When it became clear that the building that once housed the artist center CELLSpace would be demolished to make room for new development at 2000 Bryant Street, artists had to figure out what to do with the giant copper and steel mural that adorned the outside wall.
With eight panels that are each about 10 feet tall, the mural was not so easy to relocate, and the artists didn’t want bits and pieces of it to be picked up and kept by private collectors. So they set about finding a home for a giant metal structure.
Finally, in September of last year, they were able to detach the entire mural, pack it into a truck, and deposit it at The Midway, an arts space in the Dogpatch, which agreed to mount it as part of an outside fence. We followed one of the mural’s co-creators, artist Jane Verma, through the process.
The mural was relocated months ago, but the Bryant Street project goes before the Board of Supervisors today after activists have appealed the city’s decision to allow the project to go forward, while the existing building continues to stand empty.