Map Quest

Comments (0) By Hiya Swanhuyser Wednesday, Sep 12 2007

Artists plus maps equal good ideas. We've seen meticulously cut out and wadded up roadways, reconfigured cities, fantasy grids, and more. At "Hidden Histories: Divulging Secrets of San Francisco's Eastern Landscape," a group of locals digs deep into map-based art territory. They get their hands on surprising municipal plans from 1887, ferret out the location of former waterways, tell stories of geographical nicknames (what do you suppose was once known unofficially as "Shit Creek?"), and consider how these ghosts affect us today. Yuko Ezoe, Amber Hasselbring, Francisco Hernandez, Patrick Piazza, and the Counter Narrative Society exhibit artifacts, meditations on tourism, narrative installations, and park art. One project makes us think of the great Shaping SF CD-Rom: Thinking of You: Mission and Valencia asks for memories from local residents, in an attempt to chart the rapid changes in that area. The gallery also serves as a "point of departure for artist-led and self-guided tours," says the Web site, and one of those is of the proposed Mission Greenbelt, an all-day perambulation that explores the creation and preservation of green spaces.