Webinar: Visit 500 Capp Street

a portal to what’s possible and imaginable!

500 Capp Street’s mission is to encourage artistic experimentation, support new modes of living, and build community— just as David Ireland did during his lifetime.

Located in San Francisco’s Mission District, 500 Capp Street is a physical location rooted in conceptual art that was David Ireland’s home. It is where our collection and archive informs artist-driven exhibitions, programs, educational workshops, and curatorial practice. 

David Ireland was an artist with a diverse practice who viewed the making of art as a part of daily life. He blended sculpture, architecture, painting, and performance, and drew on ordinary materials such as dirt, concrete, wood, or wire that he collected.

Our exhibitions, programs, and educational workshops enable artists, teachers, scholars, and participants to experiment and interpret art practices and ideas while becoming an integral part of the 500 Capp Street community. Our educational workshops challenge participants to explore what art can be, without limits and constructs.

The collection & archive includes 500 Capp Street, an environmental artwork, social sculpture, and residence; over 2,500 David Ireland art pieces, including painting, sculptures, prints, and ephemera of David Ireland’s work and performances. It also contains paper and ephemera of the Bay Area conceptual artists past and present, including extensive catalogs of artist-run spaces such as New Langton Arts and 65 Capp Street.

The curatorial practice is steeped in experimentation, artist-driven participation, and is process-oriented. It is collaborative, intergenerational, dynamic, and generous. It explores and challenges the boundaries of space, museology, artistic practice, material. It is comfortable reflecting on important questions relevant to critical inquiry. 

500 Capp Street is not a museum or static historic home in the traditional sense. As such, it is not bound by the norms of a museum collection as a steward of the public good and conservator of works. 

Lian Ladia is a curator and organizer. She is currently Curator of Exhibitions and Programs at The 500 Capp Street. Ladia holds an MA in Curatorial Studies from Bard College with an Asian Cultural Council fellowship, and in 2015, participated in De Appel’s Curatorial Programme in Amsterdam, co-curating works by Metahaven, Lav Diaz, and Wu Tsang, among others. From 2010 to 2015, Ladia was based in Southeast Asia, co-founding the curatorial collaborative Planting Rice and working with artist-run Green Papaya Art Projects. In her first year at 500 Capp Street, she established an artist residency program, education program and built an archive team, as part of her commitment to mentorships, public engagement and accessibility. She is a board member of Canyon Cinema, Clarion Mural Art Projects and People Power Media, and is part of the San Francisco Art Commission’s Monuments and Memorials Advisory Committee.

Cait Molloy is the Director of 500 Capp Street. An artist and arts administrator, she earned a B.A. from the University of Vermont in Burlington, VT, a Post-Baccalaureate in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, and an M.F.A. from the San Francisco Art Institute. As Director, Molloy has grown 500 Capp Street into a fiscally sustainable, publically supported, and mission-based organization. Under her leadership she has refocused 500 Capp Street into a value-aligned, artist-driven, and a more equitable organization with staff and board growth. Molloy’s artwork has been exhibited in Vienna, Austria, Washington, D.C., and throughout the San Francisco Bay Area, including Jules Maeght Gallery.