Featured Events in San Francisco in February 2025 (April Updated)

The artworks in this gallery showcase the deep desire among athletes (and artists) to participate in games that prove — to rivals and spectators, coaches and family members, and the participants themselves — that they are worthy of the task at hand. In the game, players discover that the hours spent practicing with heads bent, in a crouch, or cradling a ball, yield a grace and beauty that only surfaces when tested. And sometimes the sociopolitical context in which one performs makes it even harder. In this exhibition, the physical, mental, emotional, and political resilience required to play is made visible. When Indigenous, Black, or women athletes refuse to give up, especially when they were historically excluded, their presence in the contest changes it. They make the game wider, deeper, and more meaningful. They make a beautiful game even more beautiful.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

Skateboarding has always been about more than tricks and competitions. It is a culture rooted in rebellion, creativity, style, and the pursuit of freedom. This exhibition, curated by Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez, founders of the skate collective Unity, celebrates the dreams and realities of queer, trans, BIPOC, and women skaters as well as the diverse communities that have shaped the sport, despite histories of hypermasculinity and exclusionary attitudes. Meet the pioneers who broke barriers, from the first women and queer skaters to go pro, to the underground movements that encouraged inclusivity and change in skateboarding. Through skateboards that represent queer and women skaters and artists, skate publications and zines, artworks, photographs, videos, and more, the works featured here explore how communities have fostered unity through a shared ethos of passion and determination. Just as skaters who, despite injuries and setbacks, persistently attempt a trick until they land it, Unity through Skateboarding encourages us to keep pushing for a more inclusive world, both on and off the board.

Skateboarding has always been about more than tricks and competitions. It is a culture rooted in rebellion, creativity, style, and the pursuit of freedom. This exhibition, curated by Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez, founders of the skate collective Unity, celebrates the dreams and realities of queer, trans, BIPOC, and women skaters as well as the diverse communities that have shaped the sport, despite histories of hypermasculinity and exclusionary attitudes. Meet the pioneers who broke barriers, from the first women and queer skaters to go pro, to the underground movements that encouraged inclusivity and change in skateboarding. Through skateboards that represent queer and women skaters and artists, skate publications and zines, artworks, photographs, videos, and more, the works featured here explore how communities have fostered unity through a shared ethos of passion and determination. Just as skaters who, despite injuries and setbacks, persistently attempt a trick until they land it, Unity through Skateboarding encourages us to keep pushing for a more inclusive world, both on and off the board.

Skateboarding has always been about more than tricks and competitions. It is a culture rooted in rebellion, creativity, style, and the pursuit of freedom. This exhibition, curated by Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez, founders of the skate collective Unity, celebrates the dreams and realities of queer, trans, BIPOC, and women skaters as well as the diverse communities that have shaped the sport, despite histories of hypermasculinity and exclusionary attitudes. Meet the pioneers who broke barriers, from the first women and queer skaters to go pro, to the underground movements that encouraged inclusivity and change in skateboarding. Through skateboards that represent queer and women skaters and artists, skate publications and zines, artworks, photographs, videos, and more, the works featured here explore how communities have fostered unity through a shared ethos of passion and determination. Just as skaters who, despite injuries and setbacks, persistently attempt a trick until they land it, Unity through Skateboarding encourages us to keep pushing for a more inclusive world, both on and off the board.

Table Manners brings together tableware, flatware, and drinkware from the SFMOMA Architecture + Design collection spanning nearly 100 years. The exhibition celebrates the ways design has shaped our relationship to food, our bodies, and communities, and how dining can be a profound communal and cultural experience. From self-filling wine glasses and teapots made of tea, to crisp modernist spoons and flatware made from discarded CDs, Table Manners explores the performance of dining. The exhibition includes works by Virgil Abloh, Joe Colombo, Zaha Hadid, Roberto Lugo, and many more, accompanied by illustrations and textiles by Lucy Stark.

Table Manners brings together tableware, flatware, and drinkware from the SFMOMA Architecture + Design collection spanning nearly 100 years. The exhibition celebrates the ways design has shaped our relationship to food, our bodies, and communities, and how dining can be a profound communal and cultural experience. From self-filling wine glasses and teapots made of tea, to crisp modernist spoons and flatware made from discarded CDs, Table Manners explores the performance of dining. The exhibition includes works by Virgil Abloh, Joe Colombo, Zaha Hadid, Roberto Lugo, and many more, accompanied by illustrations and textiles by Lucy Stark.

Table Manners brings together tableware, flatware, and drinkware from the SFMOMA Architecture + Design collection spanning nearly 100 years. The exhibition celebrates the ways design has shaped our relationship to food, our bodies, and communities, and how dining can be a profound communal and cultural experience. From self-filling wine glasses and teapots made of tea, to crisp modernist spoons and flatware made from discarded CDs, Table Manners explores the performance of dining. The exhibition includes works by Virgil Abloh, Joe Colombo, Zaha Hadid, Roberto Lugo, and many more, accompanied by illustrations and textiles by Lucy Stark.

