Run BTS fans run, as 200 works from the personal collection of BTS rapper and songwriter RM are coming to the SFMOMA this October, in the only gallery display the South Korean pop superstar will have in the US.

The Bangton Boys popularly known as runaway blockbuster K-Pop smash hit boy band BTS the have already created one Bay Area craze in 2026, as their recently announced three-show set at Stanford Stadium this May has set off a ticket frenzy that could otherwise only be generated by a person named Taylor Swift. And that's been a long time coming for Bay Area K-Pop fans, as BTS's April 2020 show scheduled for Levi’ Stadium was of course scuttled by an extremely unpleasant global pandemic.  

Those BTS tickets at Stanford are going for a minimum of well over $300 a pop. But there’s a more affordable BTS experience looming later in 2026 for BTS Army enlistees, as KRON4 reports that BTS rapper RM is getting an art exhibition display at SFMOMA starting this October.

The exhibition will be called RM x SFMOMA, and the artwork itself is not by RM, but SFMOMA says the exhibition “brings together 200 works from the collections of RM.”

“We live in an age defined by boundaries,” RM said in a press release announcing the display. “This exhibition at SFMOMA reflects those boundaries: between East and West, Korea and America, the modern and the contemporary, the personal and the universal. I don’t want to prescribe how these works should be seen; whether out of curiosity or study, all perspectives are welcome. My only hope is that this exhibition can be a small but sturdy bridge for many.”

The exhibit will debut on October 3, and is scheduled to run through February 7, 2027. And it’s a pretty rare and special exhibit, and KRON4 reports that “RM’s collection at the SFMOMA will be the only presentation in the United States."

If you’re a fan of South Korean art, the display will feature works by Yun Hyong-keun, Park Rehyun, Kwon Okyon, Kim Yun Shin, To Sangbong, and Chang Ucchin, among others.

SFMOMA has not yet announced any ticketing information for the four-month exhibition.

Related: De Young Museum to Host America’s First Ever Manga Museum Exhibition, Starting This Saturday [SFist]

Image: LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - APRIL 03: RM of BTS attends the 64th Annual GRAMMY Awards at MGM Grand Garden Arena on April 03, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)

The museum says that its longstanding tradition of free admission on the first Thursday of every month is “temporarily paused,” and though it may return someday, signs point to this being a budget cut due to a lack of sponsors.

It’s been a fairly beloved San Francisco tradition for decades, that many of the city’s top museums are free on a certain first weekday of the month. And one of the most popular of these is the SFMOMA’s free first Thursdays, when admission is free between 4-8 pm on the first Thursday of each month, to anyone who’s a resident of SF or one of eight other Bay Area counties.

Or at least, admission was free on the first Thursday of each month, but SFMOMA has abruptly ended that promotion with little explanation.

“The Free First Thursday program is temporarily paused,” SFMOMA says in a recent update to their free First Thursday web page. No explanation is given.

The issue first bubbled up in the local media Friday morning, when a local newsletter and event listing site called Eddie’s List first noticed that SFMOMA had paused its free First Thursdays. The site’s creator Eddie Hernandez got an email out of SFMOMA saying, “The program is paused indefinitely beginning immediately. No free admission on 2/5.”

Hernandez followed up with a phone call looking for an explanation. "Reason provided (to me over the phone) for pausing the program is because there is no sponsor for it, currently,” that site reports.

The Chronicle then jumped on the story Friday afternoon, and they received word that the museum has "temporarily paused [the program] as the institution re-examines its scope, costs, impact and long-term funding."

The museum also indicated they may be pretty close to finding new sponsors for First Thursdays, and might soon bring the promotion back.

Yes, SFMOMA does offer some other free admission days, including a Free Family Day on Sunday, June 14, and more information about discounted admission opportunities can be found here.

None of the other free SF museum days seem affected by any of this. The Asian Art Museum is still free on the first Sunday of each month, the Legion of Honor and the de Young Museum are both free on the first Tuesday of each month (as well as the first Saturday for Bay Area residents), and the Museum of the African Diaspora is free every second Saturday. Meanwhile, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts is free every single Wednesday.

Related: SFMOMA Layoffs Cause Outrage From Union [SFist]

Image: SFMOMA

*This post has been corrected to show that the pause of the First Thursdays program is not related to the loss of any specific sponsor.

In this week’s Field Notes: A tween skate star, a giant whale sculpture, floating saunas, a community hub in the making, indie legends at the Greek, and kitsch in San Luis Obispo. Plus, opossum rescues, Fringe Fest weirdness, easy hikes, and Jane at SFMOMA.

