FOR-SITE Foundation
  • Share
  • Search
  • Contact
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff, Board, Partners
    • Press Room
    • Contact
    • Website Credits
  • Projects
    • Overview
    • On View
    • Past
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Artist Programs
  • Places
    • Alcatraz Island
    • Fort Mason
    • Fort Winfield Scott
    • Fort Point
    • The Presidio
    • Nevada City Residency
  • Events
  • Field Notes
  • Support
    • Overview
    • Donor Events
    • Supporters
    • Visionaries
  • Shop
  • Sanctuary

    October 07, 2017 – March 11, 2018
    On View

    install-1
  • Sanctuary

    October 07, 2017 – March 11, 2018
    On View

    install-2
  • Sanctuary

    October 07, 2017 – March 11, 2018
    On View

    install-3
Past

Sanctuary

October 07, 2017 – March 11, 2018 at Fort Mason Chapel (Upper Fort Mason, Franklin and Bay streets)

The notion of sanctuary—both physical and psychological—has been fundamental in shaping a sense of selfhood and social identity throughout human history. But in an era of increasing global migration and rising nationalism, the right to safe haven is under threat, and the necessity for compassion is greater than ever. Seeking to address these issues and ideas, FOR-SITE invited 36 artists from 21 different countries to design contemporary rugs reflecting on sanctuary, offering visitors a multiplicity of perspectives on the basic human need for refuge, protection, and sacred ground.

The participating artists represented diverse ideologies and backgrounds (many including experiences as migrants and refugees), but their contributions to the exhibition—spectacularly varied in content and design—conformed to a single format, lending a unifying element that bridged racial, cultural, and religious differences. Installed on the floor of the historic Fort Mason Chapel, the four-by-six-foot wool rugs—woven in Lahore, Pakistan, using traditional materials and hand-knotting techniques—called to mind traditional prayer rugs, but they transcended religious connotations, encompassing thoughtful viewpoints on cultural identity, sense of place, and belonging. The rugs were meant to be appreciated by touch as well as sight; visitors were encouraged to remove shoes and walk, sit, and recline on the artworks—to quietly contemplate our shared humanity and the space of sanctuary.

A PDF of the Sanctuary final report is available here. 

Participating Artists

Hamra Abbas (Kuwait)
Adel Abidin (Iraq)
Arwa Abouon (Libya)
Shiva Ahmadi (Iran)
Ai Weiwei (China)
John Akomfrah (Ghana)
Ammar al-Beik (Syria)
Diana Al-Hadid (Syria)
Tammam Azzam (Syria)
Sandow Birk (United States)
Mohammad Bozorgi (Iran)
Jamal Cyrus (United States)
Ala Ebtekar (United States)

Marcos RamĂ­rez ERRE (Mexico)
Brendan Fernandes (Kenya)
Ana Teresa Fernández (Mexico)
Nicholas Galanin (United States)
Jeffrey Gibson (United States)
Sherin Guirguis (Egypt)
Mona Hatoum (Lebanon)
Susan Hefuna (Germany)
Thaier Helal (Syria)
Shirazeh Houshiary (Iran)
Alfredo Jaar (Chile)
Emily Jacir (Palestine)
Hayv Kahraman (Iraq)

Sanaz Mazinani (Iran)
Meleko Mokgosi (Botswana)
Julio César Morales (Mexico)
Aimé Mpane (Democratic Republic of the Congo)
Ranu Mukherjee (United States)
Cornelia Parker (United Kingdom)
Rashid Rana (Pakistan)
Miguel Angel RĂ­os (Argentina)
Hank Willis Thomas (United States)
Uman (Somalia)

