EVENT CATEGORIES

ART 

Aug. 4 to 31

From Nature

What is the value of nature? Or rather, what values does nature exhibit? This exhibition features six Korean artists who explore what it means to espouse the values found in nature — form, flow, utilization of resources — in their art and life. Bukang Kim, Hyang Yeon Lee, Hyun Jeung, Jung Woo, Soo il Choi and Yurim Seong utilize a variety of expressive artistic media including painting, sculpture, print and installation to reflect the contrasting harmony of realism and abstraction found at different levels of nature. Each artist’s work varies in material and technique as they draw connections between their unique personal style of expression and fundamental principles of the natural world.

Korean Cultural Center

Through Aug. 6

Gateways/Portales

What do D.C., Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., and Baltimore, Md., all have in common? They are all urban areas, are all on the East Coast and all have experienced rapid growth in their “Latinx” populations, most with spurts beginning in the 1980s. “Gateways/Portales” explores the triumphs and struggles of Latinx migrants and immigrants through the lenses of rights and justice, representation and celebration.

Anacostia Community Museum

Through Aug. 6

José Gómez-Sicre’s Eye

A half-century ago, Cuban-born curator José Gómez-Sicre took the reins of the OAS’s art program, thrusting himself into the rapidly expanding Latin American art world and bringing young, emerging talent to the OAS’s budding exhibition space. Impassioned by the arts, Gómez-Sicre planted the seeds of what is today considered among world’s finest collections of modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art. The OAS will be celebrating the centennial of Gómez-Sicre’s birth throughout 2016, honoring his contribution to the legacy of the hemisphere’s art.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

hrough Aug. 6

The Urban Scene: 1920-1950

American artists of the early 20th century sought to interpret the beauty, power and anxiety of the modern age in diverse ways. Through depictions of bustling city crowds and breathtaking metropolitan vistas, 25 black-and-white prints in this exhibition explore the spectacle of urban modernity.

National Gallery of Art

Through Aug. 13

Escape: Foon Sham

“Escape” showcases Foon Sham’s mastery of wood sculpture. To be within one of his vessel sculptures is to experience the palpable space of a woodland creature’s habitat, or the place of concealment. At the American University Museum, Sham has built one horizontal tunnel measuring 62 feet long and one vertical tunnel towering 36 feet high. “Escape” is one of a series of participatory sculptures, begun in the 1990s, meant to be experienced with all the body’s senses and to resonate socially.

American University Museum

Through Aug. 13

States of Being: Photographs of Cuba and North Korea by Carl De Keyzer

An exhibition of prints by Belgian photographer Carl De Keyzer of scenes in North Korea and Cuba consists of 60 large-scale photos. The Cuba photos were taken shortly after former President Obama’s 2014 speech inviting the relaxation of the communist island’s 56-year embargo. De Keyzer’s North Korean prints also were shot in 2015. The British-run Koryo Group, which organizes travel tours in North Korea, arranged for De Keyzer to spend more than 40 nights in North Korea, during which time the globally renowned photographer traveled to every single one of the country’s provinces.

American University Museum

Through Aug. 19

Tierras Ambulantes (Clay in Transit)

Curated by Mexican artist Paloma Torres, “Tierras Ambulantes (Clay in Transit)” explores the work of seven sculptors who use clay as a means of returning to cultural roots and origins. The artists whose work is presented here build bridges between the past and present by creating contemporary pieces with such an ancient medium.

Mexican Cultural Institute

Through Aug. 20

America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting

When Joseph Bonaparte, elder brother of Napoleon, arrived in the United States in 1815, he brought with him his exquisite collection of eighteenth-century French paintings. Put on public view, the works caused a sensation, and a new American taste for French art was born. T his exhibition brings together 68 paintings that represent some of the best and most unusual examples of French art of that era held by American museums and tells their stories on a national stage.

National Gallery of Art

Through Aug. 25

Love is in the Air: Magical Realism and the Art of Emotion

Felipe Giménez and Antonia Guzmán portray humans with all their frailties and foibles in a few strokes of a brush. Pared down to essentials, the most minimalist of figures in both artists’ work conveys elation, anxiety, and the breathtaking willingness to take a chance on love. Giménez worked for many years as a child psychologist before becoming a full-time artist. This early training permeates his art, which shows a rich sense of humor as it radiantly captures the essence of human relationships. Meanwhile, Guzmán’s dreamlike tableaux are comprised of lushly colored geometric shapes, hieroglyphs and stick-like anthropoid figures.

