Look up, San Francisco — the sky has come down to earth inside SFMOMA! The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art has unveiled Jacob Hashimoto: Giant Arc, the largest installation of the artist’s entire career, and anyone can walk in to see it for free.
Nearly 75,000 tiny kites, each one hand-built from bamboo and Japanese paper, float together as a sweeping cloud canopy that fills the Roberts Family Gallery from floor to ceiling and wall to wall. Visitors can wander beneath it, sit down, and look up — every glance reveals new colors, patterns, and shapes.
The installation carries a loving local touch: Hashimoto designed thousands of kite patterns inspired by Northern California itself, including the dahlia — San Francisco’s official flower — the checker lily native to the Bay Area, and the Sonoran blue butterfly found along the California coast.
Giant Arc lives in the admission-free Roberts Family Gallery on SFMOMA’s ground floor, part of more than 45,000 square feet of free public space at the museum. No ticket is needed — passersby can even catch a glimpse of the magic through the two-story windows on Howard Street. Now on view at 151 Third Street.
Photo: Tobin Rogers Photography, courtesy SFMOMA
