Talks: 2025 Videos

Primary Source

Shaping San Francisco hosts Public Talks on a variety of topics, usually on Wednesday nights, a dozen times a year. Our topic themes vary, but we've grouped them over time into these categories: Art & Politics, Ecology, Historical Perspectives, Literary, and Social Movements.

Since Covid-19 disrupted our use of the 518 Valencia Street gallery for our Public Talks after March 2020, we started hosting outdoor "Urban Forum: Walk and Talks" which turned out to be as or more popular than our original Public Talks series... Many of them were recorded on video which you can see on the video pages covering 2020-2023. This page may include some Walk & Talks from 2024 but will be primarily indoor Talks hosted at 518 Valencia.

April 16, 2025

Explosivity: Port Chicago & Beyond

Javier Arbona-Homar is the author of the new book, Explosivity: Following What Remains, an exploration of the racial violence embedded in San Francisco's landscapes as exposed by five disastrous explosions from the last two centuries. His presentation covers the geography of memorials, critical military studies, and social practice art. Specially commissioned site photography by artist Andrea Gaffney accompanies conceptual musings on sites of explosions. Javier is an assistant professor in American Studies and Design at UC Davis, and a co-founder of the DEMILIT landscape arts collective.

March 26, 2025

Biospheric Dialogue

In our seat upon the California Coast, we who live in the territory of Yelamu are favored with remarkable biodiversity. A conversation between Obi Kaufmann, author of the California Field Atlas series, and Sara Moncada, the Association of Ramaytush Ohlone Director of Native Ecology, looks at the uniqueness of place and locates us within it. From our state rock and unique ecosystem to the concept of bioregionalism that began with Peter Berg and Planet Drum to the subject of fire in our state, join us for an exploration of the biosphere and the knowledge we gain from it.

February 26, 2025

New Luddites vs. Biopiracy and AI

“New Luddites” Camila Morena and Jim Thomas (and special added guest Paris Marx) join us fresh from the latest conference on biotech at Asilomar. Up close and deep in the international negotiations on biodiversity, climate change, and synthetic biology, both of them have seen how the proponents of AI are working to inject their techno-fantasies into every realm. They share a cogent presentation of what’s going on beyond our view, and how a new Luddism is the sensible response.