March 11 – June 11, 2027 The Doolan-Larson House, San Francisco
In 1967, the Summer of Love transformed San Francisco into an epicenter of cultural experimentation. Artists, musicians, activists, and young people gathered in Haight-Ashbury to challenge social norms and imagine new ways of living together. Their efforts reshaped conversations about creativity, community, personal freedom, and collective responsibility—questions that remain as urgent today as they were sixty years ago.
In March 2027, FOR-SITE will present And the Beat Goes On, a major site-specific exhibition marking the 60th anniversary of the Summer of Love. Bringing together a group of internationally acclaimed contemporary artists, the exhibition will unfold throughout the rooms of the Haight-Ashbury’s historic Doolan-Larson House, with newly commissioned and site-responsive works spanning installation, video, sound, painting, sculpture, and participatory practices. The exhibition is presented in partnership with San Francisco Heritage.
Ian Berry, Record Store, 2012
Rather than revisiting the Summer of Love through nostalgia, And the Beat Goes On considers its enduring relevance. At a time marked by social fragmentation, political polarization, environmental uncertainty, and accelerating technological change, the exhibition asks what we might learn from a moment that sought to place human connection, creativity, and shared experience at the center of civic life.
Many of the practices that emerged in Haight-Ashbury were rooted in care—not as a service or commodity, but as a way of being together. Through communal living, creative collaboration, mutual aid, music, art, and acts of everyday generosity, people experimented with new forms of belonging and collective responsibility. While the circumstances of 2027 are different, the need for connection and community remains remarkably familiar. The artists participating in And the Beat Goes On will transform the Doolan-Larson House into a series of immersive encounters that bridge past and present, inviting visitors to reflect on the unfinished aspirations of the counterculture and the possibilities that still lie ahead.
At its core, And the Beat Goes On is an exhibition about the ongoing search for connection. It asks what forms of care, creativity, and collective action are needed today—and how art can help us imagine a more compassionate and interconnected future.
Jim Lambie, Zobop (Colour-Chrome), 2019
Ian Berry, Record Store (detail), 2012
Soleé Darrell, site-specific installation (detail), 2026
Jessica Leigh Henry, The Graces (detail), 2014
Featured Artists and New Commissions
And the Beat Goes On will feature newly commissioned and site-responsive works by an esteemed and diverse group of artists. Highlights include an immersive installation by Ian Berry (Stockholm, Sweden), constructed entirely from denim; a light-based installation by Jim Campbell (San Francisco, CA), reimagining the lava lamp as a meditation on perception and memory; psychedelic-hued velvet paintings by Soleé Darrell (Berkeley, CA), which act as portals to healing, spirituality, and self-discovery; Matt Evans’ (Atlanta, GA) large-scale mural activating the exterior of the Doolan-Larson House; Fritz Haeg (Albion, CA), whose socially engaged practice reimagines domestic and communal spaces through ecology, participation, and collective experience; tarot-inspired portraits by Jessica Leigh Henry (Grass Valley, CA), honoring local organizations rooted in care and mutual support; Jim Lambie’s (Glasgow, Scotland) vivid use of color and pattern to transform the architectural space into a dazzling environment informed by music, movement, and participation; Liza Lou (Los Angeles, CA), whose intricate, labor-intensive works use color, repetition, and craft to explore connection and collective making; and Waterlily Pond (San Francisco, CA), whose exuberant site-responsive installations bring together botanical materials, sculptural forms, vivid color, and movement to transform architectural space.
Community Engagement
The exhibition will extend beyond the walls of the Doolan-Larson House through a partnership with Holy Stitch!, a nonprofit organization inspired by the workshop culture of the 1960s. Activities will include visible mending and repair workshops; creative programs for youth and underserved communities; conversations around sustainability and collective care; and partnerships with local organizations serving the Haight-Ashbury.
Doolan-Larson House Corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets, San Francisco
About the Site
The Doolan-Larson House is uniquely positioned to host And the Beat Goes On. Located at the iconic corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets, the house stands at the epicenter of the events that defined the Summer of Love in 1967. Built in 1903, its story has unfolded alongside more than a century of upheaval and reinvention—from the storefronts added after the 1906 earthquake, to the 1965 opening of Peggy Caserta’s influential boutique Mnasidika, where bell-bottoms helped define the hippie aesthetic, to the stewardship of longtime owner Norman Larson, known as the “Duke of Haight.” In alignment with San Francisco Heritage’s mission to preserve historic places as platforms for contemporary engagement, And the Beat Goes On will not simply recall this history, but animate it, transforming the Doolan-Larson House into a site for artistic experimentation, civic dialogue, and cultural exchange.
Support the Project
More Options
To make a contribution another way, please contact Haley Kerrigan at haley@for-site.org.
