PLANS TO PROSPER YOU @ AMERICAN UNIVERSITY
In conjunction with Plans to Prosper You, an exhibition that looks at four African-American communities in Montgomery County, the Katzen Arts Center is hosting a related panel with curator Delande Justinvil. Panel members include Roslyn King, author of Little Church on the Hill: the Story of Macedonia Baptist Church, and Rev. Sterling King, Jr. pastor emeritus of Bethesda’s Macedonia Baptist Church. Moderated by Lucy Perez of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition. The exhibit closes on August 11.
Sunday, August 4 from 2-4 p.m. at the American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center.
On Thursday, August 8 from 7-8:30 p.m., attend a closing reception for the exhibit, featuring music by Maceo Kemp and Friends. FREE
MY COMPUTING DEVICES @ NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY
The Apple Newton, a personal digital assistant that shipped out in 1993 for a short-lived production run, may be best remembered today as a Simpsons bit that anticipated the pitfalls of autocorrect. Relive the glory days of early personal computers in this exhibition of artifacts—some impractical, some game-changing—from museum collections. There’s a selfie station, too. After all, this is the digital age.
Opens August 28, 2019 at the National Museum of American History. FREE
MY IRAN: SIX WOMEN PHOTOGRAPHERS @ FREER
Much like the directors working (sometimes under duress) in Iran’s storied film industry, the artists in this exhibit use photography to address their personal and political lives.
Photographers include Newsha Tavakolian and Malekeh Nayiny, who “revisit the concept of the family photo album to reveal deeply moving individual stories”; Hengameh Golestan, who photographed women protesting in Tehran after the 1979 Revolution; Shadi Ghadirian and Gohar Dashti, who “offer wry commentaries on post-revolutionary society”; and Mitra Tabrizian, who “composes evocative studies of displaced Iranians in London.”
August 10, 2019–February 9, 2020 at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. FREE
SYNTHETIC DAWN @ DE NOVO GALLERY
This Union Market pop-up gallery makes its debut this month with new work from artists Alex Ebstein and Esther Ruiz, who use familiar materials in new ways. Ebstein uses the accoutrements of the gym, the construction site, and the yoga studio to “examine the tropes of self-help, boutique fitness and the white cube art method of art display.” Ruiz takes her inspiration from “space operas, pseudo-science, pop culture and the sun” for minimalist work made of cement and Plexiglass.
August 3-31 at De Novo Gallery. The opening night party takes place Saturday, August 3 from 7-9 p.m. FREE
MEMORY, HISTORY, AND REPRESENTATION: EVIDENCE AND DENIALISM ACROSS BOUNDARIES @ HIRSHHORN
Concurrent with the installation The Evidence Room, which “examines the chilling role architects played in constructing Auschwitz,” the Hirshhorn is holding its second in a series of discussions on Memory, History, and Representation. Addressing the Holocaust and cases of slavery and genocide, the conversation will “explore how evidence lives beyond memory and experience of traumatic events.” Speakers include Secretary of the Smithsonian Lonnie Bunch, authors Deborah Lipstadt and Berel Lang, historian Andrew Delbanco, and filmmaker Theodore Bogosian. Before the program, architectural historian Robert Jan van Pel will provide introductory remarks about The Evidence Room.
August 15 from 6:30–7:30 pm at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. FREE, but tickets are suggested; register here.
MILK RELICS: OIL PAINTINGS BY TOM KIM @ LOST ORIGINS
D.C. artist Tom Kim writes that, “The apocalypse is best served with cookies.” This new series of narrative paintings, inspired by Western oils, traditional Eastern imagery, and his experience as a Korean American, “tells the post-apocalyptic story of our society at the precipice of environmental collapse.” Kim says “This warning series is meant to inspire action through a profoundly playful appreciation of our surroundings and each other.”
August 31-September 29 at Lost Origins Gallery in Mount Pleasant. FREE
FOR YOU BY YOUTH: URBAN LANDSCAPES REIMAGINED @ National Building Museum
As part of the series Investigating Where We Live, this exhibit documents work from the National Building Museum’s annual teen summer workshop. The intensive, five-week program encourages teens to explore the city, learn to express themselves through various media, meet creative professionals, and design and install a museum exhibition.
Opens August 10 at the National Building Museum. $16
THE EXPERT IS IN: MAGNETIC BACTERIA PUMPING IRON! @ NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM
Eew, bacteria?! Wrong! This is good bacteria! Join Courtney Wagner, a geobiologist from the University of Utah, to learn about how bacteria can make magnetic minerals and teach us something about modern and ancient aquatic ecosystems.
August 9 at 11 a.m. at the National Museum of Natural History, 2nd Floor, Hall of Geology, Gems, and Minerals. FREE