More

Featured Works

Mona Hatoum
Sanaz Mazinani
Jamal Cyrus
Uman
Hayv Kakraman
Ranu Mukherjee
John Akomfrah
Thaier Helal
Shiva Ahmadi
Adel Abidin
Marcos Ramirez ERRE
Susan Hefuna
Ana Teresa Fernández
Cornelia Parker
Ala Ebtekar
Emily Jacir
Sandow Birk
Alfredo Jaar
Hamra Abbas
Arwa Abouon
Diana Al-Hadid
Hank Willis Thomas
Ammar al-Beik
Nicholas Galanin
Ai Weiwei
Tammam Azzam
Mohammad Bozorgi
Aimé Mpane
Shirazeh Houshiary
Rashid Rana
Miguel Angel RĂ­os
Sherin Guirguis
Julio César Morales
Jeffrey Gibson
Meleko Mokgosi
Brendan Fernandes

 

Additional Information

  • Getting There
  • Events
  • School & Community Groups
  • Shop Sanctuary

Related Media

  • Pots of pigments that are used in dyeing yarn for the handmade rugs. Photo: ALRUG.com
    An artisan in Pakistan prepares dye during the rug-making process. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Dyeing wool for one of the rugs; artisans identify the specific color array required for each rug and dye the yarn in batches to match. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Dyeing wool for one of the rugs; rug-makers check the yarn frequently to achieve the correct hue. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Drying the dyed wool; a single design might require dozens of different colors of yarn. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Weavers use a meticulous hand-knotting technique; the Senneh knot, or Persian knot, is preferred for intricate designs, such as the rugs for Sanctuary. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Cutting the finished rug from the loom. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Trimming the rug; the warp on which the yarn is woven becomes the fringe of the finished rug. Photo: ALRUG.com
    Behind the Scenes
  • Sanctuary installation view; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Sanctuary installation view; photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Sanctuary installation view (detail); photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Sanctuary installation view (detail); photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Sanctuary installation view (detail); photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Sanctuary installation view (detail); photo: Robert Divers Herrick
    Installation Views
  • In the Press

Projects

  • Overview
  • On View
  • Past
    • Lands End
    • Sanctuary
      • Cornelia Parker
      • Tammam Azzam
      • Sanctuary Volunteer
      • Uman
      • Hank Willis Thomas
      • Miguel Angel RĂ­os
      • Rashid Rana
      • Ranu Mukherjee
      • AimĂ© Mpane
      • Julio CĂ©sar Morales
      • Meleko Mokgosi
      • Sanaz Mazinani
      • Hayv Kahraman
      • Emily Jacir
      • Alfredo Jaar
      • Shirazeh Houshiary
      • Thaier Helal
      • Susan Hefuna
      • Mona Hatoum
      • Sherin Guirguis
      • Jeffrey Gibson
      • Nicholas Galanin
      • Ana Teresa Fernández
      • Brendan Fernandes
      • Marcos RamĂ­rez ERRE
      • Ala Ebtekar
      • Jamal Cyrus
      • Mohammad Bozorgi
      • Sandow Birk
      • Diana Al-Hadid
      • Ammar al-Beik
      • John Akomfrah
      • Ai Weiwei
      • Shiva Ahmadi
      • Arwa Abouon
      • Adel Abidin
      • Hamra Abbas
    • Home Land Security
    • @Large: Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz
    • Art About Place: FOR-SITE Foundation at the Presidio
    • International Orange
    • Presidio Habitats
    • The Marvelous Museum: A Mark Dion Project
    • Pae White: In Between the Outside-In
    • Chris Drury: Mushrooms | Clouds
    • Shi Guorui: Reproduction and Refashioning
    • Richard Long: The Path Is the Place Is the Line
    • New Work by Cornelia Parker
  • Plan Your Visit
  • Artist Programs

Artist Editions

  • Syjuco DSC_2956a copy
  • alfarrowmultiple
  • michelepredmultipleopen
  • trevorpaglen-challenge-coin_rdh_001

Facebook

For-Site Foundation

Twitter

  • #LandsEnd featured artist Andrea Chung’s video Come Back to Jamaica (2009), & Come Back to Yourself (2013), will be… https://t.co/HXwouRNnBa
  • FOR-SITE is thrilled to partner with local chefs & mixologists in hosting small, safe cocktail parties & suppers on… https://t.co/q1lElox0gx

Instagram

FOR-SITE collaborator @hankwillisthomas & artist @wideawakes designed  #EyesonIran flying billboards in solidarity with the women of Iran. 

