Who will retake Downtown? SF’s arts scene is not waiting around

As twilight fell over a balmy downtown, droves of people dressed to the nines shuffled into a futuristic bank vault-turned-museum. Tech moguls, mayoral candidates, and the biggest names in the Bay Area art world showed up to Montgomery Street — an avenue known for its row of banks, not galleries — for a private opening of the Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco, which opens to the public on Friday. 

Jell-O shots were served in subterranean bank vaults, ceramic sculptures and massive tapestries hung from the walls, and the Bay Area’s most esteemed artists, gallerists, and curators floated across the five-floor atrium, joined by would-be mayor Daniel Lurie, Gap chairman Bob Fisher, and Tipping Point co-founder Katie Schwab Paige.

“I’ve been to four galleries tonight, and that never happens,” Lava Thomas, an artist who recently erected a monument to Maya Angelou at the San Francisco Public Library, told The Standard. “Because of the weather, it feels like L.A., and because of the proximity, it feels like New York. But everyone’s happy, and that’s very San Francisco.”

In a move that shocked the real estate and art worlds, ICA SF announced in August that it would be moving from its humble Dogpatch location to a massive, futuristic former bank on Montgomery Street, rent-free. 

The building, which Vornado Realty Trust, the property co-owner, is offering to the museum on a two-year license agreement, is also partially owned by Donald Trump’s family business. The museum occupies the basement and first floor of the building.

Gass founded the museum’s former Dogpatch location in October 2022 after gathering financial support from Andy Rappaport, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, and a bevy of other angel investors in tech — a sector that has historically been criticized for its lack of engagement in the arts.

The ICA model, which has existed since 1936, starting in Boston, leans on versatility and nimbleness, according to Gass. It does not charge an entrance fee and keeps no permanent collection, instead focusing its resources on allowing its artists to experiment. 

Currently on view through February 23 is Iraqi-American sculptor Maryam Yousif’s first solo show, sculptures by New York-based sculptor Kathleen Ryan, and a group show, “The Poetics of Dimensions,” curated by renowned curator Larry Ossei-Mensah.

The museum’s grand reveal came on the same day the Svane Family Foundation — which recently donated $1 million to the de Young Museum for an acquisition of 42 works from local artists — launched Culture Forward, a $5 million grant program meant to add heft to downtown’s arts scene.