Every two years, SFMOMA celebrates Bay Area artists and our creative community with the SECA Art Award. Established in 1967, the award has honored nearly one hundred local recipients with an exhibition and platform for expanding their practices and sharing their work with new audiences. The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition celebrates Rose D’Amato, Angela Hennessy, and Rupy C. Tut. Each artist has conceived a gallery with new works that bring distinct perspectives, processes, and materials into the museum.

Every two years, SFMOMA celebrates Bay Area artists and our creative community with the SECA Art Award. Established in 1967, the award has honored nearly one hundred local recipients with an exhibition and platform for expanding their practices and sharing their work with new audiences. The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition celebrates Rose D’Amato, Angela Hennessy, and Rupy C. Tut. Each artist has conceived a gallery with new works that bring distinct perspectives, processes, and materials into the museum.

Every two years, SFMOMA celebrates Bay Area artists and our creative community with the SECA Art Award. Established in 1967, the award has honored nearly one hundred local recipients with an exhibition and platform for expanding their practices and sharing their work with new audiences. The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition celebrates Rose D’Amato, Angela Hennessy, and Rupy C. Tut. Each artist has conceived a gallery with new works that bring distinct perspectives, processes, and materials into the museum.

Every two years, SFMOMA celebrates Bay Area artists and our creative community with the SECA Art Award. Established in 1967, the award has honored nearly one hundred local recipients with an exhibition and platform for expanding their practices and sharing their work with new audiences. The 2024 SECA Art Award exhibition celebrates Rose D’Amato, Angela Hennessy, and Rupy C. Tut. Each artist has conceived a gallery with new works that bring distinct perspectives, processes, and materials into the museum.

Widely recognized for his singular approach towards sound and new technologies, Samson Young (born 1979, Hong Kong; based in Hong Kong) utilizes performance, video, and installation to rigorously examine the cultural, political, and historical contexts of sound. Samson Young’s first West Coast solo exhibition debuts Intentness and songs, a multimedia installation that poetically traces the idiosyncratic rhythms of love, memory, and experiences of time. In this interconnected audiovisual landscape, Young draws on the duration and rhythm of human and generative AI memory recall processes as the basis for polychromatic sculptures, videos, and a mesmerizing soundscape. Visitors are invited to wander through pathways of wooden boards with markings created through a mix of techniques and 3D-printed boards etched and embedded with objects and memories excerpted from the lives of the artist and his husband.

Widely recognized for his singular approach towards sound and new technologies, Samson Young (born 1979, Hong Kong; based in Hong Kong) utilizes performance, video, and installation to rigorously examine the cultural, political, and historical contexts of sound. Samson Young’s first West Coast solo exhibition debuts Intentness and songs, a multimedia installation that poetically traces the idiosyncratic rhythms of love, memory, and experiences of time. In this interconnected audiovisual landscape, Young draws on the duration and rhythm of human and generative AI memory recall processes as the basis for polychromatic sculptures, videos, and a mesmerizing soundscape. Visitors are invited to wander through pathways of wooden boards with markings created through a mix of techniques and 3D-printed boards etched and embedded with objects and memories excerpted from the lives of the artist and his husband.

Looking to get away from it all? This selection of idyllic landscapes by famed Chinese ink painters, past and present, offers a perfect opportunity to escape the hectic pace of city life in the digital age. The selection on view offers a rare opportunity to enjoy a masterpiece by Ni Zan (1301-1374), a cultural icon in Chinese history, whose dry, spare brushwork evokes lyrical tranquility and a world cleansed of turmoil during the chaotic period of dynastic transition. Following the ancient Chinese tradition of mountain worship, many of these landscapes use the contours of sacred mountains and the movements of waters and clouds to embody Daoist philosophy, beckoning the viewer to engage in a personal, cultural, and spiritual communion. As mountains are personified as venerable deities, rivers become their veins; mists are their breath; foliage is their hair; and rocks are their bones.

Looking to get away from it all? This selection of idyllic landscapes by famed Chinese ink painters, past and present, offers a perfect opportunity to escape the hectic pace of city life in the digital age. The selection on view offers a rare opportunity to enjoy a masterpiece by Ni Zan (1301-1374), a cultural icon in Chinese history, whose dry, spare brushwork evokes lyrical tranquility and a world cleansed of turmoil during the chaotic period of dynastic transition. Following the ancient Chinese tradition of mountain worship, many of these landscapes use the contours of sacred mountains and the movements of waters and clouds to embody Daoist philosophy, beckoning the viewer to engage in a personal, cultural, and spiritual communion. As mountains are personified as venerable deities, rivers become their veins; mists are their breath; foliage is their hair; and rocks are their bones.

Hawks, pheasants, ducks, quail, egrets, and other birds appear frequently in Japanese paintings. With roots in the Chinese “bird and flower” genre, some are traditionally associated with a particular season or sentiment; others were chosen by artists and patrons simply for their beauty. The paintings currently on view in the Tateuchi Japanese Galleries use birds as both decorations and symbols, representing the seasons, strength, longevity, fidelity, or good fortune. They include decorative rimpa-style paintings; large, Kano-style screen paintings; and intimate hanging scrolls decorated in ink and faint colors.

