Located in San Francisco’s Mission District, 500 Capp Street is a physical location rooted in
conceptual art that was David Ireland’s home and artist studio and is also called The David
Ireland House. It is a 360-degree portrait of one of the West Coast’s most important
practitioners of conceptual and installation art and a member of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Foundation conducts artist-led public tours, presents a dynamic program of exhibitions and public events, maintains a permanent archive of the artist’s extant body of work, and hosts visiting artists locally and from around the world.
David Ireland was an artist with a diverse practice who viewed the making of art as a part of
daily life. He blended sculpture, architecture, painting, and performance, and drew on ordinary materials such as dirt, concrete, wood, or wire that he collected.
Our tours, exhibitions, programs, and educational workshops enable artists, teachers, scholars, and participants to experiment and interpret art practices and ideas while becoming an integral part of the 500 Capp Street community. Our educational workshops challenge participants to explore what art can be, without limits and constructs.
The collection & archive includes 500 Capp Street, an environmental artwork, social sculpture, and residence; over 2,500 David Ireland art pieces, including painting, sculptures, prints, and ephemera of David Ireland’s work and performances. It also contains paper and ephemera of the Bay Area conceptual artists past and present, including extensive catalogs of artist-run spaces such as New Langton Arts and 65 Capp Street.
The curatorial practice is steeped in experimentation, artist-driven participation, and is process-oriented. It is collaborative, intergenerational, dynamic, and generous. It explores and challenges the boundaries of space, museology, artistic practice, material. It is comfortable reflecting on important questions relevant to critical inquiry. 500 Capp Street is not a museum or static historic home in the traditional sense. It is dynamic in its form and creation. It is a living sculpture.
