Ai Weiwei, second panel of the triptych “Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn,” 1995/2009. Image courtesy of the artist.>> If you go to any show this weekend let it be (e)merge art fair. Now in it’s second year, (e)merge will showcase over 80 international exhibitors in two platforms, exhibiting 152 artists from 24 countries. The whole fair is based at the Capitol Skyline Hotel and offers an interesting gallery space for artists and exhibitors. Catch the preview party on Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m. then hang out by the pool from 9 to 11 p.m., while Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation DJs. Tickets $45 or $60 at the door. Then on Friday the show officially opens running from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Sunday, 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. $15.
>> Ai Weiwei: According to What? opens at the Hirshhorn this weekend and is the first North American survey of the work of the foremost figure to emerge from the rapidly expanding Chinese contemporary art scene. Sunday at 2 p.m. join exhibition curator Mami Kataoka for an exhibition walk through. Then at 5:30 p.m. in the Ring Auditorium join moderator Judy Woodruff along with panelists Zbigniew Brzezinski, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Roger M. Buergel as they discuss questions of freedom and creativity and addresses the various conditions that lead great minds to bold actions.
>> Per Kirkeby: Paintings and Sculpture opens at the Phillips Collection on Saturday. One of Europe’s most celebrated living artists, Per Kirkeby, is a painter, sculptor, geologist, filmmaker, writer and poet. The most comprehensive display of his work in the U.S. to date will feature 26 richly layered paintings and 11 striking bronzes. $12.
>> Artisphere celebrates year two with a night of Brazilian music, dancing and DJing, on Saturday starting at 8 p.m. Tickets $20. Then on Sunday, enjoy the Free Family Day Open House from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Take part in adventure story-telling, mural painting and theater workshops.
>> The inaugural DC Fine Art Photography Fair opens this weekend, featuring more than 15 established fine art photography galleries from across the U.S., showcasing a wide range of photographs. See images from the 19th-Century to cutting-edge contemporary visions all available for purchase. Open Saturday from 12 to 7 p.m. with a panel discussion, “On Collecting Photography” starting at 11 a.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2801 Sixteenth Street, NW (former residence of the Ambassador of Spain). Free.
>> Thursday at the National Building Museum sit in for a panel discussion on D.C. Modern Preservation. In 2006, the D.C. Preservation League took a comprehensive look at Washington’s mid-20th-century architecture. Six years later, a panel of architects, developers, and preservationists looks back at Washington’s history of mid-century design and discusses the progress made on preserving this building stock, while upgrading it for current use. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $12 for Members, $20 for non-members.
>> On Friday at 6 p.m. take a walk with the Sculpting Outside the Lines Twilight Tour. Laura Roulet leads this evening tour including Jefferson Pinder’s videos Car Wash, Invisible Man and Elevator Music and Peter Lee’s and Blake Turner’s Craig’s List Unrequited, an interactive projection and sound piece, live-streamed from the Internet. After the tour, drinks and conversation can be had at the River Inn.
>> The National Gallery of Art‘s series on Czech filmmaker František Vláčil kicks off this weekend with two films. His small body of work stands out from the gritty Czech new wave films of the era and, not surprisingly, was seen as subversive by censors in his native Czech Republic. Thwarted after the 1968 Soviet invasion, Vláčil (1924-1999) maintained that he was only interested in “pure film” and applying poetic license to shape allegory out of ancient tales. Sunday at 2:00 p.m., see The Devil’s Trap, the first of Vláčil’s three historical-allegorical epics. In a drought-stricken Bohemian village, a church inquisitor probes the local miller to find out if his flourishing grain mill is the work of the devil. At 4:30 p.m., watch Markéta Lazarová, which Vláčil based on Vladislav Vančura’s best-selling 1931 novel, in turn based on a story handed down within Vančura’s family. Attempting to recreate the mood of medieval society, sets and costumes were even made with traditional tools, and actors tried to portray the raw and unfiltered emotions that presumably prevailed.
>> Opening at Washington Printmakers this weekend, see Both Sides of the Brain. a traveling international mezzotint portfolio curated by Aaron Coleman. Mezzotint requires hours of physical labor “rocking” a copper plate with a special toothed tool to create an all-over texture, which holds the ink so few artists work with this technique. View the work of the brave artists that do at the opening reception on Saturday from 1 to 4 p.m.
>> The Fridge opens the first solo show from Asad “ULTRA” Walker, a D.C. graffiti artist who has been creating work for 30 years. In quiet walks in dangerous places ULTRA will show a series of all new portraits using his signature lean, angular style. ULTRA’s portraits are inspired by the people he has seen while working in the early morning hours on the streets of D.C. Opening reception Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m.
>> The Day Turned into the City and the City Turned into the Mind an exhibit by Thomas Drymon and Julie Wolsztynski opens at Adah Rose Gallery this Saturday with an opening reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. with live music by White Chihuahua.
>> The Tubman-Mahan Gallery celebrates three years with ReCreate 3, an exhibit highlighting the sustainability of self -telling a story of overcoming challenges of any sort, or at a broad, holistic level. Opening Friday with a reception from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
