Lecture Series

Engage with local and international art communities.

The Lecture Series puts students, alumni, and the general public in direct dialogue with major thought leaders from the international community. The series relies on the critical exchange between guests and audience to promote a diverse and robust learning environment. The Lectures include the graduate curricula's Graduate Lecture Series, the Visiting Artists+Scholars lectures, and other departmental programs.

FREE + OPEN TO ALL!

Past Events

SFAI 150 | A Spirit of Disruption

Friday, Mar 19, 2021 - Saturday, Jul 3, 2021

Leonard Peltier Statue

Friday, Oct 9, 2020 - Sunday, Mar 28, 2021

From the Tower: Transmission

Friday, Sep 4, 2020 - Friday, Oct 23, 2020

PhotoAlliance

Friday, Mar 15, 2019

7:30PM

Nicholas Gamso: Strategies for Political Critique in the Arts

Wednesday, Jun 29, 2022

12:00PM

Orit Ben Shitrit: Echoes in my mouth

Monday, Jun 27, 2022

12:00PM

Carlos Villa: Worlds in Collision

Friday, Jun 17, 2022 - Thursday, Nov 24, 2022

BFA Exhibition 2022: Why Should We Call It Anything?

Saturday, May 21, 2022 - Friday, Jun 3, 2022

Commencement Ceremony 2022

Saturday, May 21, 2022

2:00PM

MFA Vernissage 2022: THRESHOLDS

Friday, May 20, 2022 - Friday, Jun 3, 2022

Student Awards

Friday, May 13, 2022

12:00PM

Alison Gass: Institute of Contemporary Art San Francisco

Thursday, Apr 28, 2022

12:00PM - 1:30PM

Dor Guez: Catastrophe

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022

12:00PM - 1:30PM

An Alien Show

Wednesday, Apr 27, 2022 - Tuesday, May 3, 2022

Open Studios

Friday, Apr 22, 2022 - Saturday, Apr 23, 2022

Thin Places

Friday, Apr 15, 2022 - Monday, Apr 25, 2022

/Un/Structure

Friday, Apr 1, 2022 - Monday, Apr 11, 2022

Wayne Koestenbaum: Film Screening + Artist Talk

Friday, Mar 25, 2022

7:00PM

The Wilding

Friday, Mar 18, 2022 - Monday, Mar 28, 2022

Between Artists: Alumni and Students Intersect

Friday, Mar 11, 2022 - Friday, May 13, 2022

Morgan Bassichis: Artist Talk

Wednesday, Mar 9, 2022

12:00PM

Work of Art

Friday, Mar 4, 2022 - Monday, Mar 14, 2022

Sergio De La Torre: Art and Social Justice

Thursday, Mar 3, 2022

12:00PM

Crying on a Tuesday

Friday, Feb 18, 2022 - Monday, Feb 28, 2022

YOU ARE HERE

Friday, Feb 4, 2022 - Friday, Feb 11, 2022

BFA EXHIBITION 2021

Thursday, Dec 9, 2021 - Saturday, Dec 18, 2021

Jordan Stein - Rip Tales: Jay DeFeo’s Estocada & Other Pieces

Wednesday, Dec 8, 2021

6:30PM

Dust Specks on the Sea: Contemporary Sculpture from the French Caribbean & Haiti

Thursday, Nov 18, 2021 - Saturday, Apr 2, 2022

LEILA WEEFUR: ARTIST TALK

Wednesday, Nov 17, 2021

12:00PM

FRAGILE ESTATE

Tuesday, Nov 16, 2021 - Wednesday, Nov 24, 2021

Edouard Duval-Carrié: Curating the Global Caribbean

Thursday, Nov 11, 2021

12:00PM

It’s About Time: Various Media

Tuesday, Nov 2, 2021 - Friday, Nov 12, 2021

The Future Is . . .

Thursday, Oct 28, 2021 - Friday, Nov 26, 2021

Encoding a future setting with Atomic Culture

Thursday, Oct 28, 2021

12:00PM

Grace Rosario Perkins: Artist Talk

Wednesday, Oct 6, 2021

12:00PM

Harbinger: 12 Graduates

Thursday, Aug 26, 2021 - Friday, Sep 24, 2021

Invasion of the Lunar Sexpots: Summer MFA Film

Friday, Jul 30, 2021

7:30PM

OPENING: MFA Summer Exhibition

Tuesday, Jul 20, 2021 - Friday, Sep 24, 2021

Katherine Sherwood: How a Cerebral Hemorrhage Altered My Art

Friday, Jul 9, 2021

12:00PM

Dannielle Bowman: Artist’s Talk

Friday, Jun 25, 2021

12:00PM

Nayland Blake: What Have I Done?

Friday, Jun 18, 2021

12:00PM

here, and yet–

Saturday, May 22, 2021 - Friday, Jun 25, 2021

Wave Tossed but Never Sunk

Saturday, May 22, 2021 - Friday, Jun 25, 2021

2021 Commencement Ceremony

Saturday, May 22, 2021

2:00PM

2021 MA Symposium

Thursday, May 20, 2021

12:00PM

Ezra Wube: Practice

Thursday, Apr 29, 2021

12:00PM - 1:00PM

Meredith Tromble: Art World Evolving: Notes on Evolutionary Metaphors of Change and the Art System

