This weekend marked the opening of the ANSI exhibit at 20 goto 10 in San Francisco, CA. To my knowledge, this exhibit was the first of its kind in the United States. Acidjazz and aempirei curated the event and chose to highlight the works of Lord Jazz and Somms, both of ACiD Productions. These two artists are overwhelmingly considered among the best to have created art with the medium of ANSI. Since ACiD originated in California, it is unsurprising that the curators selected ACiD artists for an exhibition in San Francisco.
The exhibit at 20 goto 10 was a huge success. Acidjazz and aempirei put together an excellent event. When I arrived acidjazz was being interviewed by Geek Entertainment TV (GETV). I was also interviewed by GETV later in the evening, and I will keep you updated regarding the video footage. The bouncer at the door waited for the interview to conclude before letting us in, but the gallery was already filled to the brim. The entire four to five hours the gallery was open the crowd only grew larger. Every square foot of the gallery was filled in addition to all of the sidewalk space in front of 20 goto 10 and its two neighbors. The light boxes that acidjazz and aempirei created were amazing. Now that I’ve seen them I can not think of a better way to display ANSI in print form. The scrollers looked great as well. Being able to scroll and view an ANSI with one simple control board and an SD card was quite an accomplishment.
Rad Man, of ACiD Productions, was in attendance. He brought his usual flair of evangelism for the ANSI scene. Jason Scott, creator of BBS: The Documentary and Text Files, also made the trip from Boston, MA to see the show. There were several other faces from the scene there, including Pinguino, Sonic, DH and Mondo Man. Those in attendance that knew nothing of ANSI enthusiastically expressed appreciation of the pieces and the medium in general. Acidjazz brought ANSI to a new audience that I hope will continue to enjoy it beyond the boundaries of 20 goto 10. In addition, I spoke to one young artist that is eager to experiment with ANSI. If just one new artist begins to create ANSI, I will consider the exhibition an overwhelming success.
If you are in the Bay Area before January 31, 2008 I highly recommend you make a visit to 20 goto 10 to see the exhibit.