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ART
July 7 to Aug. 28
Possible Worlds: Mexican Photography and Fiction in Contemporary Art
The artists of “Possible Worlds” are part of a new generation of photographers who break away from traditional photojournalism and offer imaginative, alternative ways of documenting the natural world, influenced by film, literature, fantasy, science fiction and electronic music.
Organization of American States
Art Museum of the Americas
July 12 to 16,
10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Indonesian Batik: World Heritage
This exhibition showcases the rich heritage of Indonesian batik fabrics with its beautiful colors and patterns from many parts of the Indonesian archipelago, including workshops on how to make batiks — part of the American Batik Design Competition, hosted by the Indonesian Embassy, a challenge to U.S. citizens to craft batik designs with a distinct American style. For information, call (202) 775-5242 or e-mail gaby@embassyofindonesia.org.
Embassy of Indonesia
Through July 15
Luxembourg by Hot Air Balloon
Floating over the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg by hot air balloon, Rob Keiffer produced picturesque aerial photographs of the tiny country’s fascinating scenery and settings.
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Opening July 16
Ancient Iranian Ceramics
Some 3,000 years ago, in the area south of the Caspian Sea in what is now modern Iran, craftsmen developed a distinctive type of pottery. This small installation features some of the outstanding treasures in the Sackler Gallery’s collection of ancient Iranian ceramics, celebrating the talents of these ancient potters.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Through July 17
The Orchid in Chinese Painting
Coinciding with the National Museum of Natural History’s annual orchid show, the Sackler presents 20 works related to orchids in Chinese painting, ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th century.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Through July 22
Contemporary Jamaican Artists
A selection of contemporary Jamaican artists were invited by the World Bank to exhibit their work in the Caribbean segment of “About Change,” the hemispheric art survey organized by the World Bank Art Program in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, and the Caribbean Community Secretariat.
Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center
Through July 23
Preston Sampson: Common Threads
Preston Sampson’s mixed media and pulp paintings feature the common working man with an very uncommon burst of life and expression.
International Visions Gallery
Through July 24
Gabriel Metsu 1629–1667
One of the most important Dutch genre painters of the mid-17th century, Gabriel Metsu captured ordinary moments of life with a freshness and spontaneity that was matched by his ability to depict materials with an unerring truth to nature.
National Gallery of Art
Through July 24
Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Community through Language
Lorenzo Dow Turner’s foundational work in the 1930s established that people of African heritage, despite slavery, had retained and passed on their cultural identity through words, music and story wherever they landed. Features of the exhibition include rare audio recordings, photographs and artifacts from Turner’s linguistic explorations into the African Diaspora.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
Through July 29
Art Deck-O: Playing Card Originals
This past winter, more than 50 of Washingto’s finest artists came together to produce wildly creative designs that form a playing card deck unique to our area, with the culmination of these efforts published in a deck of fully functional playing cards with traditional suites of diamonds, hearts, spades and clubs.
Touchstone Gallery
Through July 20
Yaroslav Koporolin: Cryostasis
Growing up in Moscow in the post-Soviet era, Yar Koporulin witnessed the dramatic rebirth of Russian society and culture, interpreting these transformations through metaphorical characters in his art, which also portrays the world surrounding us as a contorted tangle of string.
Hillyer Art Space
Through July 30
Tom Wesselmann Draws
This marks the most comprehensive exhibition of drawings by Tom Wesselmann, a brilliant colorist and innovator who in the 1960s was one of the key leaders in the pop art movement alongside Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein.
The Kreeger Museum
July 30 to Nov. 6
Perspectives: Hale Tiger
Multimedia artist Hale Tenger, born in Izmir, Turkey, creates videos and installations that examine the tangible and intangible traces of events, filming the façade of the St. George Hotel in Beirut — the site of the assassination of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon — while it was being renovated from 2005 to 2007.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Through July 31
Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan
Majestic sixth-century Chinese Buddhist sculpture is combined with 3D imaging technology in this exploration of one of the most important groups of Buddhist devotional sites in early medieval China: the Buddhist cave temples of Xiangtangshan carved into the mountains of northern China — home to a magnificent array of sculptures, from monumental Buddhas and divine attendant figures to crouching monsters framed by floral motifs.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Through Aug. 12
Stefan Zweig – An Austrian from Europe
In 1992, the city of Salzburg honored well-known writer and political observer Stefan Zweig with an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of his death — a retrospective that now comes to Washington with more than 120 photographs and numerous reproductions and other documents on his life. Admission is free but registration is required and can be made at www.acfdc.org/events-registration.