One to watch on the ramp

At 11 years old, Oakland’s Anna Shea Reynolds-Madsen is making an impact on the skate world. She first picked up a board by borrowing her sister’s in secret. Within a year, she was skating vert ramps and learning to drop without any lessons or coaches — just trial, error, and a lot of determination.

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Vert skating is rare and demanding, especially for kids. But Anna loves the height, the speed, and the pure physics of it. She’s now competing in national events like Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert, catching air in massive arenas one week and skating DIY parks in the East Bay the next.

She’s got style, and she’s not afraid to be herself. According to a 2023 interview, off the ramp, she draws, plays piano, and crushes it in soccer. Her dream is to go pro, travel the world, and one day snowboard in Iceland. But for now, she’s just a Bay Area kid chasing the next drop-in, fearless and fully in her element. — S1 Helmet Co. / Old Bones Therapy

Golden hour sounds at the Greek

The Greek Theatre’s hillside setting and breezy eucalyptus canopy make it one of the Bay Area’s most atmospheric venues, especially on late-summer nights. This season’s lineup feels tailor-made for the grown-up indie crowd.

Father John Misty headlines there tonight with Lucinda Williams and Hamilton Leithauser — a mellow, melancholic triple bill that suits the venue’s golden-hour glow. Still to come: My Morning Jacket returns August 22 with their signature blend of psychedelic rock and Southern soul, known for long builds and explosive crescendos. On August 28, the Pixies bring their raw, off-kilter alt-rock to the stage alongside Spoon’s sharp, clean hooks and Fazerdaze’s dreamy fuzz-pop.

September 7 promises maximalist spectacle as the Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse team up for a co-headlining show likely to include giant props, bubble machines, and cathartic singalongs. And October 16 brings a long-awaited reunion from Rilo Kiley, with Jenny Lewis leading the band’s bittersweet indie-pop back onto the big stage for the first time in over a decade. — Broke-Ass Stuart

A 24-foot whale and the power of tools

A 24-foot wooden whale just surfaced at Berkeley’s Adventure Playground, thanks to 85 youth builders from Girls Garage. The climbing sculpture — complete with baleen mouth and 3D-printed handholds — was the centerpiece of a month-long summer camp blending carpentry, design, and confidence-building.

First-timers learned to use jigsaws and drills; returning teens mentored and imagined. Instructors say it’s about more than construction—it’s about showing young people their strength. And the whale’s just the latest. Girls Garage also builds free installations like garden beds and tiny homes for community orgs across the Bay. — Berkeleyside

Weird on purpose: The Fringe lives on

Theater veteran Christina Augello has been keeping San Francisco weird since 1983 — and at 77, she’s not slowing down. As founder of The Exit, she’s produced thousands of experimental, often chaotic, and occasionally brilliant shows in the Tenderloin. These days she’s down to just one stage, but her annual San Francisco Fringe Festival marches on from August 8–25, showcasing 15 original productions drawn by lottery.

Expect clown shows, pole acrobatics, spoken word, and a few total flops — because that’s the point. For Augello, creating space for small, strange stories is an act of resistance, and The Exit is still a place where something unforgettable might happen… even if you walk in expecting nothing at all. — Mission Local

Low-effort, high-reward trails near you

No need to trek too far from home for a great hike. This roundup highlights ten top user-rated easy trails, from San Francisco’s coastal Lands End and Oakland’s redwood-filled Redwood Regional Park to Marin’s Dipsea Loop and the peaceful Purisima Creek near Half Moon Bay.

Each trail offers something unique — whether it’s ocean views, towering trees, or quiet forest paths. Best of all, they’re all accessible for a casual stroll with plenty of payoff. — Chronicle

Opossum season in full swing

At Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue, it’s peak opossum season. The all-volunteer nonprofit, based in Oakland, is putting out the call for fosters — especially for babies who need care before they can be released back into the wild.

Volunteers should have backyard space for an outdoor enclosure, plus a little open-mindedness when it comes to these misunderstood marsupials. “They eat rats. They’re gardeners’ friends,” says founder Lila Travis. Between wildfires, fireworks, and summer disruption, the rescue often sees up to 60 opossums at a time, alongside a rotating cast of raccoons, squirrels, and hummingbirds. — KGO

Nordic heat, bay views

A new retreat in Richardson Bay blends Nordic tradition with Bay Area flair — Fjord, a pair of hand-built floating saunas, opens next month along Sausalito’s waterfront. Designed by Marin locals Alex Yenni and Gabe Turner, the twin cedar structures feature 190-degree Finnish-style heat and icy plunge decks—all bobbing gently in the bay.

