8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of what you will
October 15, 2025–April 18, 2026
San Francisco CA 94107
USA
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday 12–6pm
wattis@cca.edu
For the 11th research season, the Wattis is reimagining its research program to reflect a singular idea—LABOR—rather than a single artist, using the nineteenth-century workers’ slogan “8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of what you will” as a framework and title. This shift allows for new ways of thinking alongside the public and a range of artists, writers, and thinkers. The galleries will be transformed into a discursive space with research-based exhibitions, reading groups, talks, and film screenings.
The exhibitions take an experimental format and will continue to shift during the fall and spring seasons: 8 hours of work (October 29–December 20, 2025); 8 hours of rest (January 20–March 7, 2026); and 8 hours of what you will (March 19–April 18, 2026).
Artists include: Tania Candiani, Stephanie Comilang, Aria Dean, Harun Farocki, Chantal Peñalosa Fong, Otto Hegel and Hansel Mieth, Adelita Husni-Bey, Josh Kline, Liz Magic Laser, Luigi Nono, Pedro Reyes, Kenneth Tam, SoiL Thornton, Jeremy Touissant-Baptiste, Rodrigo Valenzuela, and Lindsey White, as well as archival materials from the San Francisco Labor Archives at San Francisco State University.
A new commission conceptualized by artist Tania Candiani and realized by CCA students reconstructs a camouflage textile woven into the front entrance to the school. The work is inspired by a Dorothea Lange photograph of Japanese American women weaving in a concentration camp during World War II.
8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, 8 hours of what you will is organized by Daisy Nam, Director and Chief Curator, Diego Villalobos, Associate Curator, and Jeanne Gerrity, former Deputy Director, with assistance from Zipporah Hinds, Curatorial Student Fellow.
Alongside these open-ended exhibitions, the Wattis is organizing and hosting public programs, allowing for further exploration of the topic of labor. Each event offers an opportunity to gather and discuss texts about labor together, as a collective activity.
Public events
October 15: Makeda Best discusses labor's picture
November 1: Chris Carlsson leads a bicycle tour of labor history around the city of San Francisco
November 18: Rimma Boshernitsan moderates a conversation on A.I.
December 9: Chantal Peñalosa Fong film screening at the historic Roxie Theater in San Francisco
January 29: Conversation between Josh Kline and Daisy Nam
March: Carol Becker reads from her new book, A Time of Radical Imagining: California 1968-1978
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The Wattis Institute is generously supported by Mary and Harold Zlot, The Teiger Foundation, The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, and San Francisco Grants for the Arts; the Wattis Leadership Circle: Jonathan Gans, Abigail Turin, and Katie and Matt Paige; and Curators' Forum members. Phyllis C. Wattis was the generous founding patron.
The Wattis Institute is free and open to all.