Embassy of Argentina

Through Sept. 3

David Molander – Invisible Cities

If home is a place where we ought to feel safe, how is this feeling visualized in our collective home — i.e., the city? This question inspired David Molander to create scenes where small and large conflicts play out among different interests and processes. While we can choose to care about or ignore them, all of them play an important role in shaping the invincible cities that we call home.

House of Sweden

Through Sept. 3

Linda Lasson – Black Thread, Images from Northern Sweden

Exploring the lives of the Sami, Sweden’s indigenous people. Linda Lasson tells the stories of an exploited Northland and a displaced indigenous population through work that is archetypal contemporary poetry expressed as embroidery. The threads resemble drawings, and the graphic feel, mixed with the textile structure, exudes a sculptural aesthetic.

House of Sweden

Through Sept. 10

Markus Lüpertz: Threads of History

Offering unparalleled insight into the German artist’s pioneering early practice, “Markus Lüpertz: Threads of History” showcases more than 30 paintings from Lüpertz’s formative years in the 1960s and ’70s, as he challenged the limits of painting and forged his own style amidst the unrest of postwar Germany.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through Sept. 10

Revival

Contemporary sculpture, photography and video by women artists explores how arresting aesthetics and intense subject matter can spur the viewer into a transcendent encounter with a work of art. Rousing the spirit rather than simply tantalizing the eye, the 16 artists in this exhibition harness scale, technique and effect in photography and sculpture to reanimate deep-rooted emotions related to the human experience.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Sept. 17

Yoko Ono: Four Works for Washington and the World

The Hirshhorn celebrates the 10th anniversary of Yoko Ono’s iconic “Wish Tree for Washington, D.C.,” a living tree that invites visitors to tie a handwritten wish to its branches, with a summer of the Ono’s emotionally charged installations and performances. Starting June 17, visitors can make a wish at the Wish Tree, leave memories of their mother at the U.S. debut of “My Mommy is Beautiful,” a 40-foot participatory artwork that becomes a communal tribute to motherhood, and watch the newly restaged Sky TV for Washington, D.C., a 24-hour live feed of the sky outside, created in 1966 when Ono was living in a windowless apartment and longed for a glimpse of nature.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Through Sept. 23

Markus Lüpertz

“Markus Lüpertz” explores the entirety of the prolific German artist’s five-decade career with a survey of his earliest works along with more recent paintings. Lüpertz, who began painting in a postwar Germany dominated by American Abstract Expressionism and Pop Art, has exhibited a preoccupation with the relationship between figuration and abstraction over the course of his career. Demonstrating this relationship through nearly 50 paintings, the exhibition at the Phillips includes important examples from Lüpertz’s “dithyrambic” pictures and provocative paintings of German motifs.

The Phillips Collection

Through Sept. 30

From Sinbad to the Shabab Oman: A Seafaring Legacy

Sail the high seas alongside some of history’s most famous explorers and navigators — Marco Polo, Ibn Battuta and Ahmad Ibn Majid — and visit different Omani ports of call. Each leg of this journey will explore Omani history, Omani mariners and the Omani vessels they sailed. By interweaving the stories of these explorers with items from Omani ships and shipbuilding, this exhibit explores the history of Omani seafaring over the last millennia.

Sultan Qaboos Cultural Center

Through Oct. 29

Equilibrium: Fanny Sanín

This spotlight exhibition, featuring five paintings and more than 30 preliminary drawings by Fanny Sanín, invites viewers into the artist’s meticulous, intuitive process, as she creates compositions of geometric forms with precisely defined fields of color.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Nov. 17

Wonder Women!

From the Guerrilla Girls righting the wrongs of the art world to painter Edna Reindel’s tough World War II riveters, to vintage feminist comic books — it’s the celebration of the Wonder Women! Explore images of the powerful woman, real and fictional, in a wide-ranging selection drawn from the special collections and artists’ archives of the Betty Boyd Dettre Library and Research Center.

National Museum of Women in the Arts

Through Dec. 10

Stories of Migration – Sweden Beyond the Headlines

Migration is old news. It has helped shape countries and the world. But the current situation is unprecedented: More than 65 million people around the world have been forced to leave their homes. Migration is also an integral part of the history of Sweden; in today’s population, one in six was born in another country. Since the 1930s Sweden has been characterized by more immigration than emigration, including offering refuge to people fleeing war and political unrest. This exhibition aims to add new perspectives to the story of Sweden and migration and give insights into the current situation in the country. Beyond headlines of chaos and collapse, beyond politics and public authorities, there are people who try to build a life in a new country.

