Talk to Me, Baby
 A young Aboriginal man by National Geographic photographer Sam Abell |
It's a busy week for lectures, D.C. See below for our picks, including discussions on vampires, butterflies, fashion, art collecting and conservation, and man's best friend. Also, be sure to check out the Smithsonian website for their exhaustive list, including over ten events at the SI museums this weekend alone.
Monday:
>> Head to the National Museum of Natural History tonight at either 6, 7, or 8 p.m. for a private viewing of and lecture about their exhibit A World of Butterflies. Director of the museum's Insect Zoo, Nate E. Irwin will discuss the evolution and diversity of butterflies and plants. $32.
Tuesday:
>> Influential contemporary artist and wordsmith Joseph Kosuth will be in the Ring Auditorium at the Hirshhorn at 7 p.m. discussing his work, with an emphasis on the five pieces featured in the museum's Panza Collection. Tickets are free, and will be handed out at the Information Desk at 6:30 p.m.
>> Or, if you'd rather hear from about art from a collector's standpoint, the Smithsonian American Art Museum is holding a collector's roundtable titled My Second Career as a Collector in the McEvoy Auditorium at 7 p.m., in which Lewis Nerman will discuss how he developed his extensive collection of twentieth century art. Call 202-633-8490, email saamprograms [at] si.edu, or go online to register. $20.
>> At 7:30 p.m., National Geographic's Focal Point series continues with The Life of a Photograph, a lecture with NatGeo photographer Sam Abell. The talk and his book of the same name will explain his techniques and frame-by-frame process. $18.
>> The first fashion event of the week is tonight at 7 p.m. at the Museum of African Art, titled African Chic: Inspiring Global Fashion. Speakers from the fashion industry will discuss how African fashion "has inspired global trends since the 1970s." Free.
>> Physics Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek will be at the Navy Memorial at 6:45 p.m. giving a lecture and book-signing for Unifying the Forces of Nature. The professor and scientist will discuss "why he believes we are on the cusp of a new Golden Age of physics and a unifying theory of the forces of nature." $20; call 202-633-3030 for more info.
Wednesday:
>> National Geographic hosts Paul Sereno in the Grosvenor Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. for Tribes of the Green Sahara. He, along with archaeologist Elena Garcea and bioarchaelogist Chris Stojanowski, will share their experiences researching the Saraha Desert and the people who have inhabited it. $18.
>> The DCJCC and the Center for Israeli Studies at American University present Israeli author David Grossman today at noon in the Abramson Family Recital Hall in the Katzen Arts Center.
>> Vampire event #1 is Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the S. Dillon Ripley Center. In Search of Dracula, King of Vampires will feature Leslie S. Klinger as he "traces the evolution of the vampire in popular culture, focusing on Bram Stoker," using film clips, recordings, books and Stoker's own notes to make note of the inconsistencies in the Dracula story. $25.
Thursday:
>> At 6 p.m. on Thursday, the Lunder Conservation Center of Smithsonian American Art Museum hosts research curator Francesca G. Bewer as she discusses Harvard's Fogg Museum and its "scientific approach to the restoration and preservation of works of art, and explains how this approach affected the education of museum professionals, restorers, and artists during the first half of the 20th century." Free.
 Gene Weingarten will be at the S. Dillon Ripley Center on Thursday to promote his new book Old Dogs. |
>> Author Eric Nuzum will be a the Barnes and Noble in Georgetown at 7:30 p.m. for this week's vampire event #2. His book The Dead Travel Fast "is about vampires, death, chickens, fear, things that smell bad, the love of a good woman, and germs… but mostly it’s about vampires." Read our book review for a more thorough synopsis.
>> Pulitzer Prize winning duo Gene Weingarten and Michael Williamson chat it up about their pooches on Thursday at 7 p.m. at the S. Dillon Ripley Center in Old Dogs Are the Best: A Tribute to Our “Best Friend” to celebrate their new book Old Dogs. $25.
Saturday:
>> Three $120 all-day seminars to pick from today at the S. Dillon Ripley Center. Both Alexander the Great: Charismatic Founder of a New World Order and Healthy Arguing: How to Reason Effectively run from 9:30 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., and Yoga's Meaning and Practice runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. If you like yoga, but not for $120, wait until Sunday and head to the Freer/Sackler at 2 p.m. for The Secret History of Yoga.
Sunday:
>> The East Building of the National Gallery holds Let's Talk: A Conversation with Peter Schjeldahl at 2 p.m., which promises to be an interesting discussion from one of our country's most famed art critics.