EVENT CATEGORIES

ART 

July 1 to 30

Flesh + Bone II

Hillyer Art Space presents its second bi-annual exhibition that focuses on contemporary figurative art, providing a fresh look at the familiar subject of the human figure from artists across North America. Also on view is a solo exhibition of new abstract paintings by local artist Kayla Plosz Antiel.

Hillyer Art Space

July 2 to Sept. 5

ICEBERGS

Designed by James Corner Field Operations, the installation opens as part of the annual “Summer Block Party” series. “ICEBERGS” is built from re-usable construction materials, such as scaffolding and polycarbonate paneling, a material commonly used in building greenhouses. The 20-inch-high “water line” allows panoramic views from high above the ocean surface and down below among the towering bergs.

National Building Museum

July 2 to July 9, 2017

Perspectives: Michael Joo

Inspired by the migration patterns of Korean red-crowned cranes, Brooklyn-based artist Michael Joo has created a monumental installation specifically for the Freer|Sackler. The birds’ movements are visualized as lines in space in this combination of painting, sculpture, photography, digital scanning and printmaking.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

July 3 to Jan. 2

Recent Acquisitions of Dutch and Flemish Drawings

“Recent Acquisitions of Dutch and Flemish Drawings” encompasses landscapes, seascapes, portraits, still lifes and history subjects that demonstrate the originality of Dutch and Flemish draftsmanship and its stylistic evolution.

National Gallery of Art

July 8 to Aug. 1

POP of Kolor

In this electric mashup of American pop art with Korean traditional art, Kwang Nyun Song and Kungjoo Park re-envision this iconic American art style with unique techniques and motifs to create an irresistible Korean twist on a signature genre. Park’s “The Fantastic Play” expresses the complexity of human beings, who are each filled with different sides to their personality, simultaneously capturing the beautiful, precious side that we often want to reveal, as well as the immature, superficial nature we hide in our hearts. Meanwhile, Song inserts peony blossoms or butterflies — a central motif of Korean traditional folk paintings — into Korean embroidery techniques and infuses portraits of symbolic figures with the concepts of American pop art.

Korean Cultural Center

Through July 24

America’s Shakespeare

“America’s Shakespeare” reveals how Americans have made Shakespeare our own using a fascinating selection of rare letters, costumes, books and more.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Through July 24

Three Centuries of American Prints from the National Gallery of Art

Since opening in 1941, the gallery has amassed an outstanding collection of American prints representing the history of American art from the early 18th century to the present. Timed to coincide with the gallery’s 75th anniversary, this first comprehensive exhibition of American prints to encompass three centuries will highlight some 160 works from the gallery’s collection

National Gallery of Art

Through July 29

Caribbean in Motion: Improving Lives through Artistry and Animation

This video-based exhibit by Caribbean artists pays tribute to the Bahamas, host of the 2016 annual meeting of the Inter-American Development Bank Board of Governors. “Caribbean in Motion” explores the multifaceted social and economic benefits generated by the animation industry, underscoring the importance of nurturing a vibrant creative economy. Animation, the art of illustrating video sequences, has huge potential as both a business and an art form that supports sustainable social and economic development in the Caribbean.

Inter-American Development Bank Cultural Center

Through July 31

Heart of an Empire: Herzfeld’s Discover of Pasargadae

Located in southwestern Iran, Pasargadae was the first capital of the ancient Achaemenid Persian Empire (circa 540 B.C.) and the last resting place of Cyrus the Great. Impressed with its ruins, German archaeologist Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948) briefly surveyed the site for the first time in 1905, returning to conduct more extensive excavations. Featuring selections from the Freer|Sackler Archives’ rich holdings of Herzfeld’s drawings, notes and photographs, this exhibition illuminates one of the most important sites of the ancient world.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through July 31

She Who Tells a Story: Women Photographers from Iran and the Arab World

This landmark exhibition of more than 80 photographs and a video installation challenges stereotypes surrounding the people, landscapes and cultures of Iran and the Arab world.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Aug. 6

