Inspiration Name of Game

"Involved, Socially," is one of those art exhibits whose concept is so good it starts to collapse in on itself. Curator Michelle Blade came up with the artist's version of "No man is an island" as an organizing theory, and her superteam ran with it. Video installation, shadowplay, photography, and T-shirts all investigate the idea that although the artist's process is often thought of as a solo trip, the reality is always collaborative. To put it another way, the time you spend not making art affects the art you make. The wormholes start to form with stuff like Christine Wong Yap's mail-trading exhibit-within-an-exhibit called "This or That," made of international post-office exchanges — we love Joshua Churchill's envelope that audio-records its own journey and plays it back in the gallery. David Horvitz contributes an oversize letter to the show’s visual element, and leads an expedition as a happening-type conceptual contribution: an all-night art walk. Gallery staff tell us he took cues for which spots to visit from his grandmother, who used to live in San Francisco. She probably didn’t know she was helping to make art when she told her grandson about her favorite places, but no grandma is an island.

The all-night art walk starts at 8 p.m.
Aug. 6-Sept. 6, 2009