Bill Fontana's Spiraling Echoes

March 6, 1:50 PMSF Art ExaminerMarisa Nakasone

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The rotunda.  Image: SFAC

Yesterday I told you all that I spent a lunch hour this week doing the grand tour of current art exhibitions at the civic center/SFAC gallery: imPOSSIBLE, Art of Change, and Spiraling Echoes.  Though ideally, one would probably want to spend more than just an hour exploring the current exhibitions, the Civic center is in the perfect location for lunch hour art musings--it's smack in the downtown area and easily accessible by Muni (I took the metro muni to Van Ness and it took all of five minutes) for day time denizens of the financial district.

After viewing imPOSSIBLE over at the SFAC gallery, I ran across the street to the Civic Center where, after a security guard rummaged through my black hole of a handbag for contraband, I clickity-clacked my way on the marble floors over to the grandiose Rotunda, where I was greeted by the call of sea birds, a sound that I hear often on walks on the outskirts of the Richmond district.  Bill Fontana, a renowned composer and artist, has previously created experimental sound installations at similarly iconic structures that include Big Ben, the Tate Modern, and the Arc de Triomphe.  For Spiraling Echoes,Fontana installed transducers in the rotunda's dome, the sounds from which echo and play off of the surrounding surfaces, creating an atmosphere of sound that is unique to the civic center structure.  The soundtrack includes (from SFAC website):

In both medium and content, Spiraling Echoes attempts to faithfully present the "old-new" essence and mood of San Francisco--a historical city that actively preserves its historicity while moving forward in evolving times and a growing, ever contemporary skyline, and in spite of imminent natural disaster.  The installation compels participants to look upward and admire the decor of the building and reflect on the evolution of San Franciscan architecture (how trappings of power, law, and governance has shifted from that highly decorative, yearning toward Europe style--to the sleek, clean, and stainless steel of high rises just a ways down Market St).  Despite my aversion to fussy decor, I could not help but feel impressed by the sense of spaciousness, the detail in the coffered ceiling, and the abundance of cool marble--on the one hand one thinks of nouveau riche, California-brand pastiche, all the while feeling a sense of deference for the space and what it represents. I left the building wondering what Joan Didion, with her long-time Californian status and cool, incisive observations of iconic people and places (see: The White Album), might make of this installation.