Each sauna fits six people, with pre-sales now open for the unique “sea-spa” experience. Come for the detox, stay for the view. — Mill Valley Patch

A new Jane in town

SFMOMA is teaming up with local favorite Jane the Bakery to open Jane on Third, a new ground-floor cafe and brunch spot debuting this August. The menu promises fresh salads, quiche, sandwiches, and French toast — with indoor and outdoor seating available and no museum ticket required.

A new mural by Chelsea Ryoko Wong, known for her vibrant scenes of everyday joy, will welcome diners and museum-goers alike. — Secret San Francisco

Coffee, zines, and conversation on College Avenue

Opening this fall in a former Rockridge storefront in Oakland, Local Economy is part coffee shop, part general store, part community clubhouse. The brainchild of couple Alexis Madrigal, of KQED, and writer and editor Sarah Rich, the space will feature a Painted Leopard coffee cart up front, shelves of handmade goods by local makers, and a pair of 8-foot communal tables anchoring the room.

Events like zine workshops, food pop-ups, and author talks will unfold just steps from East Bay Booksellers. Inspired by La Peña and Womb House Books, Local Economy invites neighbors to co-create a shared antidote to Bay Area isolation — one conversation and one cup of coffee at a time. — Chronicle

Kitsch, castles, and light in San Luis Obispo County

Tide pools and sea lions by day, glowing hillsides and speakeasies by night — San Luis Obispo County (aka SLO CAL) has all the ingredients for an extended weekend destination.

Venture from the bubblegum pink fantasyland of the Madonna Inn to Pismo’s ocean bluffs, sip Edna Valley wines (maybe by sidecar), and wander Hearst Castle’s gilded halls before heading north to Paso Robles. There, a tapas dinner sets the stage for Sensorio, a surreal, 15-acre wonderland of light and sound best explored under the stars. — 7x7

Top image: Wayne Coyne and The Flaming Lips perform in support of the band's "At  War with the Mystics" release at the Greek Theater on July 22, 2006 in  Berkeley, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)

Previously: Field Notes: 'Black Spaces' at OCMA, East Bay Skyline Trail Hike, and Tenderloin Museum Turns 10

A prom inside San Quentin, vintage treasure maps, librarians turned rock stars, trans quilts and immersive theater, pupusas in the Tenderloin, and a family recipe cook-off — this week’s Field Notes rounds up joy, art, and memory from San Francisco and beyond.

Pupusas, family roots, and Salvadoran art in the Tenderloin

What began as a Mission street cart is now Estrellita’s Snacks — a brick-and-mortar tribute to one family’s journey. Founded by Estrella Gonzalez and her son Angel, the Tenderloin shop honors Gonzalez’s mother, who once sold yucca chips outside local bars and restaurants.

Their pupusas, plantains, and pan con pollo fill a gap in the neighborhood’s food scene, while Salvadoran folk art and family photos fill the walls. — Mission Local

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Just beans, and other winners

Food critic MacKenzie Chung Fegan eats at top restaurants — but the Tenderloin Family Housing Cooking Competition is her favorite meal of the year. Families at 201 Turk dish out glutinous rice cakes, chicken masala sliders, and a Yemeni bean dish that claimed first prize. “It’s just beans,” the cook insisted. Not to the judges. — Chronicle

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Librarians by day, kids’ music icons by morning

Berkeley’s Story Time Band is turning toddler storytime into a full-fledged musical movement. Led by children’s librarian Michael Kwende (aka “Mr. Michael”), the all-librarian band fuses read-alouds with reggae, hip-hop, and global folk traditions — complete with plush animals, puppets, and dancing flamingos. — Berkeleyside

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Trans stories sewn into every stitch

Quilts, audio, and trans care come together in “Transmissions Quilts,” a multimedia exhibit at Berkeley’s Central Library, which runs through June. Curated by Cordy Joan and spanning three floors, the show honors trans lives through hand-crafted quilts, recorded stories, and collaborative art—each piece a testament to affirmation, resilience, and community. — Berkeley Public Library

Compton’s Cafeteria Riot play extends run

The Tenderloin Museum’s sold-out immersive play, Compton’s Cafeteria Riot, has extended its run through October. Set inside a recreated late-night diner, the show tells the story of the 1966 Compton’s Cafeteria Riot — a landmark moment of trans resistance. A 12-person cast brings the uprising to life with “breakfast for dinner” and a front-row seat to history. — Tenderloin Museum