Thursday, Apr 22, 2021

12:00PM - 1:00PM

Christina Della Giustina: You Are Variations: A Preliminary Résumé

Thursday, Feb 11, 2021

12:00PM - 1:00PM

Three Turns

Friday, Jan 22, 2021 - Sunday, Jan 24, 2021

Monday, Dec 14, 2020 - Monday, Jan 11, 2021

Alexandre Arrechea: Order of Thinking and Order of Acting

Friday, Dec 11, 2020

4:30PM

Virtual Salon

Thursday, Dec 10, 2020

5:00PM - 6:30PM

Elections 2020

Tuesday, Nov 3, 2020

7:00PM

Helina Metaferia: Embodied Gestures

Friday, Oct 30, 2020

4:30PM

Online Exhibition and Unveiling Ceremony

Friday, Oct 9, 2020

3:00PM - 4:00PM

FIGURE 8

Thursday, Jun 18, 2020 - Friday, Jul 31, 2020

Commencement Ceremony 2020

Saturday, May 16, 2020

2:00PM

BA + MA Symposium

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

10:00AM - 5:30PM

POSTPONED: Yoshua Okón: In the Land of Ownership

Wednesday, Apr 29, 2020

4:30PM - 6:00PM

POSTPONED: Media Art: Defining a Field

Thursday, Apr 23, 2020

6:00PM - 8:00PM

VIRTUAL Graduate Open House + Open Studios

Saturday, Apr 18, 2020

11:00AM - 2:00PM

April Undergraduate Virtual Q&A Sessions

Saturday, Apr 11, 2020

1:00PM - 2:00PM

April Graduate Virtual Q&A Sessions

Tuesday, Apr 7, 2020

10:00AM - 6:00PM

VIRTUAL Undergraduate Welcome Day

Saturday, Apr 4, 2020

10:00AM - 2:00PM

CANCELED: Ana Teresa Fernández + Creativity Explored at SFAI

Thursday, Apr 2, 2020

6:00PM - 8:00PM

POSTPONED: Then & Now: A Legacy of Filmmaking at SFAI (Panel Discussion)

Saturday, Mar 28, 2020

6:00PM - 8:00PM

POSTPONED: Spring Student + Alumni Film Festival

Saturday, Mar 28, 2020 - Sunday, Mar 29, 2020

POSTPONED: Whitney Lynn: Hole in Your Hand

Friday, Mar 27, 2020

4:30PM - 6:00PM

CANCELED: Closing Reception: Soiled Matter

Tuesday, Mar 24, 2020

4:30PM

Jefferson Pinder and Conrad Meyers in Conversation (Virtual Experience)

Friday, Mar 13, 2020

6:00PM - 7:30PM

CANCELED: Soiled Matter

Thursday, Mar 12, 2020 - Thursday, Mar 26, 2020

Opening Reception: Living in Memory

Tuesday, Mar 10, 2020

5:00PM - 7:00PM

Living in Memory

Sunday, Mar 8, 2020 - Saturday, Mar 14, 2020

CANCELED: Opening Reception: Of Here From There | De Aquí Desde Allá

Friday, Mar 6, 2020

6:00PM - 9:00PM

CLOSED: Of Here From There | De Aquí Desde Allá

Friday, Mar 6, 2020 - Sunday, Apr 26, 2020

Opening Reception: WHAT LIES BETWEEN

Friday, Feb 28, 2020

4:30PM

Closing Reception: The Sistine Barn

Friday, Feb 28, 2020

4:30PM - 6:30PM

WHAT LIES BETWEEN

Friday, Feb 28, 2020 - Tuesday, Mar 10, 2020

Opening Reception: Poetry as Critical Form

Tuesday, Feb 25, 2020

5:00PM - 8:00PM

Poetry as Critical Form

Sunday, Feb 23, 2020 - Saturday, Feb 29, 2020

February Undergraduate Virtual Q&A Sessions

Saturday, Feb 22, 2020

1:00PM - 2:00PM

Lawrence Weschler: The Fraught Crossroads

Thursday, Feb 20, 2020

5:00PM - 7:00PM

Opening Reception: Amalgamation

Tuesday, Feb 18, 2020

5:00PM - 7:00PM

The Sistine Barn

Tuesday, Feb 18, 2020 - Wednesday, Mar 4, 2020

February Graduate Virtual Q&A Sessions

Tuesday, Feb 18, 2020

10:00AM - 6:00PM

Amalgamation

Sunday, Feb 16, 2020 - Saturday, Feb 22, 2020

Opening Reception: Photography Without Camera - Machine Gaze

Friday, Feb 14, 2020

4:30PM - 7:30PM

Opening Reception: D-ARK: Tower, Black Boxes

Friday, Feb 14, 2020

4:30PM

Alumni Mixer in Chicago

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020

5:00PM - 8:00PM

Photography Without Camera - Machine Gaze

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Tuesday, Feb 25, 2020

D-ARK: Tower, Black Boxes

Thursday, Feb 13, 2020 - Wednesday, Feb 26, 2020

Opening Reception: Side of ranch

Tuesday, Feb 11, 2020

5:00PM - 7:00PM

Side of ranch

Sunday, Feb 9, 2020 - Sunday, Feb 16, 2020

Opening Reception: Confrontation/Submission/Resistance

Friday, Feb 7, 2020

6:30PM - 8:30PM

Thomas Chung: Death Threats, Indigenous Knowledge + Cheetos

Friday, Feb 7, 2020

4:30PM - 6:00PM

Opening Reception: Essence

Monday, Feb 3, 2020 - Tuesday, Feb 4, 2020

Essence

Monday, Feb 3, 2020 - Saturday, Feb 8, 2020

Heavy Breathing: Trans Boxing Lecture + Workshop

Saturday, Feb 1, 2020

2:00PM - 4:00PM

Confrontation / Submission / Resistance

Saturday, Feb 1, 2020 - Sunday, Feb 16, 2020

Opening Reception: Eden, all the Butterflies Cried a Thousand Times

Friday, Jan 31, 2020

4:30PM - 6:30PM