BOXBLUR

BOXBLUR at Catharine Clark Gallery

BOXBLUR emerged from a history of performances at Catharine Clark Gallery and was formalized in 2016 as a fiscally sponsored program of Dance Film SF. The initiative’s mission is to host and produce socially engaged performances in non-proscenium settings, realized in direct conversation with a visual artist's work. Annually, BOXBLUR also hosts experimental dance films selected by the San Francisco Dance Film Festival as a central component of its foundational partnership.

Community & Institutional Partners BOXBLUR frequently collaborates with organizations that amplify communal values, particularly within the San Francisco Bay Area. Partners include the Institute of Contemporary Art San José, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture, Gray Area, Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD), San Francisco Art Institute, The LGBT Asylum Project, San Francisco Arts Education Project, Minnesota Street Project, St. Joseph's Arts Society, Words on Dance, Immersive Arts Alliance, Small Press Traffic, California College of the Arts, Hubbell Street Galleries, PhotoAlliance, International Rescue Committee, Oasis Legal Services, Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and Roots Community Health Center.

Past Collaborators

• Musicians & Composers: Rufus Wainwright, Shinji Eshima, Classical Revolution, Clubfoot Orchestra, SF Contemporary Music Players, Sarah Cahill, Phyllis Chen (with Nora Ligorano and Marshall Reese), Kaveh Rastegar, and the EOS Ensemble.
• Dancers, Actors & Performance Artists: Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, Oliver Halkowich, Dance Kaiso, Catherine Galasso, Benjamin Freemantle, Adji Cissoko, Michael Montgomery, Maya Gurantz, Monique Jenkinson (aka Fauxnique), Viktoria Naraxsa, Marvin K. White, and Ellen Sebastian Chang.
• Writers, Curators & Creatives: Vincent Katz, Forrest Gander, Norma Cole, Yedda Morrison, Cliff Hengst, Tongo Eisen-Martin, master printer Erin McAdams, and Leila Talukder.

Upcoming Programming

November 17, 2026 | Darkness Visible: On Beauty, Power, and Revelation BOXBLUR, the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, and the Adler Fellows present an evening of chamber music and voice performed alongside exhibitions by Julie Heffernan and Stacey Steers.

• Program: Works include Stravinsky’s Pastorale, Boulanger’s Nocturne, selections from Bartók’s Contrasts and Shaw’s By & By, Musgrave’s Niobe, Fauré’s La Bonne Chanson, Prokofiev’s Quintet in G minor, Chausson’s Chanson perpétuelle, and Debussy’s String Quartet in G minor.
• Performers: Adler Fellows Sadie Cheslak (mezzo-soprano), Olivier Zerouali (baritone), and Ji Youn Lee (piano). San Francisco Opera Orchestra members Craig Reiss, Mariya Borozina, Jennifer Hsieh, Naoko Nakajima, Joy Fellows, Stephen Goist, Peter Myers, Saul Richmond-Rakerd, William Wasson, Stephanie McNab, Gabe Young, Ben Brogadir, Joshua Choi, Dan MacNeill, and Phillip Palmore.

April 22, 2027 | The Work of Philip-Dimitri Galas (1954–1986) An evening of readings and performances honoring the creator of "avant-vaudeville." Galas's scripts were absurd, diabolical, and cutting. Helen Shumaker—his longtime collaborator, star of his sold-out 1980s hit Mona Rogers in Person, and mentor to artists like Justin Vivian Bond—will perform Galas's two-hander The Gertrude Stein Choirs alongside artist Cliff Hengst and a live accompanist, followed by a solo reading of his long-unperformed scripts.

Beyond the Gallery & Support BOXBLUR’s off-site productions include programs at Texas Contemporary (with Houston Ballet and Chris Doyle); nationwide activations of Nina Katchadourian's Monument to the Unelected during the 2020 election; and Shimon Attie's Night Watch on the San Francisco Bay, which engaged over 40 non-profits and received coverage on the PBS NewsHour. BOXBLUR is supported by private donations and generously funded by the Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, the Candy Jernigan Foundation for the Arts, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.

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