ell.SF was the first rendition of a performance-based art space, produced by Jason Campbell (ell) and Sam Holtzman (last saturn). 
 

This project at Ellsf explores the curation, performance, and transaction of culture within the record shop type. Designing a show on art and cultural transaction, became the prompt to reconsider:

what we sell

how we sell

the value of space and its representation.

Afton Love and Feifei Feng explore presence and the human condition through personal depictions of the natural, synthetic, and imaginary.

The two large format works pair the environments of the New Mexican landscape and a West Coast American City together in a conversation at Ellsf, to consider vastness and entropy; geologic and constructed time; and the intertwined natural and built narrative.

Ellsf is located at the crossroads of Chinatown, Little Italy, and the Financial District; neighborhoods that are constantly changing, but also central to the tourist, adult entertainment, and financial industries. Taking cues from these overlapping cultures, Day Dreamers Limited will explore the nostalgia of tourist traps and souvenir shops, elevating something we love deeply within our own constructive commentary.

EVIDENCE is a tool for recognizing urban divides. An ever-growing catalog of photos, videos, and other media, EVIDENCE gathers together a record of how we experience spatial inequality in cities everyday. While inequality and gentrification have flooded everyday discourse, they still remain abstract. Tangible proof of how these processes impact the built environment can enable a more productive conversation and more conscientious practitioners.

“Tales of the Isolated Warriors”, Santos Shelton introduces a new series of work based on the theme of isolation. Inspiration taken from his own experiences, Shelton examines the bigger questions surrounding why people choose to isolate themselves from others and why society isolates certain individuals.

Sound and story combine to add an audio dimension to Shelton’s visual work. Building on a practice she learned while studying radio documentary at the Salt Institute in Portland, Maine, Sarah's Listening Parties are a collective connection to one of our most intimate (and overlooked) senses. Think of it as a rare opportunity to sit in good company, close your eyes, and soak in sound.

Ellsf is the performance-based art space produced and operated by Jason Campbell [Ell] from 2015-2020. The following work considers:

The (ongoing) role of an architect in city, and the alternative methods of practice required to remain relevant; to develop a position on the contemporary art gallery as a business model; to show up for a community of cultural workers whose practice are critical to the definitions of place; and to make work...among the growing list of other thoughts.

This document is intended to uplift Black design communities, serve as a resource for communities in need of pro bono design services, and serve as a resource to non-Black and white people to deepen our anti-racism work within design disciplines. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media and with your friends, family, and colleagues.

Find Familiar uncovers an overlooked and excluded history.

This work of artifacts and found objects explores the individual and collective identity while questioning formative associations. The story tangibly depicts one familiar domestic narrative; recorded by one contemporary artist; forged by many landmark voices.

A response to Tolerance & Time w/ Afton Love & Feifei Feng.

Home Productions presents a series of performances guided by intimate definitions of home.

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This inquiry considers how we undermine the conventions of built space and its representation through cultural subjectivity. We are curious about the characteristics of home that have shaped us, and what a productive and inclusive lens to observe and listen to these details may look like -- they are perhaps unlike the language often used to communicate the intentions of space; often built without us in mind.

​The experience of the home poses a challenge: We must make it our own for it was built without our interests in mind, yet we covet and aspire for it.

Ink on Paper
144 parts, each 3.5”W x 1.5”T x 2.5”D
a collaboration between Ell & Sam Holtzman

The Art-a-thon for Natural Disasters and Climate Change in the Bay Area was a two day event held on April 29th and 30th at the Epicenter SF that brought together artists, designers, ethnographers, and scientists to collaboratively explore the future of the region in a world of climate change and natural disasters.

At Ellsf, we held a public forum and exhibition to address the ideas and work created.