About
. . . our mission, approach, and history
What can we learn from artists today?
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts is a nonprofit exhibition venue and research institute dedicated to reflecting on this question through temporary exhibitions, public events, and in-depth research. It is part of California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
.+*The Wattis centers the artist's perspective and supports artists who take risks and experiment with new ideas. We provide a public forum to established, emerging, and under-recognized artists who challenge our ways of understanding the art of our current moment.
The Exhibition Program consists of new productions of commissioned work, as well as exhibitions of specific bodies of existing work by artists from around the world.
The Research Program commits an entire year to a single artist's work and uses it as a lens to reflect on our contemporary moment more broadly via reading groups, public events, and publications.
+*.CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was founded in 1998 at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Initiated by Larry Rinder, it was originally called the CCAC Institute of Exhibitions and Public Programming. In 2002, it was renamed the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. In 2013, it moved from CCA's main campus to its own building a few blocks away. Subsequently to Rinder's directorship, the Wattis has been led by Ralph Rugoff (2000 - 2006), Jens Hoffmann (2006 - 2012), and Anthony Huberman (2013 - 2023). Upon its founding in 1998, the Wattis also absorbed Capp Street Project, one of the earliest and longest-running artist-in-residence programs in the country, founded in 1983 by Ann Hatch. Building on that history, the Wattis Institute hosts a Capp Street Artist-in-Residence every year and invites an artist to come live and work in San Francisco for a semester, to teach a graduate seminar at CCA, and to present an exhibition or program. The residency changed its name in 2024, and is now known simply as the Wattis Artist-in-Residence. More about that here.The Wattis Institute has also collaborated with students and faculty members in other programs at CCA, including the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice, the Graduate Program in Fine Arts, and the Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies, among others.
Contact Wattis staff here.
*+.The CCA campus is located in Yelamu, also known as San Francisco, on the unceded territories of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples.
+.*Read about CCA's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging here.
*.+In 2022-23, the Wattis worked with Art + Climate Action to generate a Carbon Emissions Report for one of our exhibitions, with the intention of using our findings to work toward greater environmental sustainability as an institution. You can view the report here. Many thanks to Haley Mellin and Jodi Roberts of Art + Climate Action for their support.
CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts is a nonprofit exhibition venue and research institute dedicated to reflecting on this question through temporary exhibitions, public events, and in-depth research. It is part of California College of the Arts in San Francisco.
.+*The Wattis centers the artist's perspective and supports artists who take risks and experiment with new ideas. We provide a public forum to established, emerging, and under-recognized artists who challenge our ways of understanding the art of our current moment.
The Exhibition Program consists of new productions of commissioned work, as well as exhibitions of specific bodies of existing work by artists from around the world.
The Research Program commits an entire year to a single artist's work and uses it as a lens to reflect on our contemporary moment more broadly via reading groups, public events, and publications.
+*.CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts was founded in 1998 at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. Initiated by Larry Rinder, it was originally called the CCAC Institute of Exhibitions and Public Programming. In 2002, it was renamed the CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts. In 2013, it moved from CCA's main campus to its own building a few blocks away. Subsequently to Rinder's directorship, the Wattis has been led by Ralph Rugoff (2000 - 2006), Jens Hoffmann (2006 - 2012), and Anthony Huberman (2013 - 2023). Upon its founding in 1998, the Wattis also absorbed Capp Street Project, one of the earliest and longest-running artist-in-residence programs in the country, founded in 1983 by Ann Hatch. Building on that history, the Wattis Institute hosts a Capp Street Artist-in-Residence every year and invites an artist to come live and work in San Francisco for a semester, to teach a graduate seminar at CCA, and to present an exhibition or program. The residency changed its name in 2024, and is now known simply as the Wattis Artist-in-Residence. More about that here.The Wattis Institute has also collaborated with students and faculty members in other programs at CCA, including the Graduate Program in Curatorial Practice, the Graduate Program in Fine Arts, and the Graduate Program in Visual and Critical Studies, among others.
Contact Wattis staff here.
*+.The CCA campus is located in Yelamu, also known as San Francisco, on the unceded territories of the Ramaytush Ohlone peoples.
+.*Read about CCA's commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging here.
*.+In 2022-23, the Wattis worked with Art + Climate Action to generate a Carbon Emissions Report for one of our exhibitions, with the intention of using our findings to work toward greater environmental sustainability as an institution. You can view the report here. Many thanks to Haley Mellin and Jodi Roberts of Art + Climate Action for their support.
