Arts Agenda
Image by Paul Nicklen, courtesy the National Geographic Museum
>> If you're still hanging onto your old boombox, or just a lover of performance noise, get over to Dupont Circle on Thursday evening for Bluebrains' "thirty something-piece instrumental work Cakeblood." They'll give you a copy to pop in your portable tape-deck (which you need to provide) and you'll follow them on a walk through the city, reminding everyone why headphones were the best invention ever. An RSVP at bluebrainmusic[at]gmail.com is appreciated so they know how many tapes to bring. 7:30 p.m.
>> The Library of Congress' National Book Festival is this weekend. We'll have a full preview for you tomorrow.
>> The next Hirshhorn After Hours, featuring Fatback, is Friday, October 23, but tickets just went on sale and sell out fast. $18 in advance.
>> The D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities has been in the midst of creating an overarching plan for public art in the city. Tell them what you'd like to see at their Public Input Session next Tuesday from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at their headquarters, 1371 Harvard Street NW.
>> Not cold enough for you yet? Get over to National Geographic's Museum to see Polar Obsession, a photographic tour by Paul Nicklen through both the Arctic and Antarctic, opening tomorrow.
>> G Fine Art may have closed their 14th Street space, but that's not stopping them from exhibiting art. See their new show, El Museo Del Ghetto, featuring both individual and collaborative works by Jefferson Pinder and José Ruiz, in the space at 625-27 E Street NW on Saturday, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
>> It's musical chairs with galleries these days, and the latest venue to be left standing as the tune stopped is Touchstone Gallery, which is holding a closing party and an On the Move Auction to help raise some funds for their (as yet unannounced) new space. Stop by to say goodbye to their 7th Street locale on Friday from 6 to 8 p.m., and with auction prices starting at 50 percent off retail, bring your checkbook so you can take some art home with you.
>> Indeed, it's a buyer's market this weekend, with Foundry Gallery having their closing reception for their ongoing silent auction on Saturday from 6 to 8 p.m. Proceeds go to the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.
>> On Saturday, swing by Art Enables for the opening of their massive Outsider Art Inside the Beltway exhibit featuring over 80 artists. Reception is 1 to 5 p.m. and features a performance by Quicksilver dance company.
>> All four artists featured in Renwick Gallery's Staged Stories: Renwick Craft Invitational 2009 will be around to talk shop with the public. Hear a curator's talk from Kate Bonansinga Friday at noon. Later that evening, the four artists will be at the Smithsonian American Art Museum for a roundtable discussion and reception. 6 p.m.
>> Get tons of music and art this Saturday at Life Essentials, organized by Art Whino and The International Lifeline Fund. The art show/fundraiser/concert starts a four-city tour at The Portals Theater, featuring Ancient Astronauts, and opening set by DJ Stone from Thievery Corporation, along with the 100 artists with work on view. Proceeds from the $25 tickets go to the ILF.
Art Notes:
- Faces of the Frontier: Portraits from the American West opens at the National Portrait Gallery on Friday.
- Tonight head over to Flashpoint for a panel discussion about absurdist art, moderated by the Pink Line Project. 5:30 p.m. $10 suggested donation.
- The Latin American Youth Center's Art + Media House has openings for youths age 12 to 18 in their fall programs.
- Habatat Galleries in Tysons Corner opens a work of glass sculptures by Mary Van Cline, whose pieces have been exhibited in, among many other places, the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Saturday, 4 to 6 p.m.