PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. Jess Curtis Experiments with GRAVITY – Abby Crain: Activation Stage Programs

RESERVE SPACE PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. JESS CURTIS EXPERIMENTS WITH GRAVITY –  ABBY CRAIN: ACTIVATION STAGE PROGRAMS PRESENTED BY FORT MASON ART The exhibition PLEASE. STAY. TOUCH. Jess Curtis Experiments with GRAVITY includes an Activation Stage led by artists-in-residence whom Curtis mentored. Each artist serves as a curator-facilitator-performer for events, performances, and happenings that engage deeply with Curtis’s legacy and archive. Each artist presents a program that also extends Curtis’s commitment to inclusive, innovative performance practice and embodied presence. ABOVE: Jess Curtis. Photo: Robbie Sweeny. TOP OF PAGE: Abby Crain. Photo: Mark McBeth EVENT DETAILS Saturday, July 18, 2026 Pitched Rendering 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Store House Gallery See below for reservation link. Abby Crain invites movement artist Tiffany Taylor and sound artist Sheldon Smith to join her in a live sonic/vocal transcription of the Please. Stay. Touch. exhibition.   Sunday, July 19, 2026 – Arion Press Collaboraton “The Book of Apparitions: navigating absence through objects” with Lorena Marín and Erasmo Pantoja 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. See below for reservation link. “The language of the dead,” writes Haytham El-Wardany, “is that of the tiniest imperishable life forms, persistently sending signals, even from beneath the earth.” Writing can be an extension of the body, and also a form of reading, finding ways to connect with what is missing, to invoke apparitions. What objects around us can help us read the signals from these “imperishable life forms?” How can we connect with what is no longer present?  Marin and Pantoja invite participants to bring an object through which they feel the presence or signals of someone or something missing from this world. In bringing our attention to these objects, participants create writings and drawings that explore relationships with absence. Mourn the loss of loved ones by making a special book to honor them.   Friday, July 24, 2026 sublunary, sublunary, sublime, sublime with Abby Crain and Styles Alexander; audio description by Rachael Dichter 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Store House Gallery 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Curator tour with Seth Eisen and LisaRuth Elliott  NOTE: Fort Mason Night Market happens 5:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. campus-wide; limited parking See below for reservation link. Abby Crain writes, “The body is thinking this through – both muddy and astral. Durational performance collaboration.”  Saturday, July 25, 2026 gravity is a field; i move beside you with Abby Crain 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Store House Gallery A score for multiple performers See below for reservation link. Abby Crain writes, “this is only a score //  this unfolds over time // particulate matter // this is not a reduction // we are on the edge of the ocean // the day becomes night // the night opens up.” ABOUT THE ARTISTS Abby Crain (she/her) “works through transposition of the processes of dancing / dance making / the studio / performance making, into the practice of the essay / the poem / the story / the classroom, and vice versa.” Her work is an ongoing, multidisciplinary effort to take note of / recognize that which is perceived or awakened via sensation, experience, memory, and dreams through formats of writing, dancing, reading, pedagogy, and performance.  Tiffany Taylor is a blind, queer interdisciplinary performer. She is passionate about performance as a tool for curious exploration and exploring curiosity. Through singing, dance, sensation, and perception, she challenges ableist perspectives surrounding performance spaces and questions the value placed on non-normative bodies within them. She has performed with GRAVITY in Into the Dark and (In)-Visible in both San Francisco and Berlin. Tiffany holds a B.A. in Theater and serves on the Board of Directors for GRAVITY. She also works as an Audio Description and Accessibility Consultant. Tiffany Taylor (continued). She has been seen as a performer and collabo…