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Inside Ruth Asawa’s home studio, a legacy of art and family lives on

Ruth Asawa raised six kids in a Noe Valley home where art, parenting, and community blurred together. Her grandson Henry Weverka walked DrawTogether’s Wendy MacNaughton through the SFMOMA retrospective, where a recreated living room shows how family dinners and wire sculptures shared the same table. — DrawTogether

Treasure hunting gets a digital upgrade

Krystyl Baldwin, a former tech worker turned vintage guru, has mapped out San Francisco’s under-the-radar retro scene with SF Vintage Maps—an interactive guide to 90 vintage shops across the city. From etched shower doors to rare Art Deco furniture, Baldwin’s passion for history and design is tangible in both her own North Beach showroom and this growing online resource.

Whether you’re seeking Gaultier gowns, mid-century cookware, or museum-worthy posters, the map connects vintage lovers to SF’s scattered gems — one QR code at a time. — 7x7

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San Quentin fathers reunite with daughters at first parenting prom

Back in April, a group of incarcerated men organized a powerful event at San Quentin: a prom where 17 fathers danced with their daughters — some reuniting for the first time in over a decade. With corsages, cake, and slow dances to Luther Vandross, it was a night of joy, healing, and new beginnings. — Local News Matters

Saving nature’s soundtrack, one hike at a time

Soundscape engineer Martin Sanchez treks into the Bay Area wilderness to record moments of pure quiet—birdsong, breezes, frogs—before they disappear. With mics hidden in forest crevices, he captures audio that's later used in meditation apps and films, building a library of the sounds that keep us grounded. — Bay Nature

Top image: 'Bodies of Water' by Lunilah Project

Previously: Field Notes: Bold Films, Pride Hikes, Show-Tune Karaoke, and Skateboarding Legends

Wednesday was the city of San Francisco's official Ruth Asawa Day, declared back in 1982 in honor of Asawa's work as an artist and advocate for arts education in the city. Asawa's advocacy is encapsulated in the artist's fanciful San Francisco Fountain, which turned 52 yesterday.

San Francisco Fountain, which is located near the Apple Store at Stockton and Post, consists of a bronze sculpture featuring bas-relief scenes of "whimsically interrelated" San Francisco landmarks. Much of the work included in the sculpture utilizes children's art from Alvarado Elementary School, which was crafted from baker's clay by Asawa's children and friends. Asawa's mother Haru Asawa created the leaves throughout the sculpture.

Although this author has walked by San Francisco Fountain dozens of times, we've always somehow overlooked the delightful vignettes enshrined in the sculpture. Viewing the piece on an overcast day helped with zooming in and photographing the fine details of the piece.

Additionally, tickets for SFMOMA's retrospective on Asawa, which launches in April, go on sale February 18 for members and March 11 for non-members.

Images: Leanne Maxwell/SFist

Some highly artistic cannabis smoking paraphernalia is now on sale at the SFMOMA gift shop, which has gone to pot and is now selling upscale porcelain pipes and water bongs.

We are on the eve of the marijuana smoker’s holiday 4/20, known as the busiest day of the year at cannabis dispensaries. So the lines will be long. But if you’re all set for weed and only in the market for a marijuana pipe or  a water bong, you have an option from an unexpected retailer. SFGate reports that the SFMOMA gift shop is now selling ceramic cannabis pipes and bongs, apparently intended for the more elegant stoner.  

These pipes and bongs are from Weed’d, a Milan-based brand that designs avant garde bongs, pipes, ashtrays, and more. SFMOMA sees these as appropriate for their museum store, considering the store already sells alcohol accessories.

“We currently sell bar items quite well and, this being San Francisco, thought we could make room for cannabis accessories if we found designs that made sense for us,” SFMOMA museum store buyer Camille Verboort told SFGate.

We were not able to find any of these pipes or bongs in the SFMOMA museum online store (though we were able to find a copy of the coffee table book High On Design: New Cannabis Culture). They may be too new to be listed in the online store, or else maybe the SFMOMA does not want that manner of hoi polloi frivolity on their retail website.

Either way, SFGate says these pipes and bongs “range in price from $50 to $195.” If you’re curious, the SFMOMA museum store is open on Saturday, 4/20, from 11am - 5pm.