House of Sweden

Through Dec. 13

Matthias Mansen: Configurations

German-born artist Matthias Mansen creates large-scale woodcuts that explore abstraction and figuration. He advances the tradition of woodblock printing by transforming pieces of scavenged wood—discarded floorboards or fragments of abandoned furniture—into printing blocks, which he progressively carves and recarves.

National Gallery of Art

Through Jan. 1

Spectacular Gems and Jewelry from the Merriweather Post Collection

For centuries, extraordinary gemstones have been the centerpieces of stunning jewelry made to adorn royalty, aristocracy, high society and Hollywood stars. Over 50 pieces that once belonged heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post, one of the greatest jewelry collectors of the 20th century, will tell the story behind some of the remarkable stones and the jewelry into which they were transformed.

Hillwood Esttae, Museum and Gardens

Through Jan. 15

Architecture of an Asylum: St. Elizabeths 1852-2017

Established by Congress in 1855 as the Government Hospital for the Insane, St. Elizabeths is widely considered a pioneering psychiatric facility. The hospital is a prime example of the “Kirkbride Plan” for mental health hospitals, which promised to help patients with a specialized architecture and landscape. This exhibition traces St. Elizabeths’ evolution over time, reflecting shifting theories about how to care for the mentally ill, as well as the later reconfiguration of the campus as a federal workplace and a mixed-use urban development.

National Building Museum

Through Jan. 28

The Face of Battle: Americans at War, 9/11 to Now

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the United States has been engaged in multiple wars, varying in intensity, locale and consequence. After fifteen years, this warfare has become normalized into our social and cultural landscape; it is ongoing, yet somehow out of sight, invisible. These 56 portraits by six artists explore the human costs of ongoing wars through portraiture. The exhibition title is drawn from John Keegan’s classic military history, which reorients our view of war from questions of strategy and tactics to its personal and individual toll.

National Portrait Gallery

Through Feb. 17

Painting Shakespeare

Discover the paintings collection at the Folger — its stories, its glories and Shakespeare’s power to inspire visual artists. From humble oil sketches to international masterpieces, this exhibition presents kids and adults alike, with a sometimes surprising, and always eye-catching, view of the man and his works.

Folger Shakespeare Library

Through June 24, 2018

Jim Chuchu’s Invocations

The museum is the first institution to acquire and display Kenyan multimedia artist Jim Chuchu’s mesmerizing suite of video projections, in which two distinct videos loop in succession and follow the structure of initiation rituals. Surrounded by Chuchu’s pulsing house beats and evocative imagery, viewers are invited to contemplate the separations and releases that shape our individual and collective identities.

National Museum of African Art

DANCE

Fri., Aug. 25, 7 p.m.

Sweden in the Park: Nordic Dancers of Washington, D.C.

The Embassy of Sweden in collaboration with Glen Echo Park and the local folkdance community are offering free Swedish/Nordic folk dance lessons and social dances this summer. Classes take place at 7 p.m. and social dances begin at 8 p.m. Registration is recommended but not mandatory.

Glen Echo Park Bumper Car Pavilion

MUSIC

Fri., Aug. 4, 8 p.m.

Daymé Arocena

Cuban singer and composer Daymé Arocena combines contemporary Cuban music and Santerian chants with fluid jazz styling, synthesizing elements of her homeland and world music into an enrapturing musical fusion. Her live performances are equally captivating, immersing fragments of rumba rhythms and outbursts of scatting into her songs. Tickets are $25 to $35.

AMP by Strathmore

Sat., Aug. 5, 7 and 9:45 p.m.

Ari Shapiro: Homeward

As a journalist, NPR’s “All Things Considered” host Ari Shapiro has witnessed wars and revolutions. Now, inspired by his experiences around the world, he takes the stage in “Homeward,” his first solo cabaret performance. Shapiro sings songs of upheaval, patriotism and hope from places that are less far away than they seem. Tickets are $14

AMP by Strathmore

Fri., Aug. 11, 8 p.m.

Youssou N’Dour

Youssou N’Dour from Senegal is one of the major stars of African pop. He and his band are internationally known for their thoughtful lyrics and joyous performances. Tickets are $55 to $75.

GW Lisner Auditorium

Sat., Aug. 19, 8 p.m.

Rastak Music Group

An ensemble of virtuoso musicians presenting a fusion of Persian music, Rastak Group seeks to collect, record and interpret traditional Persian folk music for a global audience, incorporating language, culture and history while also merging traditional instruments with contemporary rhythms. Tickets are $40 to $100.

