Program Notes

Commissioned by the San Francisco Choral Artists, this work celebrates the end of San Francisco landmark Defenestration by Brian Goggin. Canadian writer André Alexis wrote a set of four poems for the work.

The concept of “DEFENESTRATION”, a word literally meaning “to throw out of a window,” is embodied by both the site and staging of this installation. Located at the corner of Sixth and Howard Streets in San Francisco in an abandoned four-story tenement building, the site is part of a neighborhood that historically has faced economic challenges and has often endured the stigma of skid row status.

Goggin's multi-disciplinary sculptural mural involves seemingly animated furniture; tables, chairs, lamps, grandfather clocks, a refrigerator, and couches, their bodies bent like centipedes, fastened to the walls and window-sills, their insect-like legs seeming to grasp the surfaces. Against society’s expectations, these everyday objects flood out of windows like escapees, out onto available ledges, up and down the walls, onto the fire escapes and off the roof. “DEFENESTRATION” was created by Brian Goggin with the help of over 100 volunteers. It was a SF landmark for 17 years until developers finally bought the building and are turning it into low-income housing. http://www.metaphorm.org/works/defenestration/

ARTICLE: http://www.sfca.org/defenestration-veronika-krausas/