A hulking, brutalist PG&E substation in a rapidly transforming part of downtown San Francisco became the site of a towering light projection Thursday evening at a party thrown by the East Cut Community Benefit District.
The city has plenty of large-scale light installations these days — including recent efforts to illuminate the entire Transamerica Pyramid and that enormous waterfront crane in Hunters Point — but until today, none have been permanent. “East Cut Electric,” as the art installation is called, debuted at 425 Folsom St. at Fremont St. in the form of a lava lamp-like abstraction by artist Jeff Dobrow. It will continue for several years, swapping in new images by new artists every quarter. “Let’s Glow SF,” a holiday-themed series of projections, will briefly take over for about two weeks in December.
The substation has been a hulking presence in the city for many years. The windowless 171-foot cube with grooved concrete walls and a flared roofline is still a functioning PG&E facility, filled with coils and other equipment that power much of downtown. Decades ago, the long-demolished Embarcadero Freeway passed almost directly over it. But as the neighborhood has absorbed thousands of new residents over the past 10 years, its formidable monochrome heft became an urban design challenge amid the gleaming high-rises.
Projecting art onto the substation was among the strongest of the 5,000 ideas the community benefit district received after surveying neighborhood residents, according to executive director Andrew Robinson. “We have a couple of historic structures like this PG&E building on the south side of Folsom Street that, you know, need some vibrancy and life,” he said.
Funded through a partnership with PG&E, the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development, the real estate firm Related, and contributions from neighbors, “East Cut Electric” is set to continue for at least the next two years, Robinson said, adding that the images are beamed from the Avery, a 618-foot luxury rental building on Folsom Street that was completed in 2019.
Supervisor Matt Dorsey, who represents the area, observed that his district contains several other PG&E substations, including one on the corner of Mission and Eighth streets in SoMa with two bas-relief sculptures that date to the 1930s. That one is unlikely ever to have any art beamed onto its walls. “Nothing good happens in front of that substation, with all the drug use,” Dorsey said. “It’s just a dead space. No amount of economic activity will bring it back.”
The picture was very different eight blocks away. As guests nibbled on passed hors d’oeuvres and got inked up at a temporary-tattoo station, they craned their necks at the hypnotic digital art suddenly in their midst.
- Website
- East Cut Electric
- Address
- 425 Folsom St.