How Art Gets Placed on the Loop

A Step-by-Step Guide to Placing
Temporary Artwork in San Francisco:

1. Understanding the Sculpture Location and the Site Property Owner

Big Art Loop works to identify locations across San Francisco along its 34-mile route where large-scale public art can have meaningful impact. Potential installation sites emerge through our work and collaboration with city agencies, cultural districts, property partners, and other local stakeholders.

For every potential location, we first determine who is the site property owner or has jurisdiction over the land, and what it takes to responsibly place large-scale public art there. San Francisco’s public realm is complex: a park, plaza, street, waterfront, or open space may look like part of one unified city, but different city, state, and federal agencies—and sometimes private property owners—manage different pieces of it.

The jurisdiction or property owner responsible for a site becomes an important land partner for the project. Depending on the location, Big Art Loop works with partners including the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Public Works, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the National Park Service / GGNRA, other public agencies, and owners or operators of privately owned or leased public-facing spaces.

Each site and land partner has its own requirements and approval processes. As the San Francisco Arts Commission explains, for temporary projects on public property, project sponsors must obtain permission from the agency or department with jurisdiction over the property as well as Arts Commission approval when applicable. Identifying the property owner or jurisdiction and securing the appropriate permissions is the responsibility of the project sponsor.

In other words, there is no single pathway for placing public art in San Francisco. Every Big Art Loop location begins with understanding who manages the land and then working directly with that partner—and the appropriate City review bodies—to determine whether and how an artwork can responsibly be placed there.

Identifying the land partner allows us to work directly with the people who know the space best and are able to make decisions about its use. Together, we evaluate how the space functions, who uses it, and what requirements must be considered before an artwork can be proposed.

This includes questions such as:

• How do people move through, gather in, and use the space?

• What events, programs, or seasonal activities need to be accommodated?

• How is the site maintained, cleaned, landscaped, and serviced?

• What access, emergency, utility, or operational needs must remain unobstructed?

• What are the existing ground conditions—soil, grass, concrete, asphalt, pavers, or other surfaces—and what lies beneath them?

• Are there underground utilities, irrigation lines, drainage systems, structural slabs, or other infrastructure to consider?

• What anchoring, foundation, load, safety, and accessibility requirements must be addressed?

• What rules govern temporary installations, construction, and ongoing maintenance?

The public safety, engineering, and installation process for monumental art is an enormous production in itself—but determining whether an artwork can physically and safely fit is only one part of the equation. We also deeply consider how the space is already used and by whom, the surrounding community, its history and cultural identity, visibility and accessibility, and how an artwork might meaningfully contribute to the place.

Each land partner has its own requirements, responsibilities, and approval processes. Because of this, there is no single pathway for placing public art in San Francisco.

This early collaboration between Big Art Loop and each jurisdiction and/or land partner helps determine whether a location is feasible for temporary large-scale public art—and gives us the information we need to identify artwork that can meaningfully, safely, and responsibly integrate into the space.

In some cases, communities also play a direct role in determining where an artwork belongs. For example, the India Basin community selected India Basin Waterfront Park as the location for Zulu Heru’s Whispers of Waste, helping connect the artwork directly to the neighborhood it would call home. In another example, the Marina Community Association proposed Marina Green as the location for Launch Intention and provided a letter of support before the project was submitted for public approval.