The Silicon Valley Contemporary came and went. The new kid on the block, they seemingly threw everything against the wall to see what would stick, with some galleries showing exactly what they thought (an oversimplified idea of) tech money wanted and others bringing their traditional program to a new audience. 

To my eye, most of the images which showed up in the press seemed quite crude, with plenty of work in the 'Image of ___ made from ___' category. In a review for Art Agenda (sadly, very little ink is spilled about the Bay Area there) some of what were touted as highlights elsewhere such as the tacky-seeming performance art of Tiffany Trenda and the video work of Gary Hill are standouts for being predictable and cliché. But that those same works produced reactions on both sides of the spectrum is interesting. A comment by a reader who liked both works said it best maybe "There was a lot to like, and just as much not to like."

When asked about art fairs (and my own participation in them) I usually cite context, a wish to place artists and myself in a particular context... when pressed though, putting into words what I mean by that is hard. What is it exactly I feel embarrassed about when I think of Bash Contemporary, The Mutual Wave Machine or work for sale for bitcoins? There are multiple art scenes which sometimes overlap but as often, though the context is shared, white-cube or art fair, the conversations in each can seem in completely different languages. Silicon Valley brought lots of these conversations together under one roof; all of the art scenes have their sights set on the new money.

Brian Droitcour in Art Forum Diary closed his essay, focused both on the fair and on the varying success of his Instagram pics from the fair,  "I can’t predict whether future editions of Silicon Valley Contemporary will homogenize and blend into the international art fair circuit or if its quirks will calcify in another kind of institution; as an early adopter, I just enjoyed the innovation."

Thursday:
+ Garth Weiser at Altman Siegel

Friday:
+ Michelle Blade "Gathering Into Being" at CULT
+ Screening: Aura Satz, Ben Rivers, Benedict Drew, James Richards, Jon Thomson & Alison Craighead, Marcus Coates, Matt Stokes, Nathaniel Mellors, Shezad Dawood "SELECTED III: presented by Film London Artists' Moving Image Network (FLAMIN) and videoclub" curated by Brad Butler & Karen Mirza at A.T.A.
+ Andrea Bergart, Sheryl Oppenheim "Grimy Rhymes" at City Limits

Saturday:

+ Anne McGuire, Karla Milosevich "Glass Can Cut" at Steven Wolf Fine Arts

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+ Lecture: "Graduate Studies Lecture Series: Anne Carson" at California College of the Arts (CCA)

Sunday:
+ Reading: Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson "Small Press Traffic: Lisa Robertson & Jeff Derksen" at A.T.A.

Tuesday, April 22

Lecture: "Jewelry/Metal Arts Lecture: Ruudt Peters" at California College of the Arts (CCA)
Oakland: 5212 Broadway Avenue, at College Avenue, Nahl Hall, 7pm

Wednesday, April 23

Gugger Petter "Reversal of Interest" at Andrea Schwartz Gallery
SOMA: 525 2nd Street, 5:30-7:30pm

Thursday, April 24

+ Garth Weiser at Altman Siegel
Downtown: 49 Geary Street, floor 4, 5:30-7:30pm

Lecture: "SFAI Visiting Artist Lecture: Basil Twist" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Lecture Hall, Free and open to the public, VAS Social Hour: 6:30 pm | Lecture: 7:30 pm

José Nuñez, Mirian Munguia, Peter Cordova "Elemental Renditions" curated by Pilar Olabarria at Creativity Explored
Mission District: 3245 16th Street, 7-9pm

Friday, April 25

Chris Treggiari, Shalini Agrawalan "Social In Practice" at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
SOMA: 701 Misssion Street, at Third Street, Room for Big Ideas, 6-8pm

Lecture: "SFAI Graduate Lecture: Alfredo Jaar" at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Lecture Hall, free, 7:30pm

+ Michelle Blade "Gathering Into Being" at CULT
Mission District: 3191 Mission Street, free, 7-9pm

+ Screening: Aura Satz, Ben Rivers, Benedict Drew, James Richards, Jon Thomson & Alison Craighead, Marcus Coates, Matt Stokes, Nathaniel Mellors, Shezad Dawood "SELECTED III: presented by Film London Artists' Moving Image Network (FLAMIN) and videoclub" curated by Brad Butler & Karen Mirza at A.T.A.
Mission District: 992 Valencia Street, $7-$10, 8pm

Judith Belzer "paths of desire: new paintings" at George Lawson Gallery
Potrero Hill: 315 Potrero Avenue, 5:30-7:30pm

Tim Roseborough "de Young Artist Studio" at de Young (Golden Gate Park)
Golden Gate Park: 50 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive, 6-8:30pm

Closing reception: "Litterati: Using Technology to Clean the Planet" at Recology San Francisco Art Studio
Bayshore: 401 Tunnel Avenue, free, 5-8pm

+ Andrea Bergart, Sheryl Oppenheim "Grimy Rhymes" at City Limits
Oakland: 300 Jefferson Street, 7-11pm

Saturday, April 26

Alexis Arnold, Becky Johnson, Ben Marlowe, Christina La Sala, Heidi Cramer, Jamie Emerick, Jane Farrar, Jorge Garcia, Kevin Krueger, Laamsha Young, Lisa Wood, Luke Wilson, Matthew Gottschalk, Meghan Martin, Mie Preckler, Morse Cosmos, Roderick Kiracofe, Shushan Tesfuzigta, Vanesa Gingold, Wes Modes, Yulia Pinkusevich "It Takes a Village: The Cradle Project" at Alter Space
SOMA: 1158 Howard Street, floor 1, 7-10pm

Aaron Storck, Ashley Bickerton, Brad Kahlhamer, Club Paint, Dana Schutz, Jonathan Meese, Kara Walker, Laurel Nakadate, Liz Cohen, Marianne Vitale, Nikki S. Lee, Samara Golden, Tanyth Berkeley, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Wim Delvoye "WRONG'S WHAT I DO BEST" curated by Aaron Spangler, Hesse McGraw at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Free and open to the public, 7-10pm

"Wrong’s What I Do Best" curated by Aaron Spangler, Hesse McGraw at San Francisco Art Institute
Russian Hill: 800 Chesnut Street, Walter and McBean Galleries, Free and open to the public, 7-10pm

Gale Hart "Unconcealed" at Bash Contemporary
Tenderloin: 210 Golden Gate Avenue, 6-9pm

+ Anne McGuire, Karla Milosevich "Glass Can Cut" at Steven Wolf Fine Arts Mission District: 2747 19th Street, at York St., floor 1, A, 6-8pm

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+ Lecture: "Graduate Studies Lecture Series: Anne Carson" at California College of the Arts (CCA)
Potrero Hill: 1111 Eighth Street , Timken Lecture Hall, 7pm

Eric Bohr "Frontiers" at Mercury 20 Gallery
Oakland: 475 25th Street, at Telegraph Avenue, 4-6pm

Nick Dong "Be-longing-En-lightening" at Mercury 20 Gallery
Oakland: 475 25th Street, at Telegraph Avenue, 4-6pm

"Jive and Java with the Breakfast Group Artists" at Richmond Art Center
Richmond: 2540 Barrett Avenue, 11am-1pm

Sunday, April 27

+ Reading: Jeff Derksen, Lisa Robertson "Small Press Traffic: Lisa Robertson & Jeff Derksen" at A.T.A.
Mission District: 992 Valencia Street, $7-$10, 5pm

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+ = Editor's pick
? = Opening not confirmed - check site for updates.