EVENT CATEGORIES
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EVENTS HIGHLIGHT
Czech Grand Slam
This year’s Mutual Inspirations Festival, hosted by the Czech Embassy, honors a living sports legend: Martina Navrátilová. The Czech-American tennis great took women’s tennis to another level and inspired the world with her unsurpassed record of 59 Grand Slam titles, including nine Wimbledon singles championships. She remains the oldest winner of a Grand Slam title, male or female.
Beyond her victories on the court, Navrátilová has become an inspirational leader to rising stars, athletes, women, breast cancer patients and minorities, and she is an outspoken advocate for human rights and healthy living.
The annual festival, now in its seventh year, celebrates the mutual influence between Czech and American cultures and the enormous personalities who have shaped this connection. Previous festivals showcased figures such as filmmaker Miloš Forman, Czech President Václav Havel and writer Franz Kafka.
This year’s festival, which runs Sept. 8 to Nov. 20, features a Grand Slam party of ’80s and ’90s music with DJ Tom from Prague at the Czech Embassy on Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. Other highlights include: an exclusive sit-down interview with Navrátilová and the Washington Posts Petula Dvorak (Sept 12); the exhibition “Love Yourself,” an intimate photography and documentary project that examines the personal philosophies and values of various women living in different social environments and life situations (opens Sept. 22); a walk against breast cancer (Oct. 2); a discussion and workout with top local fitness pioneers (Oct. 4); the play “Protest,” which exposes life under a totalitarian regime (Sept. 28); and a variety of film and documentary screenings throughout the area.
For a complete schedule of events, visit www.mutualinspirations.org.
ART
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. 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
Sept. 6 to Oct. 23
It Takes a Nation: Art for Social Justice with Emory Douglas and the Black Panther Party, AFRICOBRA, and Contemporary Washington Artists
This wide-ranging exhibit of political and visual content provides a cross-generational conversation of social justice in America. On display for the first time in D.C. is the art of Emory Douglas, the renowned radical sociopolitical artist who served as Minister of Culture and the primary artist and illustrator for the original Black Panther Party of the 1960s and 1970s.
American University Museum at
Katzen Arts Center
Sept. 6 to Oct. 23
Todas las Manos
This interdisciplinary public art project celebrates human rights and global justice, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the murders of former Chilean Ambassador Orlando Letelier and co-worker Ronni Karpen Moffitt in D.C. on Sept. 21, 1976. Letelier and Karpen Moffitt were killed by a car bomb explosion. Muralist Francisco Letelier, son of Orlando Letelier, worked in collaboration with youth participants from the Latin American Youth Center to create a large-scale mural in the museum’s sculpture garden.
American University Museum at
Katzen Arts Center
Sept. 7 to 27
Heritage in Danger: The Centro Scavi Torino and the Requalification of Iraqi Cultural Heritage
The Italian Cultural Institute, in collaboration with the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino (CRAST), present a conference on Sept. 7 (6 p.m.) on CRAST’s work to preserve Iraq’s cultural heritage over the last 50 years, including its assistance in reopening the looted Iraq Museum in Baghdad in 2015. A related exhibition examines Italian efforts to rehabilitate works in the Iraq Museum to offer a window into the past of Mesopotamia and human history.
Embassy of Italy
Through Sept. 9
Bonsai: Celebrating 40 Years of the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum
This summer the Japan Information and Culture Center (JICC), in partnership with the U.S. National Arboretum and the National Bonsai Foundation, celebrates the 40th anniversary of Japan’s gift of 53 bonsai trees to the United States. These bonsai trees are housed in the National Bonsai & Penjing Museum, which is on the U.S. National Arboretum grounds. To mark the occasion, the Japanese Embassy is hosting a magnificently detailed bonsai photography by Stephen Voss.
Japan Information and Culture Center
Sept. 9 to 26
The Prismatic
The Prismatic is an artist/designer collective that aims to exhibit the diversity of human conditions, like a prism refracting a single ray of light into different colors. There are largely two schools of practice within the group. Nina Cho, a sculptor and furniture/product designer; Yunjung Kang, an installation artist; Jin Kim, an object collector; and June Lee, a mixed media artist, embrace the human condition with their visual language of counterbalance, intimacy, subtlety and accumulation. On the other hand, graphic designer Hwan Jahng, ceramist Yunwook Mun and multimedia sculptor Yeonhee Kim make up the group of struggling loners, who mainly use the language of opposition.