Related: Jerry Garcia’s Marijuana Pipe, Lost for 30 Years, Has Been Found and Procured by Antiquities Collector [SFist]

Image Weed’d via Facebook

Brother to the famed local defense attorney Tony Serra, internationally renowned metal sculptor Richard Serra may be best known locally for sculptures so huge that they blocked traffic in SoMa, but he passed away Tuesday in New York from pneumonia.

You’re likely familiar with notorious SF defense attorney Tony Serra, who’s defended the likes of Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow and Ghost Ship defendant Derick Almena. You may not be aware that renowned large-scale metal sculptor Richard Serra is his brother.

While Richard Serra is a San Francisco native, his local legacy is probably best remembered because of a 214-ton COR-TEN steel sculpture Sequence displayed in the public lobby of SFMOMA that was so large it blocked traffic on Howard Street while being installed in 2015, as part of the SFMOMA’s reopening after a three-year closure.  

According to Bay Area News Group, Richard Serra died from pneumonia Tuesday at his Long Island, New York home. He was 85.

Serra’s New York Times obituary explains that he was born in San Francisco in 1938, quickly had a fascination with the SF shipyards where his father worked, and started working in steel mills at the age of 15. This would influence the use of large metal works in his sculptures. He would go on to study at UC Santa Barbara with the likes of Margaret Mead and Aldous Huxley, and switched his interest from painting to sculpture, becoming one of the first Post-Minimalist greats.

Serra would gain notoriety in 1981 for the above-pictured work Tilted Arc, a site-specific work designed for a federal building in Lower Manhattan. The notoriety came because the employees at the building absolutely hated it, and petitioned the General Services Administration to have it removed. Serra sued to keep it there, but lost, and in accordance with Serra’s wishes, it was not displayed again anywhere else.

Serra would go on to have two acclaimed retrospectives at the Museum of Modern Art in New York (in 1986 and 2007), and saw eight of his works permanently installed at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain.

Following the temporary installation of Sequence at SFMOMA, it returned to the Stanford campus, where it sits outside the Cantor Arts Center. There is also a 60-foot-tall Serra piece titled Charlie Brown, owned by Gap founders Doris and Don Fisher, that stands in the atrium of Gap's Embarcadero headquarters.

You can also see a piece of Serra's permanently installed in the UCSF Mission Bay campus' east plaza, titled Ballast.

And SFMOMA houses a number of Serra sketches, paintings, and smaller metal pieces, like Floor Prop from 1969 — also part of the Doris and Donald Fisher Collection.

“Serra's work took abstract and invisible properties such as weight, balance, pressure, and gravity — all of which are traditionally associated with sculpture — and made them visible and visceral,” SFMOMA says in their bio page on Serra. “Examples of this practice include installations of thrown molten lead that use architectural corners as a mold, or metal plates and poles held in place by their own weight.”

The Times notes a representative story: A few years back, Serra was diagnosed with cancer in the tear duct of his left eye. Doctors recommended he have the eye removed. But as the Times notes, “Typically undaunted and determined not to compromise his vision or his work as an artist, Mr. Serra declined the surgery.”

Related: SFMOMA's Giant Richard Serra Sculpture Blocking Traffic On Howard Street [SFist]

Image: American sculptor Richard Serra at Museum Of Modern Art Sculpture Garden in New York with one of his sculptures on 17th April 2007. (Photo by David Corio/Redferns)

SFMOMA says that City College of San Francisco hasn't ponied up their share of the cash to move Diego Rivera's enormous 'Pan-American Unity' mural back across town. City College now says that they can't be blamed for the museum's "financial mismanagement."

Two San Francisco nonprofit institutions — which are both under some financial strain — are at odds over a gargantuan, very hard-to-move mural that is worth an untold sum of money, which one lent to the other two years ago. Now, via a lawsuit filed last month, according to SFMOMA, City College doesn't seem to be in any hurry to take back the 1940 piece — which artist Diego Rivera came to San Francisco to paint for a world's fair on Treasure Island, and which has lived in the hallway of a theater at CCSF since 1961.

The 30-ton, 74-foot-wide, 1,600-square-foot mural, which consists of 10 highly delicate fresco panels, was moved via custom truck across the city at great expense in June 2021, in order that it could serve as the centerpiece of SFMOMA's Diego Rivera retrospective, which closed early this year.

The mural was scheduled to be moved back to CCSF in "early 2024," according to the suit, but SFMOMA says that it has spent $4.5 million to date on the project, and that under its originally agreement, CCSF is responsible for the remaining cost to move the mural back across town, estimated at $2.1 million.

