Events on Thursday, May 15

Bike Away from Work Party

Party

Bike Away from Work Party

Thursday 5/15 @ Rickshaw Stop

To cap off the city's annual Bike to Work Day, the San Francisco Bike Coalition hosts a congratulatory celebration for everyone... 

Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles w/ Ferraby Lionheart and Willoughby

Music

Langhorne Slim

Thursday 5/15 @ The Independent

Even alone on a stage, lanky young'un Langhorne Slim and his red Guild guitar get a crowd more riled up than... 

Sheila Weller: <em>Girls Like Us</em>

Books: Reading

Girls Like Us

Thursday 5/15 @ Cody's Books

Deeming them proto-riot grrrls would be oversimplifying matters. But Joni Mitchell, Carole King, and Carly Simon, who all rose to prominence... 

Barbara Walters

Special Event

Barbara Walters

Thursday 5/15 @ Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium

After more than 40 years in broadcast journalism, it's "pushy cookie" Barbara Walters' turn to dish. And dish she does in... 

Ongoing Events

<em>In Collaboration: Early Works from the Media Arts Collection</em>

Art

In Collaboration

Thursday 5/15 @ SFMOMA

San Francisco's Museum of Modern Art was one of the first major museums to establish a department specifically dedicated to media... 

<em>Redbelt</em>

Film

Redbelt

Thursday 5/15 @ Various locations

Redbelt, David Mamet's latest, is an absorbing foray into the world of mixed martial arts. An unconventional fight film, Redbelt centers... 

Duke Ellington's <em>Queenie Pie</em>

Performing Arts: Opera

Queenie Pie

Thursday 5/15 @ Oakland Metro

Queenie Pie, jazz giant Duke Ellington's final large-scale work, receives the royal treatment from the Oakland Opera Theater. Ellington's muse was... 

Saskia Leek: <em>Thick Air Method</em>

Art

Saskia Leek

Thursday 5/15 @ Jack Hanley Gallery

Embracing the same kind of provocative ambiguity and loose brushwork found in Luc Tuymans' paintings, New Zealand native Saskia Leek structures... 

Veronica Graham: <em>Bonus Map</em>

Art

Veronica Graham

Thursday 5/15 @ CELLspace

Composed of more than 2000 hand-printed cloth swatches, Veronica Graham's sprawling installation Bonus Map takes over CELLspace's wall like cartographic kudzu.... 

<em>Reclaiming Materials: Four Sculptors Recycle</em>

Art

Reclaiming Materials: Four Sculptors Recycle

Thursday 5/15 @ Sculpturesite Gallery

One person's trash is another person's treasure — or sculpture, as is the case at Sculpturesite's current exhibition of art works... 

Peter Simon and Roger Steffens: <em>The Reggae Scrapbook</em>

Art: Photography

The Reggae Scrapbook

Thursday 5/15 @ Babylon Falling

The Reggae Scrapbook is a love letter from two eternal fanboys to Jamaica's best-known export. Drawing from their memories, publications, and... 

<em>COLORS Past and Present</em>

Art

COLORS Past and Present

Thursday 5/15 @ Istituto Italiano di Cultura

In 1991, designers Tibor Kalman and Olivero Toscani, along with clothing label United Colors of Benetton, launched COLORS magazine — a... 

Tim Lee

Art

Tim Lee

Thursday 5/15 @ CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

Although it's tempting to dismiss Vancouver-based artist Tim Lee's use of comedy-as-conceptual-device as lacking in depth or social concern, to mistake... 

<em>Contempt </em>(1963)

Film

Contempt 

Thursday 5/15 @ The Castro Theatre

Jean-Luc Godard's 45-year-old masterpiece Contempt is still a conundrum. Coming off a run of shoestring gems, the French New Wave icon... 

Inkie Whang: <em>American Debut</em>

Art

Inkie Whang

Thursday 5/15 @ Frey Norris Gallery

Korean artist Inkie Whang's large-scale, pixelated landscapes explore the tenuous balance between his traditional heritage and the digital age. In the... 

<em>Portals</em>: Jen Stark, Anna Fidler, and Jana Flynn

Art

Portals

Thursday 5/15 @ Johansson Projects

This trio of artists transforms one-dimensional planes of paper into doorways that lead to strange universes. Armed with an X-Acto knife,... 

<em>American Symbols: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes</em>

Art

American Symbols

Thursday 5/15 @ Museum of Craft and Folk Art

Recognized worldwide as a cultural symbol, the American flag is an object that elicits many personal and political emotions and interpretations.... 

Weston Teruya and Michele Carlson: <em>How I Learned to...</em>

Art

How I Learned to...

Thursday 5/15 @ Intersection for the Arts

It's a pretty safe bet that elementary schools won't soon be competing with downtown museums and banks for a top architect's... 