Hawks, pheasants, ducks, quail, egrets, and other birds appear frequently in Japanese paintings. With roots in the Chinese “bird and flower” genre, some are traditionally associated with a particular season or sentiment; others were chosen by artists and patrons simply for their beauty. The paintings currently on view in the Tateuchi Japanese Galleries use birds as both decorations and symbols, representing the seasons, strength, longevity, fidelity, or good fortune. They include decorative rimpa-style paintings; large, Kano-style screen paintings; and intimate hanging scrolls decorated in ink and faint colors.

Ragnar Kjartansson’s beloved video installation The Visitors (2012) is back at SFMOMA. In this mesmerizing hour-long work projected across nine screens, viewers are transported once again to the serene setting of Rokeby in upstate New York as the Icelandic artist and his musician friends perform together in various rooms of this historic mansion.

The artworks in this gallery showcase the deep desire among athletes (and artists) to participate in games that prove — to rivals and spectators, coaches and family members, and the participants themselves — that they are worthy of the task at hand. In the game, players discover that the hours spent practicing with heads bent, in a crouch, or cradling a ball, yield a grace and beauty that only surfaces when tested. And sometimes the sociopolitical context in which one performs makes it even harder. In this exhibition, the physical, mental, emotional, and political resilience required to play is made visible. When Indigenous, Black, or women athletes refuse to give up, especially when they were historically excluded, their presence in the contest changes it. They make the game wider, deeper, and more meaningful. They make a beautiful game even more beautiful.

Skateboarding has always been about more than tricks and competitions. It is a culture rooted in rebellion, creativity, style, and the pursuit of freedom. This exhibition, curated by Jeffrey Cheung and Gabriel Ramirez, founders of the skate collective Unity, celebrates the dreams and realities of queer, trans, BIPOC, and women skaters as well as the diverse communities that have shaped the sport, despite histories of hypermasculinity and exclusionary attitudes. Meet the pioneers who broke barriers, from the first women and queer skaters to go pro, to the underground movements that encouraged inclusivity and change in skateboarding. Through skateboards that represent queer and women skaters and artists, skate publications and zines, artworks, photographs, videos, and more, the works featured here explore how communities have fostered unity through a shared ethos of passion and determination. Just as skaters who, despite injuries and setbacks, persistently attempt a trick until they land it, Unity through Skateboarding encourages us to keep pushing for a more inclusive world, both on and off the board.

Major international competitions where athletes compete as members of a national team are highly anticipated and widely watched media events. Such tournaments find participants facing their fiercest competitors, and often befriending them. Host cities invest in building state-of-the-art arenas, transportation, and hospitality to increase tourism. Nations finance research and development of performance sports gear, like the racing wheelchair and hydrofoil sailboat on view here, which in turn influence the sporting goods made available to the public. Given the global attention, many athletes take the opportunity to surface inequities they have encountered for broader perspectives and debate. In addition to showcasing the highest level of performance, international games spur innovations in design and urban planning, and significant discussions that influence broader social progress.

Major international competitions where athletes compete as members of a national team are highly anticipated and widely watched media events. Such tournaments find participants facing their fiercest competitors, and often befriending them. Host cities invest in building state-of-the-art arenas, transportation, and hospitality to increase tourism. Nations finance research and development of performance sports gear, like the racing wheelchair and hydrofoil sailboat on view here, which in turn influence the sporting goods made available to the public. Given the global attention, many athletes take the opportunity to surface inequities they have encountered for broader perspectives and debate. In addition to showcasing the highest level of performance, international games spur innovations in design and urban planning, and significant discussions that influence broader social progress.

The artworks in this gallery showcase the deep desire among athletes (and artists) to participate in games that prove — to rivals and spectators, coaches and family members, and the participants themselves — that they are worthy of the task at hand. In the game, players discover that the hours spent practicing with heads bent, in a crouch, or cradling a ball, yield a grace and beauty that only surfaces when tested. And sometimes the sociopolitical context in which one performs makes it even harder. In this exhibition, the physical, mental, emotional, and political resilience required to play is made visible. When Indigenous, Black, or women athletes refuse to give up, especially when they were historically excluded, their presence in the contest changes it. They make the game wider, deeper, and more meaningful. They make a beautiful game even more beautiful.

Major international competitions where athletes compete as members of a national team are highly anticipated and widely watched media events. Such tournaments find participants facing their fiercest competitors, and often befriending them. Host cities invest in building state-of-the-art arenas, transportation, and hospitality to increase tourism. Nations finance research and development of performance sports gear, like the racing wheelchair and hydrofoil sailboat on view here, which in turn influence the sporting goods made available to the public. Given the global attention, many athletes take the opportunity to surface inequities they have encountered for broader perspectives and debate. In addition to showcasing the highest level of performance, international games spur innovations in design and urban planning, and significant discussions that influence broader social progress.