The 5M Project is a unique collaboration between Intersection for the Arts, one of the oldest arts organizations in San Francisco, with Forest City Development. It is a thriving two-year old prototype community of 2,000 entrepreneurs, technology companies, artists and makers that are building the creative economy. Using art to instigate economic and community change, Intersection’s programs include creative collaboration and problem-solving involving large scale public art, arts-based community engagement, artist residencies, cultural entrepreneurship fellowships, and resource-matching.

Anthem Salgado, Director of Communications & Special Events, introduces a recent intervention that took place at The 5M Project:

In a continued exploration of place and dialogue, hundreds of people from the 5M residence and surrounding areas experienced the live reshaping of time, space, and community. Erika Chong Shuch, choreographer, director, and also resident artist at Intersection for the Arts, recently took on the challenge of transforming our new office space in the San Francisco Chronicle Building into a theatrical experience. Rather than neglecting the makeup of the architecture, she incorporated it into the story.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjDOzYXKnDM

Her show, “Sitting In A Circle”, opened in the setting of an office. Strangers (patrons and performers) attended a mysterious meeting under the harsh fluorescence of the room. And as the narrative moved forward, the atmosphere morphed and the veil between audience and actor thinned. The facilitator, who burlesked motivational speakers and therapists, guided the group through an interactive, roller coaster, search for self. By the time the last movement was executed, the final word was spoken, and the tube lights were flicked back on, one walked away with a refreshing feeling of oneness and an all new interpretation of place.

-Anthem Salgado