Editor’s note: This article originally posted on the San Francisco Examiner. Click here for more culture reporting at sfexaminer.com
Winter means one thing for The City’s art scene: San Francisco Art Week. Taking place over the third week in January, the citywide celebration of visual art and culture sets the tone for the year with a bang. With gallery openings, artist talks and more in store, the week culminates in FOG Design+Art, one of the premier art fairs on the West Coast.
If you can’t wait for Art Week, don’t worry — there’s plenty to see in the meantime, and well after. Here are five art exhibitions and events in The City to fill your calendar and keep you cultured, warm and indoors this winter.
‘Labor Is on Our Mind’
At the California College of the Art’s Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, a yearlong research project focused on labor is underway. The project features public programs and three interconnected exhibitions exploring the ways in which work defines our lives.
“8 Hours of Work,” on view now, features the work of contemporary artists alongside archival materials from the San Francisco Labor Archives, including ephemera from the California Labor School. “8 Hours of Rest” will feature an engaging installation by artist SoiL Thornton. “8 Hours of What You Will” rounds out the program with another group show, bringing artists back into dialogue with each other and the audience.
From the history of local labor movements to the ways in which the tech sector and the COVID-19 pandemic have redefined local workforces, this artistic inquiry is bound to yield complex and unexpected results.
CCA Wattis Institute, 145 Hooper St., through Apr. 18. Free.
An installation image from “8 Hours of Work,” on view Oct. 29 – Dec. 20, 2025, at the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts.
Philip Maisel
‘Emory Douglas: In Our Lifetime’
Douglas has long been an artistic visionary of freedom. A former member of the Black Panther Party, his art practice revolves around activism and radical politics, particularly his 12-point Political Artist Manifesto.
“Emory Douglas: In Our Lifetime,” a two-part exhibition at San Francisco’s African American Art & Culture Complex, celebrates Douglas’ more-than-50-year career in art and activism. Part one focuses on the contemporary digital era of the artist’s work, reflecting modern political movements as well as remixes of his most iconic works, exemplifying how he applies the revolutionary politics of the Black Panthers to modern subjects. The second part of the exhibition, opening in February, will feature archival materials from the 1960s to now.
African American Art & Culture Complex, 762 Fulton St., through Oct. 16.
“Mother’s Love,” by Emory Douglas, will be shown as part of the exhibition at the African American Art & Culture Complex celebrating his long career in art and activism.
Courtesy of the artist and the African American Art & Culture Complex
‘Moving San Francisco’
This curatorial partnership between the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Municipal Transportation Agency brings a special exhibition to the North Light Gallery in City Hall.
“Moving San Francisco” celebrates the history of public transportation in San Francisco with a selection of photographs from the SFMTA’s photo archive. Spanning 1903 to 2025, this history of public transit is also a portrait of The City and the people who live here.
The show comes at a time when Muni faces budget deficits that have sparked public outrage. Hopefully, it can be a reminder of how public transit not only moves The City forward, but brings it together.
City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Jan. 15-June 18. Free.
A photo of the cable-car parade held in 1988 for the system’s 100th anniversary is set to be among the images on display in the “Moving San Francisco” art exhibit at City Hall.
Carmen Magana/SFPUC; courtesy SFMTA Photo Archive.
‘1-800 Happy Birthday’
Beginning on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, San Franciscans will have an opportunity to honor the lives of Northern California victims of police killings and systemic racism through an interactive artwork at Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture.
Originally created in 2020 by artist Mohammad Gorjestani, “1-800 Happy Birthday” features an interactive telephone booth that visitors can use to leave birthday voicemails for the victims — referred to in the project as “celebrants” — and makes their messages available for public listening. Six of the 13 celebrants included in the project are from Northern California: Dujuan Armstrong, Stephon Clark, Derrick Gaines, Oscar Grant, Sean Monterrosa and Mario Woods.
“1-800 Happy Birthday” serves as both a mirror and a confrontation for San Franciscans, insisting that these stories remain visible amid a changing city.
The Guardhouse, Fort Mason Center, Jan. 19-Feb. 14. Free.
The 1-800 Happy Birthday installation will be on view at the Fort Mason Center in early 2026.
Courtesy FOR SITE
FOG Design + Art
In late January, the Bay Area’s premier international art and design fair returns for its 12th edition at the Fort Mason Center for Arts and Culture, kicking off the new year for The City’s art scene.
This year, FOG Design + Art also features the third iteration of FOG FOCUS, a secondary pier packed with art and emphasizing local and emerging galleries. First-time local participants in this year’s fair include Gallery Wendi Norris, Morgann Trumbull Projects and re.riddle.
The weekend-long fair also includes a robust lineup of public programs, from deep dives into collecting art to questioning the relationship between AI and design.
Piers 2 and 3, Fort Mason Center, Jan. 21-25. $35.