SFMOMA says it had agreed to spend $3.975 million to borrow the artwork, and it does not expect CCSF to cover the overage spent to date. But the museum claims that the school had agreed to cover the remaining cost take back and store the piece.

City College has now filed a counter-claim, and it seems to be saying that it doesn't have to pay this moving expense, which is confusing.

"Under the terms of the agreement, SFMOMA agreed to dedicate a total budget of $3.975 million dollars for the loan of the artwork, of which $1,000,000 was to be reserved for the de-installation and return of the mural to the College by September 1, 2023," the college says in a release. "The agreement further stipulates that if SFMOMA cannot return the artwork as agreed upon, it must amend the agreement in writing."

The college is alleging that SFMOMA blew its deadline, and spent budget money meant for the moving expense on other things. CCSF further takes umbrage at the fact that SFMOMA's complaint suggests that the school dip into the $845 million in bond funding that it has for building expenses, since the mural is set to be part of a new theater to be completed in 2026.

"SFMOMA also suggested the College tap into its $181.3 million in San Francisco taxpayer bond funds, which can only be used for the construction of new educational facilities, to compensate for the world-renowned museum's financial mismanagement," the release states.

It's not clear why the college is only referring to $181.3 million, when the bond approved in March 2020 was for $845 million, earmarked for "repair and retrofit [of] decaying City College facilities."

The museum's contention seems to be that City College would be perfectly happy to have the museum continue to store the mural for them until they have somewhere to put it, three years from now. But CCSF is citing this deadline issue, and the budget issue, and says it is "deeply disappointed" to have to file the counter claim. According to the college, the museum was going to cover the entire bill — but someone has to be in the wrong here.

Now, neither institution can really afford to be wasting too much money on lawyers. CCSF has been financially struggling and facing declining enrollment in recent years — which bubbles up as drama over certain classes being cut every year or so. The school was placed on "enhanced monitoring" status in the fall of 2020 by the state accreditation board, due to its financial woes.

SFMOMA, meanwhile, announced layoffs earlier this week, citing a 35% decline in attendance at the museum. Seven staffers were let go, and 13 other open positions were eliminated, in a budget-cutting measure.

The mural in question, which depicts San Francisco and the Bay, remains one of the most spectacular pieces of Rivera's career — and it far upstaged much of the other work in that retrospective. It is still on view, for free, in the Howard Street lobby of SFMOMA, and is scheduled to stay there through January 2024 — after which the museum says it has "other commitments" for that gallery space.

Go see it while you can, because, at best, it is soon going to be hidden away for at least the next three years.

Previously: SFMOMA Suing City College Over Diego Rivera Mural Moving Expenses

Photo: Jeremy Liew

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is suing City College of San Francisco over unpaid expenses relating to the conservation and 2021 relocation-by-truck of the massive Diego Rivera fresco titled Pan-American Unity.

The 30-ton, 74-foot-wide, 1,600-square-foot mural was painted by Rivera in 1940 for the Golden Gate International Exposition on Treasure Island. Painted in 10 panels, the mural was first relocated into storage at City College, where it was later installed at the then-new Diego Rivera Theater in 1961.

The theater has since fallen into disrepair and a replacement is set to start construction in two years — but herein lies what may be the main issue. City College may not have anyplace to properly store the mural until 2027, when the new theater, where the mural will take center stage in a glass lobby, will permanently live. And it is going to cost $2.1 million to repeat the painstaking, five-mile-per-hour trip back across town on a truck with specially made shock-absorbers.

As the Chronicle reports, SFMOMA has filed suit saying that the original agreement it had with City College was that the museum would foot the bill for $3.9 million of an estimated total cost of $6.2 million to move the mural back and forth, and to perform conservation work and display it on a custom, 74-foot-wide steel frame in the Howard Street lobby of the museum.

The museum says it has spent $4.5 million to date, and it's not seeking to be compensated for the $600,000 overage. It only wants CCSF to pony up the money to take the mural back — and soon, because there are other commitments the museum has made for that large atrium space.

Pan-American Unity, which had languished in a dark hall of the not-often-visited college theater for 60 years, was installed at the museum in June 2021 ahead of the 2022 retrospective of Rivera's work, titled Diego Rivera's America. The popular exhibit ran through January 2023, and the mural was scheduled to be returned to the CCSF campus in "early 2024."

To date, the museum says, CCSF has not paid for any of the expenses relating to the mural.

