The CounterPulse Festival is a week-long awakening of artistic works across the Bay Area
Join CounterPulse as we dismantle and build new architectures of affects towards new social paradigms imbued with reflection, embodiment and touch.
Reopen your mind with new events by FACT/SF, tinypistol, curbAlert, Krista DeNio >> Moving Ground, Faluda Islam / Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Meg Foley, Marc Kate & Julie Phelps, Performance Primers, Skybridge, ArtSpan and more.
In the third iteration of the CounterPulse Festival, we lean into the plasticity of the times, bending, breaking, and being together. We ask what is performance, how do we want to connect, and how can artistic process mend towards a collective future of care. Our productions are only as radical as the visionaries behind the work; and this year, we bring CounterPulse back to our stage, into the streets, and beyond.
CounterPulse goes offline and off-screen — to the hilltop above Monterey Bay at Djerassi Artist Residency Program, the urban oasis of the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts grounds, the ornate church halls at the Saint Joseph Art Society, the lush meadows of Oakland’s Estuary Park, the book exhibition at the SF Center for the Book, a vacant parking lot in the Mission — while welcoming you back to CounterPulse’s facility and to a screen near you.
Re-enter CounterPulse in forms you never thought possible. Join us for dance parties, film screenings, experimental performance, workshops, and so much more.
This is a time to connect, reflect, and explore how we want to rebuild, taking no assumption from the past and assuming no limits on our future.
The CounterPulse Festival Timeline
All times are in PDT
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 9
5pm-6:30pm: ArtSpan Artist Reception
Location: CounterPulse Gallery
5pm: my beloved comet + Saint Leroi film screening by tinypistol
Location: Saint Joseph’s Art Society
5pm-9pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
7pm-8:30pm: Matchbook with Hannah Meleokaiao Ayasse and Casey Gardner
Location: San Francisco Center for the Book
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 10
9am-10am: Panel with ZERO1, Thoughtworks, and CounterPulse
Location: Virtual
12pm-1:30pm: Fuck the System! Queeratorial Collectives Do It Themselves a conversation curated by Performance Primers
Location: Virtual
5pm-9pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
6pm-7:30pm: Embodied Poetics with Justin Ebrahemi & Justine Fernandez
Location: CounterPulse Main Stage
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 11
2pm-3pm: Radius Instigated by Julie Phelps & Marc Kate
Location: McEvoy Foundation for the Arts
3pm-7pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
12pm-2pm: Tenderloin Arts Lending Library
Location: CounterPulse Lobby
2pm-5pm: Beautiful Crystals Imply Slow Growth workshop with Meg Foley
Location: Virtual (Livestreamed from CounterPulse Upstairs Studio)
2pm-4pm: Embodied Divination workshop with Amara Tabor Smith
Location: TBD
5pm-7pm: Leslie Parker Call to Remember Workshop with Leslie Parker
Location: TBD
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15
6pm-7pm: The ABJD Series: Heaven 58 & Prologue 1009 آغاز ۱۰۰۹ by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto / Faluda Islam
Location: CounterPulse Main Stage
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 16
5pm-9pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
6pm-8pm: From Roots to Action workshop with Krista DeNio and NETWORK project collaborators
Location: TBD
6:30-8pm: un•rest by CurbAlert
Location: Estuary Park in Oakland
7:30-8pm: CounterPulse at SkyBridge
Location: Skybridge on Stevenson Alley
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 17
2pm-4pm: Fuck the System! Queeratorial Collectives Do It Themselves a mixer by Performance Primers
Location: Township Commons in Oakland
5pm-9pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
6:30-8pm: un•rest by CurbAlert
Location: Estuary Park in Oakland
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18
3pm-7pm: Split by FACT/SF
Location: CounterPulse Project Space
3pm-5pm: Weaving Spirits film screening and Q&A with Landa Lakes & Javier Stell-Fresquez and The Transgender District
Location: Virtual
5pm-8pm: Radius and NETWORK at the Djerassi Program:
5-6:15pm: Audience Reception + NETWORK activation with trees
6:15-7:10pm: Radius performance
7:20-8:00pm: NETWORK showing + experience
Location: Djerassi Resident Artists Program
STAY TUNED FOR ADDITIONAL EVENTS
Pictured: Kim Ip, Clarissa Dyas, Hannah Ayasse, Julie Phelps, Krista DeNio in Radius at the McEvoy Foundation for the arts. Photo by Robbie Sweeny