Talk to Me, Baby

Jean Shin, Unraveling (detail), 2006-2009, Sweaters collected from Asian American art communities in New York, Houston, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Washington, D.C.

Lectures are back in full swing this week, with a number of art talks, from Greek architecture and the Venice Biennale to conservation and printmaking.

Monday:
>> Harper's editor Bill Wasik claims to be the anonymous originator of the 2003 rush of flash mobs in NYC. In his book And Then There’s This, "Wasik explores the Internet’s power to foster stories that spread fast and fade quickly." Meet him at Politics and Prose at 7 p.m. and hear this former stand-up comedian explain his experiments with pop culture, viral media and psychology.

>> Or, at 7:30 p.m., head to the Bailey's Crossroads Borders for a book event with Brad Thor and his novel The Apostle, in which "Homeland Security operative Scot Harvath must find the kidnapped daughter of a politically connected family in the terrorist frontier of Afghanistan."

Tuesday:
>> The American Art Museum welcomes artist Jean Shin this evening at 6 p.m. for a discussion with curator Joanna Marsh and conservator Hugh Shockey. Free.

Wednesday:
>> The National Press Club is holding a book event with South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint (R). He will be discussing his book, Saving Freedom, which "explores the historical failures of socialism and argues that socialistic policies have incrementally worked their way into all areas of American life to create a dependency on big government." Free.

Thursday:
>> You may want to get to the Hirshhorn early for tonight's 7 p.m. event with curator Kristen Hileman and the WaPo's chief art critic Blake Gopnik in the third level Lerner Room. They'll be discussing this year's Venice Biennale as well as "the difference between a curator's and a critic's way of looking at art." Free.

>> Or, head to the Freer instead for Charles V and Suleyman the Magnificent: Rulers of Colliding Worlds at 6:45 p.m. Historian James Reston Jr. will recount the conflict between "the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the Turkish sultan Suleyman the Magnificent ... [whose] battle for Europe ended the Renaissance, began the Reformation, and brought Islam to the gates of Vienna." $25.