[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Last week Berlin-based artist Christian Jankowski was at the museum. He was on a trip through parts of the U.S., beginning in Chicago for the Expo art fair; followed by his partner Jorinde Voigt's exhibition opening at the Nevada Art Museum; then on to L.A. to his gallery, Regan Projects, and the ... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. I recently caught up with Ed Osborn, who is at SFMOMA to install his work Night-Sea Music (1998) on the museum's third-floor landing. The work will be on view until November and if you can't get to the museum in person, check out this video of the piece in action. Ed is a sound artist living in Pr... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests ... although today I'm posting all seven questions with Tammy Fortin, because I couldn't bring myself to cut a single one. Tammy is a 9-to-5er at SFMOMA as the assistant to the curator of media arts, Rudolf Frieling. She is also a musician and writer. Tomorrow is also her last day at the museum. Miss you already, Tammy!]

Do you collect anything?

I collect a lot of things by accident. I’m a sentimental person. If you gave me a scrap of paper and you wrote a really nice note on it, I woul... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Lynn Marie Kirby is a San Francisco–based artist and teacher. Her collaborative video project with Li Xiaofei, Hello? 你好!, is on view through June 17 as part of the Descriptive Acts exhibition.]

Do you collect anything?

Collaborators.

If you could steal any artwork in the world to have up in your home, what would it be?

Must be Vermeer, judging from the picture that Alexis Petty just took of me for this blog. Alexis and I meet frequently in this café as we are collaborating on a projec... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Anthony Discenza is a visual artist, adjunct professor at CCA, and resident of Oakland. His sound installation A Viewing (The Effect) is on view through June 17 as part of the Descriptive Acts exhibition.]

Do you collect anything?

I maintain an extensive collection of beautiful, hand-blown anxieties, fears, and intimations of doom.

If you could spend an afternoon with anyone, living or dead, who would it be?

Hmm, that’s a tough one. Maybe Philip K. Dick, he’s def in my top five. (... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Alejandro Cartagena is a photographer from Monterrey, Mexico. His work is on view in the Photography in Mexico exhibition through July 8. This Friday he speaks live on the web for Rooftop TV. Blue Bottle Coffee also created a flight of ice cream inspired by Cartagena's photography. Yum!]

Do you co... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Photographer Daniela Rossell lives in Mexico City. Her series Untitled (Ricas y Famosas) is on view in the Photography in Mexico exhibition through July 8. You can watch Daniela and others speak live on the web this Friday as part of Rooftop TV.]

Do you collect anything?

I collected erasers as a child. Erasers as replicas of all sorts of things — sushi, ice cream, animals, etc. It has been the collection I have taken the most seriously in terms of dusting it off and having it on pro... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Pablo Lopez Luz is a photographer living in Mexico City. His work is on view through July 8 as part of the Photography in Mexico exhibition. Pablo, Daniela, and Alejandro will be speaking live on  the web this Friday as part of Rooftop TV.]

Do you collect anything?

I have a photography collectio... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Kamau Amu Patton is a winner of the 2010 SECA Art Award, and his work is on view in the fifth-floor galleries. He may be familiar to Open Space readers; last year we posted a talk he gave on Nata Piaskowski.]

Do you collect anything?

A/V cables. Cables are quite interesting. They are about connect... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Ruth Laskey is a winner of the 2010 SECA Art Award, and her work is on view in the fifth-floor galleries.]

Do you collect anything?

No. But I have a lot of books.

If you could steal any artwork in the world to have up in your home, what would it be?

A skyspace by James Turrell … I would love to spend time with one of those each day. This might have to do with my apartment being somewhat small and dark.

If you weren’t an artist, what would your gig be?

Chances are I would be working th... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Mauricio Ancalmo is a winner of the 2010 SECA Art Award. His work is on view in the fifth-floor galleries through April 3.]

Do you collect anything?

Everything except collectibles.

If you could steal any artwork in the world to have up in your home, what would it be?

The caves of Lascaux.

Who was... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Colter Jacobsen is a winner of the 2010 SECA Art Award. His work is on view in the fifth-floor galleries through April 3.]

If you could steal any artwork in the world to have up in your home, what would it be?

I wouldn’t steal artwork, even given the opportunity. My backpack was recently stolen. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please let me know. Thank you. There weren’t really any valuables inside except for two full notebooks. But those are only valuable to me. I doubt the t... More

Do you collect anything?

One of the things that I collect was actually inspired by an exhibition that we had here at SFMOMA about 10 years ago called California Pottery; that’s where I learned to love Bauer ringware pottery. I have several small bowls and a butter plate. I prefer the black ringware because it’s the rarest. When I got married four or five years ago I happily found out that my husband collected Bauer flowerpots, so between the two of us we have quite a nice collection.

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. For this iteration I sat down with London-born, Berlin-based artist Simon Fujiwara. Tonight at 8 p.m. he performs The Boy Who Cried Wolf, in which he tracks his own identity and sexuality through three sites (the bar, the wedding, and the mirror). There is also a rotating stage.]

Do you collect anything?