Embassy of Austria
Through Aug. 13
The Last Full Measure: Civil War Photos from the Liljenquist Family Collection
Portrait photographs of the young men who fought and died in the American Civil War serve as a memorial to those who gave their lives during the devastating conflict, displaying the faces of 360 Union soldiers — one for every 1,000 who died — and 52 Confederate soldiers, one for every 5,000.
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson Building
Through Aug. 14
E • CO
River degradation. Torrential rains in Brazil. The consequences of nuclear power in Eastern Europe. Environmental issues are captured by professional photographers from across Latin America and Europe in a body of work first shown in Spain to highlight professional photographers’ challenges in the rapidly evolving digital media landscape.
American University Katzen Arts Center
Through Aug. 14
Registro 02
Is a work of art defined by the artist’s intent and methods, or do the people viewing it help define the work through their perceptions of it? Encompassing the works of four individual artists and one collective, this exhibit sets out to show that both the artistic process and the audience’s perception help inform art’s meaning.
American University Katzen Arts Center
Through Aug. 14
Washington Color and Light
Artists associated with the Washington Color School and their contemporaries were united by an exploration of the language of abstraction, a desire to experiment with materials, and a love of color. This exhibition reveals the artistic innovations and individual approaches that shaped new directions in abstract painting and sculpture from the 1950s to the late 1970s.
Corcoran Gallery of Art
Through Aug. 21
Race to the End of the Earth
A century ago, two teams led by Britain’s Robert F. Scott and Norway’s Roald Amundsen braved starvation and Antarctica’s frozen environment in a race to be first to the South Pole. An array of breathtaking photographs, historic artifacts and interactive exhibits recount this true-life adventure tale while examining classic and modern methods of polar travel, science and technology — as well as the human instinct to explore our world.
National Geographic Society
Through Aug. 28
Fragments in Time and Space
Fragments in Time and Space draws primarily on the Hirshhorn’s collection to present works by artists such as Tacita Dean, Thomas Eakins, Douglas Gordon, Ed Ruscha and Hiroshi Sugimoto, encouraging viewers to reconsider the way they perceive and experience the world — from a single moment in time to an idea of the infinite.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Through Sept. 3
gute aussichten: young German photography 2010/2011
Works by eight winners of gute aussichten, the seventh annual German competition for graduate photography students, come to Washington on the exhibition’s worldwide tour.
The Goethe-Institut
Through Sept. 4
Kandinsky and the Harmony of Silence: Painting with White Border
After a visit to his native Moscow, Vasily Kandinsky recorded his “extremely powerful impressions” in his 1913 masterpiece, “Painting with White Border,” which, for this exhibition, is reunited with more than 12 preparatory studies from international collections, including the Phillips’s oil sketch, and compared with other closely related works.
The Phillips Collection
Through Sept. 4
Stella Sounds: The Scarlatti K Series
For the first time in a museum exhibition, the Phillips Collection presents recent works from Frank Stella’s “K “series inspired by the 18th-century composer Domenico Scarlatti’s harpsichord sonatas.
The Phillips Collection
Through Sept. 5
The Capitoline Venus
The “Capitoline Venus” — on loan to the United States for the first time — is one of the best-preserved and most famous masterpieces from Roman antiquity.
National Gallery of Art
Through Sept. 30
Democratic Principles
This exhibit of 22 portraits by Elizabeth McClancy represent contemporary progressive political leaders in ways that reveal the magnitude of the challenges they face and the leadership they must assume. A special panel discussion on June 8 at 7 p.m. features Howard Dean and will discuss the next of the arts in democratic development. For information, visit www.democraticwoman.org.
The Woman’s National Democratic Club
Through Oct. 2
The Guerrilla Girls Talk Back
The Guerrilla Girls, a group of anonymous artist-activists, critique the sexism and racism pervading contemporary culture through their populist art production, which includes posters, books and live performances in which they wear gorilla masks.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Through Oct. 2
Pressing Ideas: Fifty Years of Women’s Lithographs from Tamarind
Featuring 75 works by 42 artists including Elaine de Kooning, Louise Nevelson, Margo Humphrey, Jaune Quick-To-See Smith and Kiki Smith, “Pressing Ideas” explores the breadth of experimentation in lithography and women’s contributions to a workshop that stretches creative boundaries.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Through Oct. 2
In the Tower: Nam June Paik
A new exhibition featuring 20 works by groundbreaking contemporary artist Nam June Paik (1923–2006) is the third in a series of shows installed in the Tower Gallery that centers on developments in art since the midcentury.