Korean Cultural Institute
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
Sept. 14 to Nov. 4
2,000 Miles: Divided Land, Common Humanity
This exhibition aims to contribute to our ongoing conversation about walls, borders and people. Until recently, the idea of separating territories and peoples via manmade borders seemed an outdated relic from the past. Recent political developments, however, including the creation of new barriers at the European Union’s borders, have made such barriers a topic of heated debate. Germany’s own past in this regard serves as inspiration for two German artists, Daniel Schwarz and Stefan Falke, who take a close look at the geography and the cultural and social commonalities on the two sides of the U.S.-Mexican border.
Goethe-Institut
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
Sept. 17 to Dec. 11
Spirit of the Wild: Through the Eyes of Mattias Klum
All life on earth is interconnected. Cities, societies and nations depend on healthy natural ecosystems to survive and prosper. Mattias Klum, one of the most important natural history photographer of our time, shares the stories of his journeys; from deep in the Artic to wild places like the Borneo rainforest, to the savannahs of Tanzania and the life under the sea.
House of Sweden
Sept. 17 to Dec. 11
Viktigt by Ingegerd Raman
With love of craftsmanship and simplicity at the heart of it all, Viktigt pieces do their job in silence. Ingegerd Råman, the House of Sweden’s own designer, explores the craftsmanship behind her IKEA collection of glass, ceramic, bamboo and natural fibers.
House of Sweden
Sept. 17 to Dec. 11
Woodland Sweden
Nature is prevalent everywhere in Sweden and there is a long tradition of using nature’s raw materials in the country’s built environment. Wooden architecture and design, in fact, are becoming a new Swedish export item. This exhibition shows the rapid development of Swedish innovative contemporary architecture and examines different aspects of construction work with wood.
House of Sweden
Sept. 17 to Feb. 12
Notes from the Desert: Photographs by Gauri Gill
Since the late 1990s, Gauri Gill (born 1970) has been photographing marginalized communities in western Rajasthan, India. Featuring 57 of her prints, this exhibition showcases Gill’s work in the remote desert region and draws on her extensive archive.
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
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
Karel Appel: A Gesture of Color
Karel Appel (1921-2006) is perhaps the most renowned Dutch artist of the latter half of the 20th century and one of founding members of the avant-garde COBRA group. Marking the 10th anniversary of the artist’s death, this survey of 22 paintings and sculptures provides a fresh look at an oeuvre that goes beyond the 1950s, spanning more than 60 years.
The Phillips Collection
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
Sept. 28 to Jan. 28
DeLIMITations
This exhibit chronicles a 2,400 mile-long, site-specific installation that traces the border between Mexico and the United States as it existed in 1821. In marking the short-lived historic boundary with a series of monuments that mimic those installed along the contemporary border, artists Marchos Ramírez Erre and David Taylor question the permanence of borders while recognizing the shared history and common interests between the two neighboring countries.
Mexican Cultural Institute
Sept. 30 to Jan. 8
NO MAN’S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection
Born in 16 countries across five continents, 37 contemporary artists use their aesthetically diverse work to address varied political and intellectual themes. This exhibition centers on the process of making as well as on images of the female body — both topics that extend from the feminist art movement of the 1970s.
National Museum of Women in the Arts
Sept. 30 to Jan. 29
Los Angeles to New York: Dwan Gallery, 1959-1971
The remarkable career of gallerist and patron Virginia Dwan will be featured front and center for the first time in an exhibition of some 100 works, featuring highlights from Dwan’s promised gift of her extraordinary personal collection to the National Gallery of Art.
National Gallery of Art
Sept. 30 to March 5
Photography Reinvented: The Collection of Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker
The collection of Robert E. Meyerhoff and Rheda Becker brings together works of critically important artists who have changed the course of photography through their experimentation and conceptual scope. Especially rich in holdings of work by photographers of the famed Düsseldorf School, among them Struth, Candida Höfer, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff, the collection also includes examples by photographers exploring the nature of the medium itself, such as Demand, Cindy Sherman and Vik Muniz.
