What’s New at CounterPulse

#NotABugSplat A little girl’s face stares towards the clouds in a meadow, a place where drones fly as often as the birds. Her face covers a massive portrait printed by a group of artist-activists as part of an installation titled #NotABugSplat. Since 2004, drone strikes in Pakistan have killed over 3,000 people, including a large

The Tenderloin Art Lending Library (TALL) is a queer-artist-run project that lends artwork to Tenderloin community members free-of-charge. TALL is a trust-based program where artists—the majority of whom are homeless, formerly homeless, and live or work in the Tenderloin—donate artwork that is available for loan to any member of the Tenderloin community free-of-charge. TALL is

 Journey for Wisdom and Empowerment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N697jVEqyiM&feature=youtu.be A key part of my artistic process for "Metamorphosis" is to connect with nature and my indigenous Peruvian roots through shamanic dance to invoke healing and strength. Shot by Life Escobar. Directed and performed by Mabel Valdiviezo Una parte clave de mi proceso artístico para "Metamorfosis" es conectarme con

A Reflection from CounterPulse’s former Development & Engagement Fellow   Leaving the academic world can be jarring for most people. It’s incredibly easy to feel aimless and misdirected without an imposed colonized structure thrust upon you for the first time ever. As a recent college graduate from a “socially conscious” Jesuit university, I’m lucky to

A wise woman drums to the four directions of the earth Tum, tum, tum, tum, tum She calls the ancestral spirits of the land, water, air, fire And begins to teach me the way to journey   There I am, as ancient as her Yet, afraid of my power Alchemy comes to my aid And

Because San Francisco industries are hemorrhaging artists, and CounterPulse safeguards resources for YOUR artistic community. Because you know that things can just be so much better than what they are. Because all your most brilliant friends will be there. Because we’re going ALL OUT with the Innerspace theme and transforming our building into a queer

What is the body's relationship to furniture, to structure, to the design we inhabit but rarely have an opportunity to adapt? How can design be appropriated to be more collaborative in creation and destruction, shaped by our social norms and urban conditions? Can design be improvisational, performative even? What happens when humans are no longer

The need for a wow is paramount. There is no situation where a wow can not shake the habitual, move you in to the very heart of the mundane, and re-fascinate your existence. From day to day, we move about in a world that we know very little about. I do not know how electricity

We were led into a cobblestone courtyard after a short trek through the layer cake city of Belgrade. The old and the new built alongside and on top of each other. All stonework and stairways in and around the ancient walkways of the city. They took us up away from the river, past stately parks

Telling myself what to do feels foreign And bends itself into what will turn into the first escape of many It takes a careful tread and a dissonant listening in order to achieve the uncut smile that spreads across my face So I scan wildly Wanting no one's eye but my own Desperation and wanton

1. In an attempt to focus in I blurred and multiplied. The psychedelics have worn off and I’ve learned some things but am still aggrieved. To believe is to trust and to sit is to not stand. And to float? Up here vestiges of an old self linger while I wait for my magic

So CounterPulse is centering their second annual festival around improvisation and the pursuit of “freedom,” and this... is just a very real workout for all of me: brain, bod, heart, etc. I think it’s a bold move on our part. And I say: thank goodness for bold moves. Years ago, I used to co-teach a