Masterworks from the Hirshhorn Collection

Joseph Hirshhorn, whose 1966 gift to the nation of nearly 6,000 works led to the creation of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, was a passionate and knowledgeable collector. Since its opening in 1974, the Hirshhorn has carried on its founder’s legacy through an active and ambitious program of acquisitions. Its highly regarded collection charts the development of modern and contemporary art from the late 19th century to the present, across the world, and across media.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through Aug. 7

(Art)Xiomas – CUBAAHORA: The Next Generation

This contemporary Cuban art exhibit, organized with SPAIN arts & culture, is also part of a larger cooperative effort to celebrate contemporary Cuban art and the centennial of the Art Museum of the Americas’s founding director, José Gómez Sicre. The featured artists favor fresh aesthetics while recognizing historical contexts, whose discourses are more autobiographical than politically contextualized. Exhibition participants shy away neither from committing themselves to projects with cultural institutions nor to working independently. Thus they penetrate and overcome barriers that for too long have characterized the timeline of Cuban cultural cooperation.

Art Museum of the Americas

Through Aug. 14

Bandits & Heroes, Poets & Saints: Popular Art of the Northeast of Brazil

During the slave trade, 10 times more Africans were brought in bondage into Brazil than into the United States, and Northeast Brazil has the largest population of those of African descent outside Africa. This exhibit explores how the ancient cultures of Africa blended with indigenous and colonial Portuguese traditions to form the vibrant and complex cultural mosaic of modern Brazil.

American University Museum

Katzen Arts Center

Through Aug. 14

Contemporary North Korean Art: The Evolution of Socialist Realism

Does art exist in North Korea? For many, this has been an open question. This exhibit, the first of its kind in the United States, seeks to broaden understanding of North Korean art beyond stereotypes of propaganda and kitsch to show sophisticated and nuanced expressive achievements. It investigates previously unrevealed evidence of North Korean artistic experimentation, and the nation’s particular evolution of socialist realism within its own culturally homogeneous context. Coinciding with the exhibition of North Korean art, the show “Examining Life Through Social Realities” documents and examines life and the social realities of people living on the Korean peninsula through the realist paintings of 10 South Korean contemporary artists.

American University Museum

Katzen Arts Center

Through Aug. 14

The Looking Glass: Artist Immigrants of Washington

The Alper Initiative for Washington Art presents this exhibit featuring the work of 10 artists who left Latin America for many different reasons over the last 60 years — primarily for safety, freedom and opportunity — and made their homes, and their artistic careers and contributions, in the Washington region.

American University Museum

Katzen Arts Center

Through Aug. 26

Inside Tracks

This photographic exhibition documents the extraordinary journey of Robyn Davidson, a 27-year-old Australian woman who set off to cross the desolate outback, accompanied only by four camels and a dog. Rick Smolan, the American photographer assigned by National Geographic to document her journey, had his own adventure tracking Robyn down in the desert. The outback of Australia, seen through Robyn’s eyes and Rick’s camera, is an ancient, awesome landscape swept by rain, heat and dust.

Embassy of Australia

Through Aug. 28

Mats Ek – A Dance Rebel on the Move for 40 Years

Theatrical and wild, with a robust, physical humor and a highly personal movement style — those are some landmarks of Swedish choreographer and director Mats Ek. Since his debut in 1976, his works have stirred and captivated audiences and his reworking’s of ballet classics such as “Giselle” and “Swan Lake” have become classics themselves. This exhibition showcases the insight and sensitivity with which photographer Lesley Leslie-Spinks has captured Mats’s highly personal and precisely delineated world.

House of Sweden

Through Aug. 31

Escape Routes

Currently, 60 million people worldwide are fleeing civil wars, persecution and poverty. Immigration and travel restrictions at the borders of wealthy European countries or on the U.S.-Mexican border, for instance, cannot stop the flow of refugees searching for a better life. In “Escape Routes,” a project by the group REINIGUNGSGESELLSCHAFT, digital drawings and pictures made from lace depict migration movements and their causes. The stylized narratives focus on the topic of mutual interdependence in a globalized world undergoing rapid transition.