National Gallery of Art
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 Oct. 9
Muchedumbre: Photography by Jorge Brantmayer (Chile)
“Muchedumbre” is a photographic project that investigates Chile’s post-dictatorship era, its transition to democracy, its economic boom and Chile’s current state of paradox. As the Chilean society begins to question an economic system centered on open markets and a growing disparity in wealth, more citizens are demanding a more equitable and just nation. This exhibit documents that process beginning in 2006 through 2015, and chronicles different public demonstrations including marches for free education, gender equality and sexual diversity, as well as protests against environmental degradation, among others.
Art Museum of the Americas
Through Nov. 6
Will & Jane
Merchandising, parodies and spinoffs through the centuries have put William Shakespeare and Jane Austen on a first-name basis with the world. Explore the stories of “Will” and “Jane” and the nature of literary celebrity. How does today’s Cult of Jane resemble the first wave of Bardolatry 200 years ago?
Folger Shakespeare Library
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
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
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. 7
#Opera Before Instagram: Portraits, 1890-1955
An exhibition opening next month at the Library of Congress will showcase photographs of early opera stars from a collection assembled by the late authority on opera Charles Jahant, in a format that will explore how Jahant might have used an Instagram account had he lived today.
Library of Congress
James Madison Building
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
Sat., Sept. 3, 8 p.m.
Diamono (Roots)
Diamono celebrates the people and cultures of the Casamance region in the West African nation of Senegal. Tickets are $25.
GW Lisner Auditorium
Fri., Sept. 30, 8 p.m.
The Washington Ballet Presents A Special Evening: 40th Anniversary Celebration
For one night only, the Washington Ballet presents a special evening of works by Choo San Goh, Septime Webre as well as other favorites from TWB’s repertoire. Narrated by newly installed Artistic Director Julie Kent, the evening includes an emotional and inspirational look back at the people and creative works that have come to define the company throughout its 40-year history. Tickets are $40 to $500.
Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater
Sept. 30 to Oct. 2
Step Afrika!
Washington Performing Arts presents Step Afrika!, the D.C.-based global ambassador of traditional stepping, which debuts a new and expanded production of its signature work, “The Migration,” based on American painter Jacob Lawrence’s iconic series (displayed at the Phillips Collection and at MoMA in New York). Please call for ticket information.
University of District of Columbia
Theater of the Arts
DISCUSSIONS
Thu., Sept. 15, 6:30 p.m.
Spanish Fever: Authors in Conversation
SPAIN arts & culture presents Spanish graphic novelists Santiago García, Javier Olivares, David Rubín, Ana Galvañ and José Domingo, some of the artists featured in “Spanish Fever: Stories by the New Spanish Cartoonists.” This anthology showcases the talents of a contemporary wave of Spanish comic authors and the quality of graphic novels emerging from a country with one of the strongest cartoon traditions in Europe. The Sept. 15-18 book tour will stop at SPX 2016 in Bethesda, Md., in addition to venues in D.C., Baltimore and New York.
Former Residence of the Spanish Ambassador
Wed., Sept. 21, 12 p.m.
I Juana Live in America: An Immigrant’s (Creative) Journey
Award-winning illustrator Juana Medina will discuss her work and her artistic journey as a Colombian artist living in the United States. Medina is an illustrator and author for children’s books, as well as a teacher at George Washington University.
Library of Congress
James Madison Building
MUSIC
Tue., Sept. 6, 6:45 p.m.
Tribute to Cervantes and Granados: Spanish Music by Duo Belcorde
The Spanish Duo Belcorde — violinist Manuel Briega and guitarist Adrián Fernández — pays tribute to Cervantes and Granados with a concert program of works and masterpieces composed between the 17th and 20th centuries.
Former Residence of Spanish Ambassador
Fri., Sept. 9, 8 p.m.
Laylo Rikhsieva, Piano
Laylo Rikhsieva, who was born in Uzbekistan and has performed in places ranging from Italy to Ohio to Germany, opens the Embassy Series 2016-17 season with a program of Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Tickets are $25, including reception; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.
International Student House
Fri., Sept. 16, 12 p.m.
Maestro Soler: An Homage to Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, Maestro Soler wil present a guitar recital in honor of the 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.
Library of Congress
Thomas Jefferson Building
THEATER
Sept. 2 to 25
Report to an Academy
Scena Theatre opens the company’s 30th anniversary season with Franz Kafka’s acclaimed “Report to an Academy,” an emotionally powerful drama that features Scena founder and Artistic Director Robert McNamara in a one-man play lasting 65 minutes. In the story, an African ape is captured and shipped abroad. To survive, “Red Peter” learns to imitate his captors and evolves to behave like a human. Ultimately, Peter presents his fascinating tale of transformation — and the horrid details of his former ape life — to a top scientific academy. Tickets are $30 and $35.
