Best Place to See the Future of Art

The Wattis Institute might sound like something out of an Abbott and Costello routine, but there's nothing slapstick -- or slapdash -- about the institution, which has distinguished itself as one of the Bay Area's most important promoters of art, architecture, and design since 1998. Under Director Ralph Rugoff and curator Matthew Higgs, CCAC's Wattis Institute and its Capp Street Project have proven that there's life beyond the white cube, emphasizing contemporary art that's firmly rooted in the social world. Exhibitions have included "Rooms for Listening," a showcase of electronic music, sound art, and audio sculpture; "After the Gold Rush," which collected the works of English artist Jeremy Deller during his Capp Street residency; and "Mixtapes," which looked at pop music and youth culture through the lens of adventurous video art. This is the stuff institutional legacies are made of. Who needs a Whitney when we've got a Wattis?