The billboards can be seen this week on South beach, Miami and at @untitledartfair 

@forfreedoms multi-day, multi-media art installation spans Miami and artworks throughout @4freedomspark in NYC
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
FOR-SITE collaborator @hankwillisthomas & artist @wideawakes designed #EyesonIran flying billboards in solidarity with the women of Iran. The billboards can be seen this week on South beach, Miami and at @untitledartfair @forfreedoms multi-day, multi-media art installation spans Miami and artworks throughout @4freedomspark in NYC
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
1/9
This #GivingTuesday we want to celebrate and honor YOU and the other partners and supporters who have buoyed our wildest dreams. Access to all of our exhibition sites these past years—from the former Cliff House to Alcatraz to military batteries and churches—was gifted to us from our park partners. The 110 artists with whom we have worked blew us away with breathtaking, career-defining work, often under short order. FOR-SITE simply would not exist without the well of generosity and cooperation that is our friends, and we intend to express our gratitude this year. 

You can continue to support FOR-SITE by donating today at the link in bio.
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
This #GivingTuesday we want to celebrate and honor YOU and the other partners and supporters who have buoyed our wildest dreams. Access to all of our exhibition sites these past years—from the former Cliff House to Alcatraz to military batteries and churches—was gifted to us from our park partners. The 110 artists with whom we have worked blew us away with breathtaking, career-defining work, often under short order. FOR-SITE simply would not exist without the well of generosity and cooperation that is our friends, and we intend to express our gratitude this year. You can continue to support FOR-SITE by donating today at the link in bio.
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
2/9
The participating artists of FOR-SITE’s 2018 exhibition SANCTUARY, represented diverse ideologies and backgrounds (many including experiences as migrants and refugees), but their contributions to the exhibition—spectacularly varied in content and design—conformed to a single format, lending a unifying element that bridged racial, cultural, and religious differences. Installed on the floor of the historic Fort Mason Chapel, the four-by-six-foot wool rugs—woven in Lahore, Pakistan, using traditional materials and hand-knotting techniques—called to mind traditional prayer rugs, but they transcended religious connotations, encompassing thoughtful viewpoints on cultural identity, sense of place, and belonging.

Photo by @robertdiversherrick
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
The participating artists of FOR-SITE’s 2018 exhibition SANCTUARY, represented diverse ideologies and backgrounds (many including experiences as migrants and refugees), but their contributions to the exhibition—spectacularly varied in content and design—conformed to a single format, lending a unifying element that bridged racial, cultural, and religious differences. Installed on the floor of the historic Fort Mason Chapel, the four-by-six-foot wool rugs—woven in Lahore, Pakistan, using traditional materials and hand-knotting techniques—called to mind traditional prayer rugs, but they transcended religious connotations, encompassing thoughtful viewpoints on cultural identity, sense of place, and belonging. Photo by @robertdiversherrick
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
3/9
#LandsEnd featured artist @suzannehusky has explored interactions among humans, animals, and plants through a multifaceted art practice that includes sculpture, installation, photography, and film for the last 20 years. 

Husky sculpts her trees from used clothes and found textiles, translating our cast-off clothing—informed by age and gender, class, culture, and politics—to the individualizing characteristics of trees, suggesting the deep interconnectedness of humans and their natural surroundings. “Forest” is both an homage to an ecological system that supports countless plant and animal species and a memorial to that same system under threat of erasure. #artaboutplace
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#LandsEnd featured artist @suzannehusky has explored interactions among humans, animals, and plants through a multifaceted art practice that includes sculpture, installation, photography, and film for the last 20 years. Husky sculpts her trees from used clothes and found textiles, translating our cast-off clothing—informed by age and gender, class, culture, and politics—to the individualizing characteristics of trees, suggesting the deep interconnectedness of humans and their natural surroundings. “Forest” is both an homage to an ecological system that supports countless plant and animal species and a memorial to that same system under threat of erasure. #artaboutplace
2 months ago
View on Instagram |
4/9
#LandsEnd featured artist @danielbeltraphoto’s striking, large-scale aerial photographs of melting polar ice caps and oil spills highlight the rate and scale at which humanity is impacting our world. His juxtapositions of nature and destruction provide an almost overwhelming sense of physical scale and emotional dread, through flattened but dynamic images that flirt with abstraction.
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
#LandsEnd featured artist @danielbeltraphoto’s striking, large-scale aerial photographs of melting polar ice caps and oil spills highlight the rate and scale at which humanity is impacting our world. His juxtapositions of nature and destruction provide an almost overwhelming sense of physical scale and emotional dread, through flattened but dynamic images that flirt with abstraction.
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
5/9
FOR-SITE turns 20 in 2023! We feel extremely grateful to all of you, the artists, and to our long-standing park partners, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (@parksconservancy), the Presidio Trust (@presidiosf), and the @nationalparkservice, for such outstanding companionship and support of our work.