Atlas Performing Arts Center
Sept. 8 to Oct. 2
Cervantes: The Last Quixote
GALA Hispanic Theatre enters its fifth decade by commemorating 400th anniversary of the death of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra with this world premiere. In this new play of mystery and intrigue, Cervantes has died in the street. A drunk insists that the man who killed him is the renowned poet Lope de Vega. In Casanova’s tale, the same man recounts the secrets Cervantes shared with him, revealing the most tempestuous period in the great writer’s life and the unbridled creativity of his final years. Tickets are $40 and $45.
GALA Hispanic Theatre
Sept. 8 to Oct. 1
I Call My Brothers
A car has exploded and a city has been crippled by fear, reeling from an act of terrorism. Amor wanders the city, doing his best to blend in. But what is normal behavior? And who is a potential perpetrator? Over 24 hours, Jonas Hassen Kemiri’s fierce, funny and explosive play — written in response to the Stockholm terrorist attacks of 2010 — explores where the lines between criminal and victim, and fantasy and reality, blur. Tickets start at $30.
Silver Spring Black Box Theater
Through Sept. 11
Jelly’s Last Jam
Take your seat at the legendary Jungle Inn nightclub for the electrifying, multiple Tony-winning musical that tells the story of jazz through one of its most notorious entertainers: Jelly Roll Morton. Journey from the back alleys of New Orleans to the dance halls of Chicago to the stages of New York with “he who drinks from the vine of syncopation” in a sizzling memoir of pride, lust and a past denied. Please call for ticket information.
Signature Theatre
Sept. 12 to Oct. 9
Collective Rage: A Play in Five Boops
Five different women named Betty collide at the intersection of anger, sex and the “thea-tah” in award-winning playwright Jen Silverman’s absurdist romantic comedy that is at once hysterical, inspired and boldly uncompromising. Tickets start at $35.
Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
Sept. 13 to Nov. 6
Romeo & Juliet
The most famous love story in the world and one of Shakespeare’s early poetic masterworks, “Romeo & Juliet” follows two star-crossed lovers from love at first sight to eternal life hereafter. Please call for ticket information.
Shakespeare Company Lansburgh Theatre
Sept. 13 to Oct. 30
Sense and Sensibility
Reason and passion collide in Jane Austen’s beloved tale of sisterhood and romance. When sudden financial straits force the Dashwood family to move to a distant cottage, sisters Elinor and Marianne become ensnared in heart-wrenching romances. Tickets are $30 to $75.
Folger Theatre
Through Sept. 18
Hand to God
In a church basement in a small Texas town, the teens of a Christian puppetry ministry gather to bring the Word to the Flock. But one puppet takes on a foul-mouthed, demonic life of its own — unleashing
the community’s barely repressed lust and rage. Tickets are $20 to $70.
Studio Theatre
Sept. 22 to Oct. 2
The Marriage of Figaro
One of opera’s most enduring and beloved classics, Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” tells an upstairs/downstairs story of love, lust, seduction, infidelity and, ultimately, forgiveness, all set to some of the most sublime and memorable music ever written. Tickets are $25 to $315.
Kennedy Center Opera House
Sept. 23 to Oct. 30
The Little Foxes
There are people who eat and there are those who get eaten. This fall, Arena Stage serves up Lillian Hellman’s “The Little Foxes,” a delicious drama about family greed and betrayal. Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Marg Helgenberger stars as Regina Giddens, clawing her way to wealth with her equally calculating brothers. When their plan to control the local cotton mill is thwarted, they’ll turn to ever more devious schemes, even as it further divides their family. Tickets are $40 to $90.
Arena Stage
Sept. 28 to Oct. 30
Dante’s Inferno
A lost traveler must navigate a treacherous journey through the nine circles of hell in search of spiritual redemption and his lost love. This revitalized, wordless version of Synetic’s emotionally charged production promises to be a wicked whirlwind of stunning visuals, hauntingly vivid original music, and powerful physicality. Tickets start at $35 (recommended for ages 16 and up for violence and partial nudity).
Synetic Theater
