First Fate

07/12/19 - 08/12/19

First Fate is a site-responsive sculptural installation by Tania Houtzager to be installed in the 1926 Guardhouse at Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture. Once a military base- a place built to protect and act as a fortress against outside forces, it is now safe haven that supports and protects non-profit organizations in the arts, fostering a complex network of creativity and connection.

Houtzager’s title references Clotho, the first of the three Greek mythological Fates, who spins the thread of life and has the power to resurrect. Houtzager’s matrix of rope-like tendrils speak to the interwoven community of arts organizations on our campus, and illustrates the rebirth of this former military post

First Fate acts as an epilogue to Embark Gallery’s recent exhibition, Out of Line, which was an exploration of drawing as a way to expose boundaries in our lives that would otherwise go unseen. This installation shares that ambition to trace the invisible.