National Gallery of Art
Through Oct. 9
NASA / ART: 50 Years of Exploration
More than 70 pieces of art — from the illustrative to the abstract — offer a look at the works commissioned by the NASA Art Program, which was established soon after the inception of the U.S. space program in 1958 as a way to communicate the accomplishments, setbacks and sheer excitement of space exploration over the past five decades to the public.
National Air and Space Museum
Through Oct. 22
Mexico Through the Lens of National Geographic
With more than 150 articles, no country has seen more coverage in National Geographic magazine than Mexico, generating a stunning archive of visual imagery documenting the country’s culture, history and physical beauty — a slice of which can be seen in this selection of 132 photographs drawn from the National Geographic’s archives.
Mexican Cultural Institute
Through Nov. 27
Italian Master Drawings from the Wolfgang Ratjen Collection: 1525–1835
The splendors of Italian draftsmanship from the late Renaissance to the height of the neoclassical movement are showcased in an exhibition of 65 superb drawings assembled by the European private collector Wolfgang Ratjen.
National Gallery of Art
Through Dec. 4
Artists in Dialogue 2: Sandile Zulu and Henrique Oliveira
The second in a series of exhibitions in which two artists are invited to create new works — each inspired by, and in response to the other — this installment features Sandile Zulu, who lives in Johannesburg, and Henrique Oliveira, who lives in Sao Paolo, and their site-specific works composed of unlikely materials such as weathered wood and fire.
National Museum of African Art
Through December 2011
African Mosaic
A towering, striking sculpture of Haitian leader Toussaint Louverture by contemporary Senegalese artist Ousmane Sow is the centerpiece of this exhibition of important acquisitions over the last decade, including more than 100 traditional and contemporary works, some never before on display.
National Museum of African Art
Through Jan. 1
Wedding Belles: Bridal Fashions from the Marjorie Merriweather Post Family, 1874-1958
Sumptuous bridal gowns and bridesmaid dresses belonging to heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post and her family, along with a royal veil and stunning Cartier bag carried by Post’s daughter —actress Dina Merrill — tell the story of 20th-century wedding styles through the lens of one of America’s most notable and fashionable families.
Hillwood Estate and Museum
Through Jan. 16
Family Matters: Portraits from the Qing Court
Lavish portraits — almost evenly divided between images of men and women, some nearly life-size — show Qing dynasty royal family members dressed in the elaborate formal robes required for attendance at court or more casual attire in moments of leisure, offering a fascinating look at imperial family life in the later half of China’s Qing dynasty.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
DANCE
Fri., July 8,
Sat., July 9,
‘Frida’ and ‘Homenaje a David Alfaro Siqueiros’
This evening of Latino, modern and Indian dance presented by GALA Hispanic Theatre and the Dakshina/Daniel Phoenix Singh Dance Company combines colorful visual design and projections with explosive movements that fuse traditional Bharatanatyam and modern dance. Tickets are $15 to $25.
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Fri., July 15, 8 p.m.,
Sat., July 16, 8 p.m.
Caracalla Dance Theatre: Zayed and the Dream
Caracalla Dance Theatre’s “Zayed and the Dream” follows the journey of seven horsemen as they travel through the sands of time in search of the “destined one” who will engrave his vision on the deserts of Arabia in a spectacular dance musical that features the participation of 100 artists and guest dance performers from China, Spain, Ukraine and the United Arab Emirates. Tickets are $45 to $125.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
DISCUSSIONS
Mon., July 11, 7 p.m.
A Life with Whales
Go on a stunning visual and narrative adventure to the underwater realm of whales with Charles “Flip” Nicklin, one of the world’s leading cetacean photographers and National Geographic’s premier whale photographer and marine mammal specialist. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
S. Dillon Ripley Center
Tue., July 12, 12 p.m.
Capital Portraits: Treasures from Washington Private Collections
The National Portrait Gallery’s exhibition “Capital Portraits: Treasures from Washington Private Collections” (through Sept. 5) showcases 60 portraits from private collections in the Washington area. In this illustrated lecture, curators Carolyn Kinder Carr and Ellen Miles discuss how each portrait tells a unique and surprising story, whether it is a family heirloom or a work collected for its aesthetic merit. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
National Portrait Gallery
Wed., July 13, 6:45 p.m.
