Last Spring, Recombinant Media Labs shuttered its Brannan St. location, but that doesn’t mean the progressive sound recording / production / multi-media organization went under. RML announced today that it’s starting a new chapter of development with “a more compact production annex under the stewardship of RML’s associate director, Tana Sprague.” This includes teaming up with Gray Area Foundation for the Arts, which is hard at work on a “Tenderloin based Taylor St. arts corridor.” The RML’s hub of the arts hive will be focused on supporting composers who create hypbrid sound-based arts, while giving them a place to display their creations to the public.

RML founder Naut Humon

Although it sounds like this Tenderloin project is still in its infancy stages it’s nonetheless exciting to think about a couple grassroots organizations –which support the more experimental side of the arts–teaming up to help one another grow and get people through the front door. This weekend RML and Gray Area Foundation For The Arts host their groundbreaking ceremony from 1 until 4 p.m., and then a party later in the evening (starting at 10 p.m. for DJ Nikola Baytala at Gray Area Gallery (55 Taylor St.)

Full announcement from RML after the jump.

Hello from Recombinant Media Labs!

As some of you may or may not know, the Recombinant Media Labs facility located south of Market on Brannan St. in San Francisco closed its doors last spring. No formal announcements were made at that time due to legal complexities surrounding the closing. No further remarks will be made on this matter, but I think we can all agree that the RML Soma facility will be greatly missed. For those who are curious about what the future hold for Recombinant Media Labs please be on notice: RML is back in view.
After Asphodel, Ltd. gave birth and support to the worldwide Recombinant Festivals of the nineties, and then to the artist residency lab from 2005 thru 2007 the RML nomadic initiative re-emerged after traveling in ‘08 between Europe and North America, seeking new nodes of operation for performance, installation and exhibition. RML has moved on with fresh partnerships and independent alliances to resurface in a number of international configurations, which will be announced in the seasons to come.

As the Bay Area has always been the home of Recombinant Media’s source formations at Naut Humon’s Compound and with Rhythm and Noise decades ago, we have decided to once again start a more compact production annex under the stewardship of RML’s associate director, Tana Sprague who will now oversee the local and global interface for our SF node.

The Grey Area Foundation for the Arts has generously invited RML to participate in their Tenderloin based Taylor St. arts corridor initiative. We are confident that our newly formed partnership with Grey Area Foundation for the Arts will provide exciting opportunities for our community, both locally and globally.

The RML ANNEX at Grey Area Gallery will act as an extension of the expanded network that Recombinant has opened up in all of the last years. It shall reflect the tone of our changing times by integrating a distinctly downtown attitude in cooperation with Grey Area, 23/Five, and other adjacent arts organizations. Given the structural context, location, and more community based framework, the RML Annex will serve as a more minimized inwardly mobile incubator, while retaining much of the flavor and style that characterized the visitors we invited for our past programs. And as you’ve come to expect, our primary objective will be to provide a unique environment for producing, presenting, and experiencing exemplary hybrid media and sound based arts.

By Jennifer Maerz in Music