(Rendering courtesy of Snarkitecture)

FUN HOUSE @ NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

This year’s Summer Block Party installation at the National Building Museum is another crowd-pleasing showcase for Snarkitecture, the New York “collaborative design practice” that brought us the blockbuster The Beach in 2015. The firm takes its name not from a particular cattiness but from Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of The Snark,” which describes the “impossible voyage of an improbable crew to find an inconceivable creature.” Which is exactly the kind of adventurous spirit Snarkitecture brings to the very concept of home, re-imagined here through a series of interactive rooms that highlight the firm’s previous work and introduce new concepts for area art lovers desperate to get out of the heat.

July 4-September 3 at the National Building Museum, 401 F Street NW. $16.

(Photo courtesy of Artechouse)

FRACTAL WORLDS @ ARTECHOUSE

Dutch artist Julius Horsthuis was visual effects supervisor for the award-winning drama Manchester By The Sea, but that film won’t prepare you for his next dazzling work that will be on display at L’Enfant Plaza’s popular digital artspace. The latest immersive installation at Artechouse “bridges the gap between the real and virtual world.” Horsthuis’ Fractal Worlds surrounds you with trippy, 3D geometric patterns that “transport viewers to another dimension,” and with the gallery’s signature augmented reality cocktails, that journey is sure to be even more pleasantly disorienting.

July 7-September 3 at Artechouse, 1238 Maryland Ave. SW. Open daily from 10 a.m.—10 p.m. $8-15. Buy tickets here.

Instrument petting zoo at Sound Scene X, 2017 at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in partnership with DC Listening Lounge. (Amy Rankin)

SOUND SCENE XI: MAPPING MEMORY @ HIRSHHORN

The DC Listening Lounge returns to the Hirshhorn for its 11th annual Sound Scene, expanding to two full days of full days of live performances and interactive sound installations that engage the ear as well as the eye. Workshops include an architectural listening tour that invites you to focus on the acoustic qualities of the Hirshhorn’s concrete donut; a guided sonic meditation led by improv musician Layne Garrett and inspired by Pauline Oliveros; and a musical “petting zoo” where you can try out an instrument of your choice. Sanitizer will be provided.

July 7-8 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. FREE. Register here.

The Jim and Tammy Show (Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art)

SENSE OF HUMOR @NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART

Knock knock. Who’s there? Alexander Calder, William Hogarth, and the Guerrilla Girls! These are just some of the strange gallery-fellows in this look at humor in the National Gallery of Art’s collections of prints and drawings, media which over the centuries have proved, “ideal for institutional mockery and social criticism.” Thus, a 16th century engraving by Pieter Bruegel the Elder shares exhibition space with artwork from Krazy Kat artist George Herriman and counter-culture cartoonist R. Crumb.

July 15, 2018 – January 6, 2019 at the National Gallery of Art, West Building, Ground Floor. FREE.

Stories From The Seafarers Yacht Club of Washington, D.C. opened in January at THEARC. (Photo courtesy of The Phillips Collection)

BEYOND OUR WALLS @ THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

This community exhibition celebrates the Phillips Collection’s new Southeast campus at Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus, which opened in January with such programs as Belonging: Stories from the Seafarers Yacht Club of Washington, D.C. (pictured). Phillips@THEARC offers free workshops and establishes partnerships to engage with communities in Wards 7 and 8.

July 14 – August 26, 2018 at the Phillips Collection, Sant Building. 1600 21st Street, NW. $12.

(Photo by the Irving Penn Foundation, courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery)

ONE YEAR: 1968, AN AMERICAN ODYSSEY @ NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY

As part of its 50th anniversary celebration, the National Portrait Gallery looks back at this pivotal year by gathering 30 portraits that define the era. From the Vietnam War to the first manned orbit of the moon to psychedelic jam bands to the Olympic Games, the gallery will show you iconic images of that volatile moment in history.

June 29, 2018 – May 19, 2019 at the National Portrait Gallery. FREE.