SUPERFINE! DC @ UNION MARKET

Called a “fun, approachable” fair for art enthusiasts who aren’t as well-heeled as traditional collectors, this showcase for affordable art (relatively speaking, with prices starting at $100 and most work for sale under $5000) comes to Union Market after successful events in New York and Miami. Over 70 booths present various art for sale, from such local indies as Gallery on H to global dealers. The fair started on Halloween, but you can still catch special programs like the Young Collectors’ Ice Cream Social (Nov. 2 7 p.m.-10 p.m.) and Ties Not Required—The Young Professional Art Mixer (Saturday Nov. 3 8 p.m.-10 p.m.)
Union Market Dock 5, Nov. 2 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Nov. 3 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Nov. 4 11 a.m.-8 p.m. $12-$55. 

RODARTE @ NMWA

This month the National Museum of Women in the Arts presents its first fashion exhibition, a celebration of the American luxury fashion house founded by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy in 2005. Rodarte has found inspiration in nature and in art, from such crowd-pleasing icons as Van Gogh’s The Starry Night to the 1973 arthouse film The Spirit of the Beehive. Nearly 100 complete looks will be on view, presented as they were shown on the runway and worn by such celebrities as Beyoncé, Cate Blanchett, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, Jay-Z, Rihanna, Tilda Swinton, and Kerry Washington.
National Museum of Women in the Arts, November 10, 2018–February 10, 2019. Open Monday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday noon–5 p.m. $10.

GORDON PARKS: THE NEW TIDE, EARLY WORK 1940-1950 @ NGA

Gordon Parks (1912–2006) became the first African-American staff photographer at Life magazine in 1949, but even in his early career he captured such iconic images as a D.C. government charwoman in a defiant variation on American Gothic. This exhibition is the first to survey Parks’ early work, through some 150 images that reflect his early genius as well as his inspiration from an artistic network that included Charles White, Roy Stryker, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, and Ralph Ellison.
National Gallery of Art, West Building, November 4, 2018–February 18, 2019. FREE.

RAFAEL LOZANO-HEMMER: PULSE @ HIRSHHORN
For the next six months, the outer ring of the Hirshhorn’s second floor becomes a kind of living art lab, fueled by sensors that respond to visitors’ heart rates, so the more excited you are to check out some art, the better. Mexican Canadian artist Rafael Lozano-Hemmer makes his D.C. debut with three major installations from his Pulse series, which creates “kinetic and audiovisual experiences from visitors’ own biometric data.” It’s the largest interactive technology exhibition at the Hirshhorn to date, and looks like it will be a mesmerizing use of the museum’s circular space.
Hirshhorn, through April 28, 2019. FREE.

FLICKERING TREASURES @ NBM

While many Washington-area movie theaters have been inelegantly transformed into CVSes, Baltimore’s grand old palaces, which once numbered as many as 240, have met a perhaps more tragic fate. This exhibition focuses on the color photography of Baltimore Sun staff photographer Amy Davis, who spent more than a decade researching and photographing dozens of the city’s theaters. Davis’s photographs will be augmented with architectural fragments, theater ephemera, and personal stories.
National Building Museum, November 17, 2018–October 14, 2019. Monday–Saturday 10 a.m.–5 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m.–5 p.m. $10.

BLACK GOLD @ VIVID GALLERY

The Anacostia Arts Center wraps up the year with a group show that offers a vision of the future. This look at Afrofuturism in Anacostia “celebrates Black Excellence throughout time and space” according to the museum, and combines figurative and abstract works from five artists who “create vivid representations of Black culture that exist independent of temporal experience.”
Vivid Gallery, November 30, 2018-January 5, 2019. Tuesday–Saturday 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.–3 p.m. Opening reception will be held on November 30 from 6 p.m.-9 p.m. FREE.

TRIBE: CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE ARAB WORLD @ AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
This group exhibition is a showcase for artists published in the Dubai-based photography magazine Tribe, which has been “dedicated to covering developments in photography and new media from the Arab World,” according to the museum. The work “at times … poetically deploy[s] hues, shadows and partial images to nuanced aspects of Arab culture.”
American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, November 10-December 16. Tuesday-Sunday 11 a.m-4 p.m. FREE.

KAITLIN JENCSO: DISENCHANTED @ IA&A/HILLYER

This solo exhibition from the Washington-based photographer uses candid images as a visual diary that document the artist’s immediate family. Jencso explains that the work explores how her family “dealt with the prolonged process of death and its aftermath … Stretches of time are distilled in small, transcendent experiences that portray the underlying sorrow, beauty, and mundanity of remaining.”
IA&A at Hillyer, November 2–December 16. Open Tuesday-Friday noon-6 p.m. and Saturday-Monday noon-5 p.m. and by appointment. FREE.

This post has been updated.