"SFMOMA spearheaded the ambitious effort to determine how to safely extract and relocate the enormous and fragile work of art. The Museum contributed its expertise, staff, and resources and convened an international team of mechanical engineers, architects, art historians, fresco experts, conservators, and art handlers whether and how the Mural could be safely removed from the Diego Rivera Theater and transported across the city to SFMOMA," the lawsuit reads.

"SFMOMA is deeply disappointed by CCSF’s refusal to comply with the agreement that helped secure an otherwise collaborative partnership, resulting in more than 598,000 people experiencing and enjoying this magnificent work for free," the museum says in its suit.

The museum contents that CCSF "has argued that it does not have any obligation under the contract to pay the remaining expenses to ensure the mural’s safe return to the college's campus."

SFMOMA wants City College to pull $2.1 million out of the $845 million in bond funding the college has, which was approved by voters in 2020 for repairs to the college's facilities.

"CCSF also has not provided any explanation about why it cannot use bond funding that has been earmarked for the 'Diego Rivera Theater with Mural' to finance the remaining project costs," the lawsuit states.

Representatives for City College have not commented on the lawsuit.

Previously: Enormous Diego Rivera Fresco Moved From City College to SFMOMA, Goes On Display Next Week

Top image: Banco de Mexico Diego Rivera & Frida Kahlo Museums Trust, Mexico D.F./Artist Rights Society (ARS), New York, via City College of San Francisco

The new Yayoi Kusama show at SFMOMA, featuring the celebrated Japanese artist’s famous immersive mirror rooms, is the first solo exhibition of her work in Northern California.

You might have had the chance to see Kusama’s work at another museum (some pieces have recently been in New York and Los Angeles), or you might’ve seen them on Instagram (her recognizable mirror rooms are viral at this point), but this is her first solo exhibit in Northern California.

The exhibit, Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love, opens to the public on October 14, 2023, and will run through September 7, 2024 — an SFMOMA member preview is ongoing. It shows two of Kusama’s “Infinity Mirror Rooms” in a separate wing that you’ll need tickets for, and one of her sculptures, which is viewable on the fifth floor for all visitors.

If you want the full Yayoi Kusama experience, the "Infinity Mirror Rooms" are worth it. The museum installed the two rooms (about 15 feet by 15 feet) in a cordoned-off section with all-white walls, and will only let six people in at a time. When it’s your turn to enter the darkened mirror rooms (for two minutes each), you’re surrounded by your own reflection amid dreamlike repetitions of bright shapes and patterns, including Kusama’s signature polka dots.

As Kusama said of the motif, “Dots are symbols of the world, the cosmos. The Earth is a dot, the moon, sun, the stars are all made up of dots. You and me, we are dots.”

In the first room, “Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love (2023),” outside light streams through several bold-colored windows, and you feel like you’re inside a kaleidoscope of transparent plastic bingo chips. The second, “LOVE IS CALLING (2013),” is filled with dotted, color-changing neon tentacles, creating a surreal octopus garden. I felt like I was stepping into another dimension, and just as I got adjusted to feeling like I was floating in the explosion of stimulation, my two minutes were up.

Her other sculpture, “Aspiring to Pumpkin’s Love, the Love in My Heart (2023),” is a massive psychedelic pumpkin also covered in dots. The work deals with themes of mental health and self-obliteration — Kusama has never shied away from making art about her personal struggles (and as a way to cope). The sheer scale is impressive, and the colors and patterns turn into an optical illusion if you look for long enough.

And, of course, it’s all very Instagrammable. Kusama was a pioneer in creating eye-popping intimate environments in which the spectator becomes part of the spectacle since she created her first mirrored room environment in 1965 (she’s 94 years old, after all). She’s made over 20 since then, according to the LA Times.

Expect to wait in line for your turn to experience the art, but you won’t regret it. This exhibit explores the infinite possibilities of the human imagination. Don't miss this opportunity to immerse yourself (and Instagram yourself) in Kusama's world.

Tickets for the exhibit are on sale now, but they're currently sold out through the end of October. More tickets will be released on a monthly basis and will be available for purchase online. (Members get early access to reserve tickets on the first Tuesday of every month, two days before the General Public.) A limited number of same-day tickets will be available on-site on a first-come, first-served basis. Advance tickets are not available for purchase on-site.

Feature image of Yayoi Kusama, Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love, 2023, installed in the exhibition Yayoi Kusama: I Spend Each Day Embracing Flowers, David Zwirner, New York, May 11—July 21, 2023 ©YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy the artist, Ota Fine Arts, Victoria Miro, and David Zwirner

Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama is bringing two of her psychedelic "Infinity Mirror Rooms" to SFMOMA next month, and timed tickets for the exhibit just went on sale this week.

