At "Bellwether," nonprofit art center Southern Exposure celebrates its new home with sensitive airplanes, grand collaborative processions, and illegal art-liquor. The theme seems to be, as far as we can make out, "Subtract the advertising, killing, selfishness, and groupthink; keep the power." What's more, there are a few related "happenings" we can't figure out — and this is exactly what an art center should do: stimulate the kind of creativity the local alt-weekly can't quite wrap its head around. The grand opening block party for “Bellwether” is packed with installations, talks, walks,and more by grossly overtalented local makers including Liz Glynn, John Herschend, and Whitney Lynn; there are also food carts and live music. Over the course of the exhibition, infamous pranky collective Ant Farm makes contributions, as do Christine Wong Yap, Jay Nelson, and the gallery's Youth Advisory Board — which announces that its work results in teleportation devices. We don't know what that means, but we want some. Possibly best of all, though, is an installation/performance/new country by San Francisco's resident mage of fictional nation-states, Lordy Rodriguez, called "First Colony"; it exists most vividly on Nov. 7.
Oct. 17-Dec. 12, 4 p.m., 2009