Goethe-Institut Washington

Through Sept. 4

Stories of Migration: Contemporary Artists Interpret Diaspora

In this juried and invitational exhibition, 44 artists share personal and universal stories of migration — from historic events that scattered communities across continents to today’s accounts of migrants and refugees adapting to a new homeland. The artists explore: historic events that scattered people and cultures across continents; today’s accounts of migrants from Syria, Latin America and Africa adapting to new homes; and personal experiences of family members. The exhibition will feature works by artists such as fashion designer Hussein Chalayan, Mexican-American fiber artist Consuelo Jiménez Underwood, French-Togolese artist William Adjété Wilson and American artists Faith Ringgold and Penny Mateer.

The George Washington University Museum

Textile Museum

Through Sept. 11

William Merritt Chase: A Modern Master

William Merritt Chase (1849-1916), a renowned figure in the international art circles of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, was a brilliant observer of contemporary life, an innovative painter and an influential teacher. Presented on the centennial of his death, this retrospective — the first in over three decades — will explore the interrelationships in Chase’s work across subject and media, from portraits and figurative paintings, to urban park scenes, domestic interiors, still lifes and landscapes.

The Phillips Collection

Through Sept. 16

Murals from a Great Canadian Train

In 1953, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) purchased 173 brand-new stainless steel rail cars from the Budd Company of Philadelphia. With the glass ceiling design in its Vista Dome cars, “The Canadian” became the quintessential cross-country train experience. To highlight the natural beauty along the route and to promote tourism, CPR decided that Canada’s national and provincial parks should be the inspiration for the interior design of “The Canadian” rail cars. In 1954, the Royal Canadian Academy was asked to coordinate the selection of leading Canadian artists to paint murals for each of the 18 Vista Dome cars. The murals are of parks from every province and three are by members of Canada’s famed “Group of Seven” artists: A.Y. Jackson, A.J. Casson and Edwin Holgate. The Embassy of the Canada is delighted to showcase these murals and the everlasting beauty of Canada’s national and provincial parks.

Embassy of Canada Art Gallery

Through Sept. 17

The GM de Mexico Collection of Drawings and Graphic Art

General Motors de Mexico and the Embassy of Mexico present this exhibit of 100 works on paper that highlight the evolution of Mexico’s artistic narrative during the 20th century through renowned Mexican and foreign-born artists, including Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, José Clemente Orozco, Dr. Atl, Elizabeth Catlett, Pablo O’Higgins, Leonora Carrington, Roger Von Gunten and others. “The GM de Mexico Collection of Drawings and Graphic Art” was created in the late 1960s and provides a vast exploration of 20th-century Mexican art. Shown abroad for the first time since 1969, this exhibition is divided into five thematic segments that illuminate the evolution of Mexican art from muralism to modernity.

Mexican Cultural Institute

Through Sept. 18

In Celebration of Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon was one of America’s greatest art collectors and remains one of the gallery’s leading benefactors. Timed to coincide with the gallery’s 75th anniversary, a special exhibition features 80 of the finest pastels, watercolors, drawings, prints, and illustrated books selected from his donations.

National Gallery of Art

Through Sept. 18

Symbolic Cities: The World of Ahmed Mater

Born in 1979 in southern Saudi Arabia and trained as a medical doctor, Ahmed Mater has been a practicing artist since the early 1990s, creating works that offer an unparalleled perspective on contemporary Saudi Arabia. Now based in Jeddah, Mater has focused primarily on photography and video since 2010. From abandoned desert cities to the extraordinary transformation of Mecca, “Symbolic Cities” presents his visual and aural journeys observing economic and urban change in Saudi Arabia.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

