Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations
September 25, 2026–January 31, 2027
Opening September 25, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) will present two major exhibitions—Dread Scott: The Body Politic, the most significant presentation of the artist's work to date, and Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations, a comprehensive survey of the acclaimed Oakland-based architecture and design studio. On view through January 31, 2027, both exhibitions are curated by René Morales and together offer a look at how artists confront complex political issues and the structures that shape American life.
Dread Scott: The Body Politic brings together newly commissioned projects, a performance piece, and existing work spanning Scott's career-long interrogation of state power, racial oppression, and resistance. The exhibition includes two new commissions: Defending the Flag, a durational performance piece featuring a uniformed guard stationed before a U.S. flag, and Life/Death/America, a series of ghostly body prints created with community participants that evoke both loss and collective strength. The show also features the screenprint Imagine a World Without America (Green Land), shown both in the gallery and as a large-scale public installation outside YBCA.
"It is a wonderful privilege to present Dread Scott's first institutional solo show," said Mari Robles, CEO of YBCA. "It's exactly the type of work that YBCA exists to support: art that encourages deep engagement with provocative questions about belonging."
Rael San Fratello: Prototypes and Provocations traces the studio’s twenty-year practice, from early experiments merging clothing and construction, to bold projects addressing the U.S.–Mexico border, to pioneering work in 3D-printed architecture. Founded in 2002 by Virginia San Fratello and Ronald Rael, the studio treats architecture not as a neutral backdrop but as a medium through which power is contested and reimagined. A centerpiece of the exhibition is Sanctuary, a new large-scale commission 3D-printed on-site from soil, straw, and water, serving as a demonstration of the ecologically-sound building techniques that Rael San Fratello have developed. Also on view is the studio's acclaimed 2019 Teeter-Totter Wall, a bright pink seesaw once installed across the border wall. Alongside these works, a massive table displays 3D-printed objects made from sustainable and salvaged materials, including wildfire ash, sawdust, and grape skins.
"Prototypes and Provocations brings to light Rael San Fratello's commitment to creating a more just and sustainable world through their progressive approach to architecture and design," said Dorothy Dávila, Chief of Curatorial Initiatives at YBCA. "Creating a platform to show innovative work that addresses core questions that we face today is central to YBCA's mission."
Guest curator René Morales sees the two exhibitions as deeply resonant with one another. "Scott's work reminds us of our power and responsibility, as individuals and communities, to fight for freedom and equity," Morales said. "Rael San Fratello's work attests to the power of radical imagination grounded in humanistic values and an ethos of play and constant experimentation."
Presented together, The Body Politic and Prototypes and Provocations invite visitors into two complementary investigations: one confronting the machinery of state power through the body and the flag, the other reimagining the built environment as a tool for justice and repair. Both exhibitions will be accompanied by public programs.