Spy vs. Spy: Civil War Espionage
Clayton Laurie, a historian for the CIA’s Center for the Study of Intelligence, discusses how the Civil War became a battle of wits as well as one of strength and military superiority, how both sides used intelligence-gathering, and how this influenced the outcome of key battles. Tickets are $35; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
S. Dillon Ripley Center
Wed., July 13, 7 p.m.
Le Studio: Wine Tasting 101
Every month, Le Studio focuses on a different wine region of France with some of its most famous vintners. This time around though, a blind tasting will test participants’ knowledge from the previous sessions — with a chance to win a trip to Paris. Tickets are $65.
La Maison Française
Wed., July 20, 6:45 p.m.
Indigo: The Color that Seduced the World
Blue gold,” “the devil’s dye,” even “the path to the infinite” — indigo has been called all of these. Author Catherine McKinley tells its story and the pigment’s varied uses, from religious and court purposes to cosmetics, tattooing, and of course the glorious textiles. Tickets are $25; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
Location on ticket
Wed., July 27, 6:45 p.m.
Skin Deep: The History and Art of Indigenous Tattooing
Lars Krutak — whose almost 1,000 razor-and knife-cut scars testify to his quest for understanding this ancient art form — discusses how tattooing reflects worldviews, ancient myths and ancestral traditions, from the earliest known tattoos of 7,000 years ago in Chile and Peru to the many current cultures around the world who use the art form today. Tickets are $40; for information, visit www.smithsonianassociates.org.
S. Dillon Ripley Center
FESTIVALS
July 7 to 24
The Capital Fringe Festival
The fifth annual Capital Fringe Festival brings downtown D.C. alive with hundreds of performances by adventurous and innovative performing artists at more than 20 traditional and non-traditional venues, featuring a range of work from theater, dance and puppetry to the unclassifiable. For information, visit www.capfringe.org.
Various locations
Sat., July 9, 2 to 8 p.m.
Indonesia Festival
This festival showcases Indonesian culture and entertainment, including Indonesian music, jazz, Brazilian drums, traditional dances, cultural exhibits and native cuisine. A highlight will be an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the largest angklung ensemble, a traditional Indonesian bamboo instrument, which starts at 5 p.m. For information, visit www.embassyofindonesia.org/indonesianfestival or register by e-mail at indofest2011@embassyofindonesia.org.
Washington Monument Grounds
July 10 to 12
Fancy Food Show
Argan oil from Morocco, twice-roasted seaweed from Korea, chunky papaya jam from Senegal and gluten-free pasta from Italy will be among the 180,000 foods from 80 countries and regions around the world on display at the Summer Fancy Food Show, the largest marketplace for specialty foods and beverages in North America. For information, visit www.specialtyfood.com.
Washington Convention Center
Sat., July 16, 7 p.m.
Bastille Day at the Embassy of France
La Maison Française and Comité Tricolore host a special Bastille Day fundraiser at the French Embassy featuring chefs from the most prestigious restaurants offering a wide-ranging buffet while you enjoy live performances, cocktails from the open bar and a luxury-item silent auction. Tickets start at $90.
La Maison Française
Sat., July 16, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
French Festival and After Party
The Alliance Française de Washington teams up with Hillwood Museum, Estate and Gardens to bring you a Bastille celebration that starts at Hillwood — with events for children and performances from Opera Lafayette and New York Baroque Dance Company — and continues at Alliance Française, where guests can enjoy crepes, cheese, champagne, a silent auction, live music and DJ mixing traditional French music with today’s hits. Tickets are $18 for the daytime festival and $49 for the after party, or $69 for both.
Hillwood Estate (10 a.m. to 7 p.m.)
Alliance Française (7:30 to 10 p.m.)
Through July 17
FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011
This year, the Women’s Soccer World Cup is being hosted by Germany for the first time, with the motto “The Beautiful Side of 20Eleven!” _The Goethe-Institut will be screening most of the games where Germany or the United States are represented.