As SFist reported earlier, Kusama has never had a solo exhibition in Northern California before, so Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love will be the first. The exhibit will feature two of Kusama's mirror rooms — construction boxes that will sit in gallery spaces, letting in light from the outside into kaleidoscopic, mirrored, brightly colored spaces.

The newest immersive work is called Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love (2023), and the other work on display is LOVE IS CALLING (2013. The latter is billed as "one of Kusama’s largest and most immersive works" and it "features a darkened environment illuminated by vividly colored inflatable forms that extend from the floor and ceiling accompanied by the sound of the artist reciting a poem about love."

Kusama wrote a poem to go with the newest work as well:

Enter the place of colors
Polka dots let in the sunlight of the earth
The heart is filled with the shining light of the sun
All of the people who enter seeking the joy of being alive
Let there be eternal harmony among all in the circles and cycles of living
Peace and endless love for all

Steadily working as an artist for 70 years, Kusama, now 94 years old, has resided in a mental-health facility since the 1970s, leaving each day to work in a nearby studio. She has been open about her mental illness for many years, saying, "My art is an expression of my life, particularly of my mental disease."

Kusama first made a mirrored work in the 1960s, and interest in her work was renewed in 1993 when she was selected to represent Japan at the Venice Biennale — where she installed a mirrored room full of polka-dotted pumpkins.

Her first "Infinity Mirror Room" piece was in 2000, and since then she has created around 20 of them.

The show opens to the public October 14, and timed tickets for October 14 to 31 are on sale now — with only weekday slots still available. The exhibit goes on for eleven months, and more timed ticket slots will be made available for November starting on October 5 (October 3 for members). There is a $10 surcharge for the exhibit.

SFMOMA Member preview days begin September 29.

The great polka-dot queen of contemporary art, Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, will be featured in a year-long exhibition at SFMOMA that begins this October, and it will include her latest immersive "Infinity Mirror Room."

SFMOMA is being a little bit cagey about the entirety of what is going to be included in this upcoming show, but we know as of today that Yayoi Kusama: Infinite Love will be opening October 14, and it will include her latest "Infinity Mirror Room," titled Dreaming of Earth’s Sphericity, I Would Offer My Love (2023). Member preview days are set to begin around October 1.

SFist inquired about how many of Kusama's pieces will be featured in the show, and the press office responded only by saying, "We are excited to reveal more surprises about what the presentation includes as the opening date approaches." All we know is that the show will be installed on the sixth floor of SFMOMA, and it is not a retrospective — however it is a first-of-its-kind show of Kusama's work at the museum or anywhere in Northern California.

"Yayoi Kusama’s captivating Infinity Mirror Rooms offer a tremendous opportunity for viewers to connect with the artwork and with each other,” says SFMOMA Director Christopher Bedford in a statement. "We are thrilled that Kusama’s new immersive artwork will have its West Coast premiere at SFMOMA, exciting and inspiring new audiences and longtime fans alike."

A press release states that "this presentation offers visitors the unique opportunity to see work by Kusama that epitomizes the artist’s diverse interests in light, space, sculpture and poetry."

The new Mirror Room piece, according to a release, "welcomes the viewer into a universe of multicolored light. At first, the exterior of this sculptural work blends into the gallery’s all-white surroundings, punctuated by an array of large transparent acrylic dots, including a quadrant — or quarter-dot — door at one corner for visitors to enter. In the interior, bright ambient light filters through the colored windows to create a luminous, kaleidoscopic pattern of overlapping circles."

Here's a preview:

Kusama herself put out a poetic statement about the piece, saying:

Enter the place of colors
Polka dots let in the sunlight of the earth
The heart is filled with the shining light of the sun
All of the people who enter seeking the joy of being alive
Let there be eternal harmony among all in the circles and cycles of living
Peace and endless love for all

Born in 1929 in Matsumoto, Japan, Kusama's career has spanned 70 years so far and she is one of the art world's most beloved living artists. Her easily recognizable work has for decades featured her signature polka dots.

Kusama's experiential/environmental work dates back to the 1960s, when she created her first mirrored work. But her first Mirror Room piece was in 2000, and she has since constructed over 20 of them. Her work has been featured all over the globe, including at the Tate Modern in London, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, and the Guggenheim Bilbao Museum.

Tickets for the exhibition, which will be separate from regular admission, go on sale for the general public September 12, with a member pre-sale beginning September 5.