The.art.re.grüp, The LAB

The LAB presents experimental sound, media, and performing arts programming in its Mission District gallery/performance space. Through its artist residencies, curated shows, and extensive collaborations and partnerships, The LAB serves as a springboard for artists who regularly go on to present their work at higher-profile and more established arts venues that include the ZeroOne Art and Technology Festival, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Berkeley Art Museum. With ongoing support, The LAB, operating on a small budget and on the fringes of mainstream contemporary art, could continue to provide space for artists whose challenging work doesn’t fit anywhere else in San Francisco.

San Francisco’s The Lab was founded in 1984 by a group of interdisciplinary artists and today the interdisciplinary organization presents more than 30 live events, four to six solo and group exhibitions and supports two artists residencies each year at its Mission District gallery/performance space. Working with local artists and collaborators from around the world The Lab stands out as a facilitator of creative exchanges linking emerging artists and seasoned veterans looking for space and support to attempt experimental work at the intersection of performance, visual and electronic art. In recent years The Lab has hosted the Kearney Street Workshop’s annual festival featuring the work of the Bay Area’s Asian Pacific American artists, partnered with a Danish collective to trade videos and live-performance explorations of ‘dead pan’ humor, and staged productions of the Philadelphia ensemble Hotel Obligado’s Beauty Is – a gritty musical about gay men, crystal meth and HIV. The Lab has a small budget ($150,000), a small staff (2 part-time co-directors and a production manager) and leverages the ‘sweat equity’ of its working board and their artist volunteers to sustain its operations. With ongoing support this long-time Hewlett grantee will continue to provide space for art that doesn’t fit anywhere else in San Francisco and proceed with its strategic plan to build membership, expand its board, increase community support and celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2009.