I collect a lot of things. Every winter I go to Mexico, and I generally arrive with nothing and send a container of objects and artifacts back to Europe. My studio basically looks like a pro... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today I spoke with Ann Magnuson, artist, singer, performer extraordinaire. She will be performing a David Bowie– and Jobriath-inspired piece, The Rock Star as Witch Doctor, Myth Maker, and Ritual Sacrifice, on Thursday as part of Now Playing.]

What would I find in your refrigerator right now?

The most incredible organic eggs from Landers, which is this little desert town just north of Joshua Tree. There is a lady there who feeds her chickens all organic vegetables, and she nurtures them q... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests.  Michael Namkung is a San Francisco artist who uses movement to create his work. He'll be at the museum on Sunday for Yerba Buena Family Day, during which he will perform one of his Wall Sit drawings and families will be able to take part in drawing gym activities. Free!]

If you weren’t an arti... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today we hear from Dominic Angerame, a filmmaker and the executive director of Canyon Cinema. Tonight Dominic is joined by filmmaker and Canyon Cinema cofounder Bruce Baillie for a screening of his film Quick Billy in the museum's Wattis Theater.]

Do you collect anything?

I am a collector of many ... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today we hear from Satomi Matsuzaki, singer from Deerhoof. They perform TONIGHT as part of Now Playing.]

Do you collect anything?

For the past five years, I haven’t been collecting anything. I am fond of lightness and neatness. I like getting clothes, but then my closet gets full so I give ... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Kalup Linzy is a video and performance artist, originally from Stuckey, Florida, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Kalup is performing this week in a new production of Gertrude Stein and Virgil Thomson's opera Four Saints in Three Acts — a collaboration between the artist, composer Luciano Chessa, and contemporary opera organization Ensemble Parallèle.]

Do you collect anything?

I used to collect CDs, and now I don’t because everything is digital. I feel like I collect music. I know people... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. I was lucky enough to catch up with these two ladies while they were in town from London. They were in California for a youth and kids marketing conference in San Diego, and they popped up to SF afterward. Sharna Jackson lives in London and is the editor of the Tate Kids website for Tate Gallery... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Some of the most interesting people come through the doors of SFMOMA. Patricia Albers is a local writer, curator, and professor. She was at the museum in mid-June to give a talk to SFMOMA and de Young docents on Joan Mitchell, who is the subject of her latest book.]

There’s the generic interview question that goes, “If you could invite anyone to dinner who would it be?” What I want to know is, what would you serve?

I would invite the subject of my next book, photographer André ... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today's interview is with visual artist, performance artist, short story writer, and filmmaker Miranda July. Her collaborative work with Harrell Fletcher, Learning to Love You More, is on view through August 7 in the fifth-floor galleries as part of the exhibition The More Things Change. July will... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Aimee Shapiro is currently the education associate for school and teacher programs, but she will be leaving soon — after five years at SFMOMA — to pursue her art practice. Among many other things, Aimee was responsible for the teen mural project in DeFremery Park a few years ago, which she d... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today I talked with Jefre Cantu, an operations technician at the museum. You may remember his Collection Rotation here on Open Space. After nine years at SFMOMA Jefre is leaving to move to Berlin!  Along with being one of the most charming and dependable people at SFMOMA, he's also been our resid... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today we hear from Douglas McGray. Douglas is editor-in-chief  of Pop-Up Magazine,  a writer (The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, This American Life),  a senior fellow at The New America Foundation, and adviser for The Atavist. Tomorrow night Pop-Up Magazine presents Sidebar: Wine! ... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today, answers to more than five questions. Anna Parkina is an artist who lives and works in Moscow. Her work includes collage, sculpture, and performance. This Thursday evening Anna will perform in the Wattis Theater at 7 p.m., in conjunction with the opening of her New Work exhibition on the 2n... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Carolyn Eames, who has worked at SFMOMA for 25 and 1/2 years, retires today. Carolyn started in admissions in 1984 when SFMOMA was still located on Van Ness Avenue. When the museum moved to its current Third Street location in 1995, she joined the Operations Department as the museum’s receptionist. It would be hard to imagine anyone else knowing as much as she does about SFMOMA. Carolyn, everyone here will miss you tremendously, and we wish you all the best!]

Do you collect anything?

I colle... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Rebecca Solnit is a San Francisco-based writer. Her forthcoming book Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas reimagines traditional map-making to chart not just space and place but people and time in 22 inventive maps. SFMOMA is issuing six broadside copies of seven maps, and collaborating with Soln... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. Today’s interviews are with two of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. If you’re from San Francisco, you’ve probably seen them around town, helping charities, hosting events, and bringing joy to the city. I caught up with Sister Selma Soul and Sister Tuna Noodle at one of Rebecca Solnitâ€... More

[Five questions to SFMOMA artists, staff, or guests. JD Samson of  Le Tigre and The New England Roses is also the cofounder of the performance group Dykes Can Dance. Her current project, MEN, performs TONIGHT in the museum’s atrium as part of Now Playing.]

Do you collect anything?

I collect small-scale RVs and camper vans. I have about 25 now. S... More