GW Lisner Auditorium

Wed., Aug. 23, 8 p.m.

War and Los Lonely Boys

One of the most sampled and popular funk groups of the ’70s whose hits including “Low Rider” and “Why Can’t We Be Friends,” WAR shares the stage with Los Lonely Boys, a band of brothers bringing bluesy Texican rock to the mainstream with chart-toppers like “Heaven.” Tickets are $30 to $65.

Wolf Trap

Sat., Aug. 26, 6 p.m.

Kyrgyz American Foundation Gala

The Kyrgyz American Foundation in partnership with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts presents a gala concert featuring classical and traditional music from Kyrgyzstan at the Millennium Stage. The gala will feature world-class concert pianists Aza Sydykov and Jonathan Levin; soprano Nikoleta Rallis; cellist Nurmira Greenberg; and special guests Perizat Kopobaeva and renowned jazz pianist Joel Martin, who will demonstrate their mastery of improvisation on the komuz (Kyrgyz traditional instrument) and piano in a spectacular duo. Formerly part of the Soviet Union, Kyrgyzstan is a young sovereign country located in the heart of Central Asia, but its traditions stretch back to the ancient Silk Road civilizations of Eurasia.

Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

THEATER

Aug. 5 to Sept. 2

Big Fish

Edward Bloom, a traveling salesman who lives life to its fullest, boasts incredible, larger-than-life stories that thrill everyone around him — most of all, his devoted wife Sandra. But their son Will, about to have a child of his own, is determined to find the truth behind his father’s epic tales in this production by the Keegan Theatre based on Daniel Wallace’s acclaimed novel. Tickets are $55.

Andrew Keegan Theatre

Through Aug. 6

Cabaret

Step into the infamous Kit Kat Klub and leave your troubles outside. As part of its 50th anniversary, the renowned Roundabout Theatre Company presents “Cabaret,” the scintillating Tony winner about following your heart while the world loses its way. Tickets are $59 to $149.

Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater

Through Aug. 6

An Octoroon

A plantation on the brink of foreclosure. A young gentleman falling for the part-black daughter of the estate’s owner. An evil swindler plotting to buy her for himself. Meanwhile, the slaves are trying to keep things drama-free, because everybody else is acting crazy. “An Octoroon,” by Obie-winning Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, riffs on a 19th century melodrama that helped shape the debate of the abolition of slavery. Please call for ticket information.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company

Through Aug. 13

The Mark of Cain

Synetic Theater’s newly devised work is a neo-surrealist distillation of human history, seen through the eyes of Cain, the world’s first criminal. As Cain makes his bloody “mark” in every corner of the world, we see that the conflict between progress and morality are ever present — a function of humanity’s need to create civilization through uncivilized means and attempt to touch the face of God. Tickets start at $35.

Synetic Theater

Through Aug. 13

The Second City’s Almost Accurate Guide to America: Divided We Stand

Who better to comment on the state of our nation than the comedians who mock it best? The Second City returns for another summer of uproarious irreverence on America’s divided political climate. Tickets are $49 to $65.

Kennedy Center Theater Lab

Aug. 15 to Oct. 8

A Little Night Music

In 1900 Sweden, on a magical night that smiles three times, an aging actress, a married virgin, a sex-starved divinity student and a buffoonish count find themselves hilariously tangled in a web of love affairs. Winner of four Tony Awards, Stephen Sondheim’s glorious musical masterpiece returns to the Signature stage in a brand new production directed by Eric Schaeffer and featuring award-winning DC actors Holly Twyford and Bobby Smith. Please call for ticket information.

Signature Theatre

Aug. 15 to 27

Othello

Ron Daniels’ “enrichingly nuanced” (The Washington Post) production of “Othello” returns for the 27th annual Free For All, a beloved Washington tradition. Among the exotic airs and mysterious shadows of Cyprus, newly married and promoted Moorish general Othello finds himself the pawn in the manipulative games of his right-hand man, Iago. As his imagination is poisoned, Othello turns on his new bride Desdemona and his loyal lieutenant Cassio, and rapidly spirals from hero to murderer in one of Shakespeare’s most haunting tragedies.

Shakespeare Theatre Harman Hall

Through Aug. 20

Rodger’s & Hammerstein’s ‘The King and I’

Set in 1860s Bangkok, the musical tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher whom the modernist King, in an imperialistic world, brings to Siam to teach his many wives and children. Tickets are $49 to $159

Kennedy Center Opera House