Stay tuned! The celebrations begin next month, in December, followed by a milestone anniversary year punctuated by programs and events, and a to-be-announced biennial exhibition open to the public.

In the meantime, you may have noticed we changed our name and branding, with our new website coming soon. The FOR-SITE Foundation is now FOR-SITE, yet we remain dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place.

We look forward to celebrating with you this next year!
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
FOR-SITE turns 20 in 2023! We feel extremely grateful to all of you, the artists, and to our long-standing park partners, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (@parksconservancy), the Presidio Trust (@presidiosf), and the @nationalparkservice, for such outstanding companionship and support of our work. Stay tuned! The celebrations begin next month, in December, followed by a milestone anniversary year punctuated by programs and events, and a to-be-announced biennial exhibition open to the public. In the meantime, you may have noticed we changed our name and branding, with our new website coming soon. The FOR-SITE Foundation is now FOR-SITE, yet we remain dedicated to the creation, understanding, and presentation of art about place. We look forward to celebrating with you this next year!
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
6/9
Election Day has arrived! VOTE for the planet and the future you want to see in the world 🌍🌊 🗳️
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
Election Day has arrived! VOTE for the planet and the future you want to see in the world 🌍🌊 🗳️
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
7/9
@anateresafernandez talking sea bodies and On the Horizon on @kqed live. #LandsEnd
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
@anateresafernandez talking sea bodies and On the Horizon on @kqed live. #LandsEnd
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
8/9
“The response among members of the visual arts community in the Bay Area was swift and certain: The Times story, a consensus of those who spoke with The Chronicle said, does not represent the region accurately, and they do not see a local decline.

The most common criticism of the Times’ reporting was that San Francisco should not be viewed through the lens of an art market, but rather as a larger arts community consisting of many public and private institutions as well as independent artists, arts workers and patrons.” - @tonybravosf 

@anateresafernandez “On the Horizon” at #FORSITE’s #LandsEnd exhibition featured  in @tonybravosf “S.F.’s art scene, disparaged by the New York Times, pushes back” for @sfchronicle_datebook
for_site
for_site
•
Follow
“The response among members of the visual arts community in the Bay Area was swift and certain: The Times story, a consensus of those who spoke with The Chronicle said, does not represent the region accurately, and they do not see a local decline. The most common criticism of the Times’ reporting was that San Francisco should not be viewed through the lens of an art market, but rather as a larger arts community consisting of many public and private institutions as well as independent artists, arts workers and patrons.” - @tonybravosf @anateresafernandez “On the Horizon” at #FORSITE’s #LandsEnd exhibition featured in @tonybravosf “S.F.’s art scene, disparaged by the New York Times, pushes back” for @sfchronicle_datebook
3 months ago
View on Instagram |
9/9

Subscribe

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Field Notes

  • Kija Lucas at The Guardhouse

  • Ai Weiwei Yours Truly Facebook Banner

    “Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly” Virtual Cinema Release

Virtual Tour

Donate

Support innovative art about place.
Learn more or donate now!

Donate Online
PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!

©2021 FOR-SITE Foundation - Credits + Colophon

Join our mailing list to stay up to date.

 

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.