Mid-Market Art Project: "Do the Strand"

The Strand is a vacant movie theatre at 1127 Market Street. I have many fond memories of its years as a repertory movie house, having seen such shows as a triple-bill of the Evil Dead series (I, II, and Army of Darkness), a double-bill of Ken Russell, showing Lair of the White Worm and Gothic, and also a rather esoteric Spanish film entitled Tras el Crystal (In a Glass Cage), which involved a Nazi pedophile rendered helpless in an iron lung(!). Given the films I saw there, I associate the Strand with the darker elements, while for a time afterwards it became a haven for an even seedier class of film, the XXX.

In the late eighties and early nineties, their calendar lived on our refrigerator and determined the activities of certain evenings each month. Films that were not shown at the art school where we went, as they were in fact commercial (sometimes barely) and feature length, not at all the fare of the art-for-art's-sake purists who comprised the avant-garde.

Thus the Strand represented an alternative to Alternative film. Films not of Hollywood and not mainstream, nor of the art school canon. And for this I always appreciated the Strand.

In truth, it was sadder to see the Strand operating as a smut house than to see it shut down. Imagine perhaps seeing a friend turning tricks. And then they die, Which is sadder?

I would like to remember the Strand as a grande dame, a bit down on her luck, but full of fire, and life, and culture. One that is not the multiplex monoculture.

I propose to project trailers and B-movie reels of the era, with sync audio, popcorn and refreshments. Anything of this sort may border on nostalgia, but this will be no maudlin exercise (a funeral), but an appreciation of the life. I seem to prefer these when someone who I know, especially in the arts, has died.

Presently I am seeking permission from the owner to unboard the frontage in order to show rear-projected (from inside) 16mm films on a frosted glass, the audience invited to stand or sit nearby on the sidewalk (permits, yes). There will be a hot popcorn maker and should the owner wish to make a little pocket money he/she is invited to reprint old playbills, memorabilia for purchase.

No telling when the building itself will be destroyed and some grand vision built there in the shadow of that attrocity the Federal Building which stands behind. http://sf.curbed.com/tags/strand-theater


Artist's Statement

One manner in which this project fulfills the ideal goals of the Mid Market Art Project is that the audience, the public, is drawn into the movie-going experience in a non-standard but more engaging fashion: on the street. Normally one goes to the theater, and enters a solitary space, while surrounded by others, paradoxically. There is no social element, once the movie starts, one hopes in order to retain the almighty suspension of disbelief necessary for true escape. In our premise "Do the Strand" operates as an outdoor screening, unique and attractive for the social interaction, which is primary to the experience. Also, at the 7th/Market location, the screening will be subject to the randomness of the area, and will interest and attract those who are simply wandering by.

As a sort of touchstone, I see the screenings operating on a number of levels:
A) The owner wants to sell or lease the theater. The screenings could only assist his efforts.
B) A collective is forming to do just that - We, "Do the Strand" are a group of professionals intending to amass our expertise and form a coherent group wishing to rent space at the Strand with the intention to purchase.
--i) as artists and craftsmen we are able to transform the space in a meaningful and aesthetic fashion.
--ii)offices open to non-profits and groups of artists wanting to have legitimate office space for business and also a space for public performances.
C) In preserving the Strand there would remain a landmark of Mid-Market's past transformed into a viable update, centered on filmmaking and other performance art, music, etc. as a type of social media (the new catch-phrase), but redefined as media which is social, i.e. gets people out of the house to rub elbows with one another, and engage in dialogue that's not transmitted via internet.

The artist's role is to provoke thoughtful discussion. See "Defenestration" at 6th/Howard by Brian Goggin, predating my move to SOMA in 1992 by a few years. It has some longevity for one thing. It engages you such that you immediately ask "What does it mean?" but in the context of an abandoned building which is integral to any discussion. An artist asks the pragmatic question "How are these things attached," and other DIY thoughts which come to mind. A cynic may ask "Is it safe?" Mr. Goggin is welcome to join our collective, unlikely though it be.

All in all I see "Do the Strand" as a petri dish in which all manner of life forms may arise. In our era of accelerated technological evolution, I see a great opportunity for intelligent and beautiful lifeforms to be created. They just need the conducive environment.

"Rhododendron is a nice flower, but it can't beat...Strand power."
-Roxy Music, "Do the Strand"



Primary Personnel

Bruce Miller, Stagehand Local 16 IATSE, and filmmaker
BFA, 1990, SFAI, Film, with Spring Show Award
Sometimes resident of SOMA, 49A Moss St., 94103, (3 years)
Screenings at Rotterdam International, Bay Area Now II, dadafest (SomArts), see http://millerbruce.blogspot.com/
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0588007/

Ian Sundahl, Filmmaker, painter, film archivist
MFA, 1997, SFAI, Painting
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1935079/

Zoe Merideth, Graduate student, Harvard School of Design, Urban Planning
BA, 2009, UC Berkeley, Geography

S. Fey Epling, Esq.
U.C. Hastings College of the Law 1997
AB Oberlin College 1987

Ramon Churruca, Performance artist, actor
BFA, 2001, SFAI, Performance (New Genres)
imdb: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0161523/