Through Oct. 2

Alison Saar in Print

Alison Saar uses dynamic printmaking techniques to explore themes of feminine, racial and cultural identity. The artist’s hand-wrought woodcuts combine strong color and bold forms, while her central figures hold evocative objects — snakes, knives, fry pans, plants or bottles — that allude to a range of myth, lore and legend.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Oct. 2

Hubert Robert, 1733-1808

One of the most prominent artists of his era, Hubert Robert loved and depicted ruined structures of all types, whether real or imagined, and not just those of ancient Rome (he lived in Italy for eleven years). He also drew inspiration from scenes he encountered in his native France, including urban renewal projects, Gallo-Roman antiquities and natural disasters. At the core of his success was his brilliance as a master of the architectural capriccio, in which random monuments from different locales were artfully brought together to create new, completely imaginary landscapes.

National Gallery of Art

Through Dec. 31

Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920-1945

The style that came to be known as art deco, which flourished from the 1920s to 1940s, was a vivid reflection of the modern era and the vitality of the machine age. Between the wars, as normalcy returned to politics, jazz music blossomed and the flapper redefined the modern woman, art deco left its mark on every form of visual art. This exhibit explores how the Japanese interpreted the style and transformed it through their own rich art and craft traditions.

Hillwood Museum, Estate and Gardens

Through Jan. 2

Intersections: Photographs and Videos from the National Gallery of Art and Corcoran Gallery of Art

Nearly 700 photographs from Eadweard Muybridge’s groundbreaking publication “Animal Locomotion,” acquired by the Corcoran Gallery of Art in 1887, became the foundation for the institution’s early interest in photography. The Key Set of more than 1,600 works by Alfred Stieglitz, donated by Georgia O’Keeffe and the Alfred Stieglitz Estate, launched the photography collection at the National Gallery of Art in 1949. Inspired by these two seminal artists, Muybridge and Stieglitz, the exhibition brings together highlights of the recently merged collections of the Corcoran and the National Gallery of Art by a range of artists from the 1840s to today.

National Gallery of Art

Through Jan. 2

Senses of Time: Video and Film-Based Works of Africa

This exhibition features six internationally recognized African artists and examines how time is experienced and produced by the body. Bodies stand, climb, dance and dissolve in seven works of video and film art by Sammy Baloji, Theo Eshetu, Moataz Nasr, Berni Searle, Yinka Shonibare and Sue Williamson, all of whom repeat, resist and reverse the expectation that time must move relentlessly forward.

National Museum of African Art

Through Jan. 29

Turquoise Mountain: Artists Transforming Afghanistan

Decades of civil unrest nearly destroyed Afghanistan’s vital artistic heritage. Over the past decade, Turquoise Mountain, an organization founded in 2006 at the request of the prince of Wales and the president of Afghanistan, has transformed the Murad Khani district of Old Kabul from slum conditions into a vibrant cultural and economic center.

Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

DANCE

Tue., July 5, 10:30 a.m.

Serendibdance Company: A Single Cycle of the Sun

Celebrate the heritage of Sri Lanka with SerendibDance Company as they present intricate movements, rhythmic sounds and exquisite costumes to tell the story, “A Single Cycle of the Sun,” a folktale about community, culture and harmony. Tickets are $8.

Wolf Trap

July 14 to 16

American Ballet Theatre: Romeo and Juliet

A masterful interpretation of Shakespeare’s enduring romantic tragedy comes to dramatic life in a production by America’s National Ballet Company, whose work has been hailed as “the most spectacular dancing in the world” (The New York Times). Tickets are $20 to $95.

Wolf Trap

FESTIVALS

June 29 to July 4; July 7 to 10

Smithsonian Folklife Festival

The Smithsonian Folklife Festival, held every summer on the National Mall, celebrates U.S. and foreign cultures each year with music, crafts, food and demonstrations of local traditions. This year the Folklife Festival celebrates resilient communities around the world. Discover how the Basque region in Spain and southwestern France sustains its culture, drawing on traditions to innovate in a rapidly changing world. Learn renowned cooking techniques and phrases in the Euskara language. Experience bertsolaritza poetry competitions and stone-lifting matches. And drink a refreshing glass of cider or rioja wine while meeting master artisans.

