it. >> i would like you to meet michael johnson. he has been in the program for over 8 years. >> nice to me you.

what inspired your photography? >> i am inspired everything that i see. the greatest thing about being a photographer is being able to show other people what i see. i have mostly worked in cuba and work that i shot here in san francisco. >> what is it about being a street artist that you particularly like? >> i liked it to the first day that i did it. i like talking to mentum people. talking about art or anything that comes to our minds. there is more visibility than i would see in any store front. this would cost us relatively very little. >> i am so happy to meet you. i wish you all of the best.

>> you are the wonderful artist that makes these color coding. >> nice to me to. >> i have been a street artist since 1976. >> how did you decide to be a street artist? >> i was working on union square. on lunch hours, i would be there visiting the artist. it was interesting, exciting, and i have a creative streak in me. it ranges from t-shirts, jackets, hats. what is the day of the life of a street artist? >> they have their 2536 in the morning. by the end of the day, the last people to pack the vehicle probably get on their own at 7:30 at night.

>> nice to me to condemn the -- nice to meet you. >> it was a pleasure to share this with you. i hope that the bay area will descend upon the plaza and go through these arts and crafts and by some holiday gifts. >> that would be amazing. thank you so much for the hard work that you do. there is really, only one boy...

one girl... one tree... one forest... one deep, dancing ocean... one mountain calling... one handful of sand through our fingers... one endless sky overhead... and one simple way to care for it all. please visit earthshare.org and learn how the world's leading environmental groups are working together under one name. earth share. one environment...