A novel project in the Presidio blends a nature walk, animal habitats and installation art, providing stylish housing for the Presidio's animals and an art display for human hikers.
Presidio Habitats. the first exhibition specifically developed for and presented in a US national park, consists of habitats created by artists, architects, and designers for wildlife in the Presidio, such as the red-tailed hawk, robin, bat and hummingbird. The unusual exhibit opened in May 2010 and has been extended through September 2011. You can take a self-guided tour or join one of the guided hikes, lectures or children's programs related to the exhibit, which are all free.
Exhibit co-sponsor FOR-SITE Foundation, which promotes new art related to place, invited two dozen designers around the world to send in proposals for animal accommodations. All of the submissions are displayed in the indoor Exhibition Pavilion. Half of the designers were commissioned to create and install their ideas in the northwestern corner of the Presidio, along park trails.
The most elegant installation is Chinese artist Ai Weiwei’s ten hand-painted, blue-and-white urns, placed in a couple of cypresses at Fort Scott. The urns are modeled after traditional Chinese vessels and are shaped like the hollows in trees that the Western screech owl resides in. Ai has done ornithological design before; he helped the Swiss architectural firm that devised the “Bird’s Nest” in Beijing, the main stadium for the 2008 Olympics.
What looks like a pitched roof from the front is a potential home for the gray fox. The sculpture, made of interlocking parts cut from surplus cypress in the Presidio, has a cozy central cave for its intended resident. The designer, Danish architectural firm CEBRA, has won awards at the Venice Biennale.
The black-tailed jackrabbit (aka the desert hare) has long left the Presidio, but in its honor, artist Nathan Lynch set up an imaginary race between it and the tortoise (well, the Western pond turtle). Where is the Hare? includes towers designating “start” and “finish” lines, and posters throughout the Presidio advertise the race.
Presidio Habitats is in place long enough that you can see the habitats in different seasons. Even if you don't spy any wildlife, you'll at least walk away with a different view of the park and art.
Presidio Habitats
Exhibition Pavilion: At Storey and Ralston avenues, near the Log Cabin, in Fort Scott District. Open Wednesdays to Sundays, 11 am to 5 pm
Exhibition in place through Sept. 2011