National Mall

MUSIC

Fri., July 15, 7:30 p.m.

Evermay Chamber Featuring Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore

Music Center at Strathmore

Led by S&R Washington Award Grand Prize winner and violinist, Tamaki Kawakubo, Evermay Chamber is an ensemble of world class musicians renowned for their exceptional artistry. In this debut collaboration, Evermay Chamber soloists partner with the Maryland Classic Youth Orchestras of Strathmore in Beethoven’s majestic Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56. Mozart’s Divertimento in D Major, K.136, and Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat Major, K.449 form an invigorating first half program.

Fri., July 29, 7:30 p.m.

Trio Alba

Youthful vigor, passion on stage and compelling playfulness, all based on a profound knowledge of sound perception and chamber music structures — this is how critics have described the musical trinity that has been known since 2008 as the Trio Alba. To reserve a ticket, visit http://acfdc.org.

Austrian Cultural Forum

THEATER

Through July 3

District Merchants

Love and litigation, deep passions and predatory lending are taken to a new level in this uneasy comedy, which wades fearlessly into the endless complexities and contradictions of life in America. Set among the black and Jewish populations of an imagined time and place — simultaneously Shakespearean, post-Civil War D.C., and today— “District Merchants” is a remarkable tale of money, merchandise, and mercy brought to the stage by four-time Helen Hayes Award-winner Aaron Posner. Tickets are $35 to $75.

Folger Shakespeare Theatre

Fri., July 8, 8 p.m.

Salvatrucans Once Again

GALA Hispanic Theatre celebrates “Verano en GALA,” a series of summer presentations of local and international artists that kicks off with “Salvatrucans Once Again.” In this evening of mixed media, which includes an art exhibit, handmade books, poetry, live performance and a dance party, Quique Avilés brings together a group of Salvadoran artists to honor the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Mount Pleasant Riots. Tickets are $10; cash bar.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Through July 10

Kinky Boots

With songs by Grammy- and Tony-winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this Tony-winning musical celebration is about the friendships we discover, and the belief that you can change the world when you change your mind. Tickets are $49 to $199.

Kennedy Center Opera House

July 11 to Aug. 9

Twelfth Night

Set in the roaring 20s, Synetic’s “Twelfth Night” tells the tale of fraternal twins, Viola and Sebastian, separated in a strange new land. Having survived a shipwreck and believing her brother Sebastian has been lost, Viola falls hopelessly in love with Duke Orsino and disguises herself as a man to enter his services. Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater

July 13 to Aug. 20

The Phantom of the Opera

Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” comes to D.C. as part of a brand-new North American tour, with critics raving that this breathtaking production is “bigger and better than ever before.” Tickets are $25 to $149.

Kennedy Center Opera House

Fri., July 15, 8 p.m.,

Sat., July 16, 8 p.m.

Miss Cuarenta

In “Miss Cuarenta,” a woman celebrates her 40th birthday by recalling her many failed dates, romances and marriages. Colombian actress Paula Arcila’s sharp and insightful delivery will have audiences laughing from beginning to end as she explores society’s obsession with beauty and aging through a hilarious look at certain moments in a woman’s life. Tickets are $30.

GALA Hispanic Theatre

Through July 17

The Bridges of Madison County

Winner of two Tony Awards including Best Score by Jason Robert Brown, this “gorgeous, powerful, and rapturous” (New York Magazine) new Broadway musical based on the best-selling novel centers around an Iowa housewife and her life-changing romance with a traveling photographer. Tickets are $49 to $129.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

July 27 to 30

Shakespeare’s Globe on Tour: The Merchant of Venice

Starring Jonathan Pryce as Shylock, one of the most memorable outsiders in all of theater, this new production of Shakespeare’s play dramatizes competing claims of tolerance and intolerance, religious law and civil society, justice and mercy. Tickets are $69 to $120.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater