In March 2016, Montalvo launched an open call for proposals for our annual summer Art on the Grounds festival. We asked would-be applicants, “if you had five hours to present a work of sculpture in a public park, what would you create?” The eleven works on view at the festival opening, featuring more than 35 artists and their collaborators from the Bay Area, Greater US, and beyond―represented the final projects selected through this process.
These mostly new works represented the expanded field of contemporary sculpture, ranging from temporary installations, interventions, gestures, actions, participatory engagements, spectacular intrusions, and performances. Many of the artworks included familiar concepts associated with traditional sculpture, like addition and subtraction. At the same time, they were in many cases temporal, overlapping with other disciplines, and employed unusual materials including the human body. Many of the works also asked for guests to participate and become part of the work of art!
The selected works utilized Montalvo’s public park as a shared social space to explore diverse themes, including our complex relationship to our natural environment (both as a source of inspiration and anxiety) and our right to have our voice heard in public spaces. They raised important questions like: “Who is Montalvo’s 175 acre public park for? Who is excluded?” And they modeled ways we can use our public spaces to exchange ideas and create community.
Image Gallery
Meet the Artists
Partners and Sponsors
Five Hour Sculpture was made possible through the generous support of the following program partners, exhibition sponsors, and Friends of the Lucas Artists Program:
In the News
- Ephemeral Sculpture at Montalvo’s “Garden” Party
by Melissa Hartman, Metro