The big day was upon us, and I was determined to follow-through, despite the lack of sleep and gut health.  Julia was nice enough to come to my place again and help me load up the car.  Despite being sick, we actually had a pleasant drive down to Gray Area where she played me some German rap music and told me that San Francisco felt very different from New York because "You can see the sky" (lol).  I thought it was strange how being in one of the most densely populated cities in the world still didn't count as a real "city" to someone coming from the big apple.

When we arrived at Gray Area I could tell Julia was in full panic mode, and doing her best to hide it.  I was calm as a cucumber, and knew we wouldn't have issues meeting the deadline.  While Julia's expertise was in time management, mine was in making sure all the materials were in place for a successful setup.  But the stakes were higher for her, and she wasn't anywhere near home, so I did my best to offer emotional support in my sickly state. 

We began gathering our materials together to make our journey to the 24th St. bus stop where we would temporarily install Cultural Integrity.  The plan was to set it up for a few minutes, takes photos and videos, and then bring everything back to Gray Area and set it all up over again to display an indoor installation for the gallery opening. 

There was a buzz of excitement as all the projects were coming to completion.  Andre was setting up the spotlights on the hydraulic lift, we got a legit bar tender setup with fancy menus, extra hands on deck for floor cable management, 4K monitor tripod setups, and a fancy illuminated card holder for our exhibit description.  When asked if many people were coming, and Wane said, "We sold 170 tickets. It's gonna be a party."  

                                      (snippet from the ticket link on the website)

At this point I began realizing what the Art Hack Day organizers were supplying - not maker tools (that's easy to get) but an audience!  And a top tier quality gallery opening with the mood set perfectly (insert chef's kiss gesture), including lighting, ambiance, and drinks to go with it!  As someone who's organized more that a few shows in my day, I was truly impressed with the professionalism and the "hey, they really know what they're doing" vibes.  The anticipation for the 7pm opening was definitely building

                              (Things are actually starting to look like an art show!)

I ran into an attendee name Sky who I thought had dropped out of the hackathon (I didn't see her around after the first night).  It turned out she still liked Julia and I's project concept.  We gathered all the materials and a couple other folks: Vincent, the pro-photographer, and Amy, who was our star actor.  They were super helpful and excited to be a part of the installation.  It was sweet to see this team effort, which easily shattered my misconception of hackathon's being an ultra-competitive dog-eat-dog affair.

                (Look at this suspicious art gang walking the streets of Mission!)

We marched down the street with all the materials looking like quite the goofy class trip.  And once we got to the bus stop, it was nothing short of chaos.  Even at 3pm, the 14, 14R, and 49 buses were pulling in every couple of minutes, loading and unloading lots of passengers.  People in the Mission give zero shits for privatization of public space (which is awesome), so they milled about walking all around our project setup as if they own the bus stop ('cuz they do!) 

(Part of the hectic setup between bus pickups / drop-offs.  Things were actually calmer in this photo)

I was thriving in the chaos and taping and glueing stuff together.  However, poor Julia looked like she was gonna have a melt down any second, and others in our crew headed back, maxed out by all the commotion, noise, and traffice blocking our setup

(zip ties, glue gun, wires, tool bag, batteries, tape, electronics...flash mob-style installation!)

Fortuntely, Amy was chillin' pretty well, and Vincent was setup across the street for the long distance snapshots.  

(Amy be chillin' - givin off the regal vibes)

I tried to get Julia into the photos, but she was too stressed I think, and wanted very much to sit this one out.  Without much thought, I decided to pose in the uncomfortabe seat, needing little imitation to look both tired and sick, just like our homeless brothers and sisters deserving of a good nights rest.  It's hard to imagine the photoshoot coming out better than it did, and Vincent deserves a ton of the credit for that!

(Vincent's photography is just amazing.  I love the way Amy got into the character role so well too!)

I managed to get one shot with Julia in a celebration pose at the end, and then we packed everything up to hear back to Gray Area.  The mini adventure was a success!  No police harassment and there was minimal heckling (just from one or two people who were rightfully annoyed as we blocked their bus exit a bit).  No one got run over by a bus and everyone got to experience a 100% authentic slice of Mission goodness.  I was pleased as punch :P

                                                    (the victory pose with Julia!)

[To be continued...]