Date and Time
- Thursday, Nov 20, 2025 5pm - 8pm
Location
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
151 3rd St
Details
Join us for a unique “photobook DJ” performance with artist Alejandro Cartagena to explore the books that have shaped how he thinks about photography and the book form. Rooted in his practice as a photographer, archivist, and collector, Cartagena’s work often involves gathering and organizing images within specific conceptual frameworks. Meaning emerges through repetition, juxtaposition, and subtle variation. In this performance, he brings that same methodology to life, curating books in real time under an overhead camera, with the pages projected at large scale. As Cartagena layers images and texts, and adds and removes books from view, connections and tensions begin to surface. The audience is invited to engage in this evolving process of interpretation and observe how systems of meaning form, shift, or unravel. The performance is accompanied by recorded videos of books being flipped through, ambient music, and a reading from Susan Sontag to create a layered and contemplative atmosphere. Pop in early for an interactive experience drawing from Cartagena’s work. Designed by Hugues Bruyère in collaboration with Cartagena, the AI model The Latent Space uses exhibition images of homes and the city to explore representational bias in training datasets.