Goethe-Institut
MUSIC
Through July 24
Castleton Festival
The Castleton Festival in Virginia was founded in 2009 by Lorin and Dietlinde Maazel and has quickly become a magnet for superb young vocal and instrumental artists. About 200 musicians and theater professionals come to Castleton Farms, the Maazels’ farm in rural Rappahannock County, Va., each summer to live and work together under the guidance of Maestro Maazel, one of the world’s preeminent conductors. The summer 2011 performances include a new production of Puccini’s “La Bohème,” Ravel’s “L’enfant et les sortilèges,” and Kurt Weill’s “Seven Deadly Sins” in addition to a variety of concerts. For information, visit www.castletonfestival.org.
Castleton Farms
THEATER
Through July 3
Don Quixote
Synetic Theater once again merges its unique physical theater style with text in its season closer, “Don Quixote,” as the iconic character abandons his home and reality to become a wandering knight, lost in the mystical world of his books. Tickets are $40 to $50.
Synetic Theater at Chrystal City, Va.
Through July 3
The Glass Menagerie
In a tenement apartment in 1930s St. Louis, the Wingfield family struggles to hang on to their dreams for the future in this fresh re-envisioning of Tennessee Williams’s legendary masterpiece, his most autobiographical play, presented as part of Georgetown’s Tennessee Williams Centennial Festival. Tickets start at $35.
Arena Stage
Through July 3
The History of Kisses
A writer sequesters himself in an oceanfront motel to finish a collection of tales of seaside romance, only to find himself drawn into the romantic and sexual goings-on around him. Tickets are $44 to $65.
The Studio Theatre
Through July 3
Old Times
Memory and reality collide in British playwright Harold Pinter’s “Old Times,” as three friends recall their relationship from 20 years prior in a highly charged exploration of whether we can truly ever know another person, or even ourselves. Tickets start at $37.
The Shakespeare Theatre
Through July 3
Purge
Set in western Estonia in 1992, “Purge” by Sofi Oksanen, an award-winning author and playwright of Estonian-Finnish descent, is the story of two generations of women challenged by a male-dominated political structure a year after the Soviet Union’s collapse and haunted by the memories of Soviet occupation in the 1950s. Tickets are $16 to $40. For information, visit www.scenatheater.org.
H Street Playhouse
Through July 3
Reduced Shakespeare Company: Completely Hollywood (abridged)
America’s “Bad Boys of Abridgement” are back, taking on 186 movies in 100 minutes with hilarious results. Tickets are $39 to $49.
Kennedy Center Terrace Theater
July 8 to Oct. 2
Oklamhoma!
The best-selling show in Arena Stage’s 60-year history is back for 12 weeks. Inspired by the toughness of the prairie, Artistic Director Molly Smith sets her production in the robust world of territory life filled with a cast as rich and complex as the great tapestry of America itself, set against the backdrop of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s timeless music. Please call for ticket details.
Arena Stage
Through July 9
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Keegan Theatre presents this Tony Award-winning musical that tells the story of five eccentric kids vying for first prize, bragging rights, and most importantly, a trip to the National Spelling Bee Competition. Tickets are $40.
Church Street Theater
Through July 10
Next to Normal
Three-time Tony winner “Next to Normal,” starring Alice Ripley, is a story of family members torn between caring for themselves and each other — set against a thrilling rock score. Tickets are $35 to $120.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Through July 10
Venus in Fur
David Ives’s crackling exploration of desire and control pits actress against playwright in a seductive game of cat and mouse. Tickets are $44 to $65.
The Studio Theatre
Through July 24
The Merchant of Venice
Whether contemplating the contents of gilded chests or the darkest corners of human nature, “The Merchant of Venice” — which features some of Shakespeare’s most complex and memorable characters — challenges audiences to look beyond misleading appearances to find the true measure of things Tickets are $20 to $98.
Shakespeare Theatre Harman Hall
July 26 to 31
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
This ensemble-based stage adaptation of Michael Pollan’s best-selling book moves from the corn fields of Iowa, to a small organic farm in Virginia, to America’s dinner tables, grocery stores and fast-food emporiums — asking the question: What should we have for dinner? Tickets are $15 or $18.
Georgetown University
Davis Performing Arts Center
Through Aug. 21
Wicked
Long before that girl from Kansas arrives in Munchkinland, two girls meet in the land of Oz — one is smart, fiery and green, literally, while the other is beautiful, ambitious and very popular. How these two grow to become the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good makes for what the New York Times calls “the defining musical of the decade.” Tickets are $37 to $250.
Kennedy Center Opera House