Travis Head, Sea Spread, 2011. archival inkjet print, 6 x 8 inches, courtesy Arlington Arts Center.

>> Get ready. One empty office building; 11 floors and 380,000 square feet of event space; 1,300 artists, performers, musicians, filmmakers, fashion designers, and creatives of all kinds. It must be Artomatic time. After a span of three years, Artomatic is finally back and bigger and possibly better than ever. The event will feature a café, food and drink stations, and an artist marketplace where visitors can purchase select works by artists participating in the event, as well as floor, after floor, after floor, of art. Artomatic opens this Friday at 6 p.m. and runs for five weeks. You’ll need all five weeks to see everything so get yourself down to 1851 South Bell Street in Crystal City, VA and take in one of the funnest art events around.

>> The Corcoran Gallery of Art offers a screening of the documentary film Where Soldiers Come From, which chronicles four childhood friends during their journey from 18-year old classmates to 23-year old veterans of war. The film accompanies Veteran Made: Selections from the Combat Paper Project, currently on view, and is free, though pre-registration is recommended to ensure a seat. Thursday at 6 p.m.

>> Mona El Bayoumi infuses her paintings with secret messages designed to coerce your thinking along a specific path, much like political propaganda can garner support for a cause or product advertisements can make you crave tacos at 3 a.m. The Subliminal Seduction of Spring, which offers interpretations of Arab Spring through imagery, opens at The Jerusalem Fund with a reception on Friday. 6 to 8 p.m.

>> On Saturday, Zenith Gallery Salon debuts its newly-designed in-ground sculpture garden built within an old swimming pool with Sculpture Springs Where Waters Part. Meet the artists from 2 to 8 p.m. and catch a fire painting demonstration by artist Peter Kephart at 6:30 p.m.

>> It’s open studio time at Mid City Artists. Over 25 participating artists working in all mediums will open their doors and welcome the public for studio tours and meet-and-greets on Saturday and Sunday. Download the studio map and hours to plan out a route to hit all your favorite artists.

>> J. W. Mahoney recalls a dark personal period during a four-day stay in Arlington County jail last summer, through which he meditated and devised the titles for yet-to-be-created artworks. The product of his confinement, Carceral, a Demi-Finissage at Curator’s Office Thursday through Saturday, uses Dadaist elements to convey his mental attempts at escape. Call 202-387-1008 to RSVP for Thursday’s 6:30 p.m. artist talk.

>> Stephen Estrada takes you By The Sea with his deeply-colored, moody depictions of the shore. Experience them in person with a glass of champagne at Saturday’s opening at Gallery 555dc from 1 to 5 p.m.

>> Tonight, Hemphill Fine Arts presents Matt Sargent and the Crossfire Percussion Duo in an acoustic concert to accompany Sargent’s sound installation piece, no where I’m bound, in which he uses field recordings, ambient sounds, and computer-generated modeling to explore the natural rural environment. The musical performance centers around delicate sounds produced by singing bowls, bells, and other percussive instruments. 6 p.m. Free, but get there early to ensure a seat.

>> The National Gallery of Art’s weekend filmfest continues Saturday with In Praise of Independents: The Flaherty, selections from the 2011 annual Robert Flaherty Seminar for independent filmmakers, artists, curators, and critics, at 2 p.m. At 4 p.m. Sunday, catch The Cherry Orchard, which begins the Gallery’s series on the late Greek filmmaker Michael Cacoyannis. All films are screened in the Gallery’s East Building Auditorium and seating is on first-come, first-seated basis. Also on Sunday, the Gallery welcomes art critic Andrew Graham-Dixon for a Sunday afternoon lecture and booksigning for his newly-published biography Caravaggio: A Life Sacred and Profane. In the East Building Auditorium at 2 p.m., Free.

>> Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto’s multipart ink and acrylic drawing on canvas comes to the Vradenburg Café at The Phillips Collection beginning Saturday. Cinto’s dreamlike work follows the movement of sunrise to nightfall One Day, After the Rain in a dreamlike passage of time through the movement of natural elements within the images. Entry is by donation and the work will remain on view through the end of the year.

>> On Saturday, as part of SPRING SOLOS 2012, tour each of Arlington Arts Center’s five galleries and listen in on exhibiting artists and a guest artist in conversation from 3 to 4 p.m. Then, participate in the conversation at the 4 p.m. reception. One on One: Artists in Conversation is free and concludes at 5 p.m.

Art Notes:

• Joshua Wade Smith and Jessica van Brakle discuss their current exhibition Tropical Obstructions at Hamiltonian Gallery on Thursday at 7 p.m.
• Tunnel Vision brings together 25 artists in a public art installation in the pedestrian tunnel connecting Wisconsin Avenue and the Bethesda Metro Station. The reception for the artists and their works, printed on a poly metal materials, will be held in the tunnel on Thursday at 7 p.m.
• The Hirshhorn Museum has extended Doug Aitken’s cinematic projection, Song 1, for one more week. If you haven’t caught this groundbreaking installation yet, make a point to spend an evening on the National Mall between sunset and midnight through May 20.