<em>2nd Skin: Imaginative Designs in Digital & Analog Clothing</em>

Special Event

2nd Skin

Thursday 5/15 @ Exploratorium

With a futuristic, tongue-in-cheek vision, the artists featured in the 2nd Skin fashion exhibit challenge the standard notions of practical clothing.... 

Gina Borg

Art

Gina Borg

Thursday 5/15 @ Jancar Jones Gallery

Bay Area artist Gina Borg's small works on canvas and paper are a gratifying addition to Jancar Jones' snug new gallery... 

Gilbert &amp; George

Art

Gilbert & George

Thursday 5/15 @ de Young Museum

Gilbert & George, the art-world enfants terribles in natty bespoke suits, celebrate 40 years of having made their lives their work... 

Enrique Chagoya: <em> Borderlandia </em>

Art

Enrique Chagoya

Thursday 5/15 @ Berkeley Art Museum

The first major museum retrospective of Enrique Chagoya's mixed-media work revels in thorny cultural hierarchies and identity politics. Chagoya immigrated to... 

<em>Graduation</em>

Film

Graduation

Thursday 5/15 @ Landmark Opera Plaza

Combining the mischief of Ferris Bueller's Day Off, the solidarity of The Breakfast Club, and the edgy bank... 

Gareth Moore

Art

Gareth Moore

Thursday 5/15 @ CCA Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts

Vancouver artist Gareth Moore takes hold of the reins at the Wattis, presenting the ninth solo exhibition in the gallery's ongoing... 

Special Event

Dykes on Bikes®

Thursday 5/15 @ GLBT Historical Society

Like chrome-and-leather-swathed valkyries rumbling down Market Street, Dykes on Bikes have long been the kickoff contingent of the San Francisco Pride... 

Christian Marclay:<em> Stereo</em>

Art

Christian Marclay

Thursday 5/15 @ Fraenkel Gallery

Christian Marclay pioneered the turntable as a musical instrument in the late '70s, scratching out experimental sounds with vinyl found in... 

<em>Art & Artifice: 75 Years of Design at San Francisco Ballet</em>

Special Event

Art & Artifice

Thursday 5/15 @ Museum of Performance & Design

Emerging with a rejuvenated image and collection in March, the Museum of Performance & Design mounts an impressive exhibit chronicling the... 

Annie Leibovitz: <em>A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005</em>

Art: Photography

Annie Leibovitz

Thursday 5/15 @ The Legion of Honor Museum

Working since the late '70s, photographer Annie Leibowitz has created both iconic celebrity portraits and intimate views of everyday people. She's... 

Alex Lukas and Brian Willmont: <em>Feudal Echo</em>

Art

Feudal Echo

Thursday 5/15 @ Park Life

Some may feel that the twin horrors of global warming and terrorism are hurtling humans into a fiery end of days,... 

<em>The Memory Thief</em>

Film

The Memory Thief

Thursday 5/15 @ Red Vic

The identity of every modern Jew is in some way built upon the memory of the Holocaust. As the generation of... 

<em>Protest in Paris 1968: Photographs by Serge Hambourg</em>

Art: Photography

Protest in Paris 1968

Thursday 5/15 @ Berkeley Art Museum

Forty years after Paris' famous May 1968 protests, the true meaning of the uprisings is debatable — but that's not for... 

I'll Be Your Mirror: Rare Films by Philippe Garrel

Film

Rare Films by Philippe Garrel

Thursday 5/15 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

He's known in France as one of the most talented filmmakers to emerge after the New Wave, but Philippe Garrel remains... 

Ryan McGinley: <em>Spring and by Summer Fall</em>

Art: Photography

Ryan McGinley

Thursday 5/15 @ Ratio 3

Ryan McGinley's metier is youth. The often smiling, and more often nude men and women cavorting in his photos are like... 

Victor Cartagena: <em>The Invisible Nation</em>

Art

Victor Cartagena

Thursday 5/15 @ Galería de la Raza

Salvadoran artist Victor Cartagena has worked in the Bay Area for nearly three decades, cataloging heartfelt narratives about cultural displacement, immigration,... 

<em>The Question Is Known: (W)here Is Latin American / Latino Art</em>

Art

The Question Is Known

Thursday 5/15 @ Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts

Artist Antony Torres curates this powerful exhibition of 30 artists showing paintings, sculpture, and installations exploring Latino identity. Highlights include the... 

Curatorial Industries presents <em>Self-Storage</em>

Art

Self-Storage

Thursday 5/15 @ Self Storage

Duchamp had his suitcase-sized monographs. Warhol, his yearly time capsules. Taking its inspiration from Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Chronofile — an epic... 

<em>After the Revolution: Contemporary Photography from Tehran and California</em>

Art: Photography

After the Revolution

Thursday 5/15 @ San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery

Between Azar Nafisi's memoir Reading Lolita in Tehran and Marjane Satrapi's graphic novel (and now animated feature) Persepolis, post-revolutionary autobiography has... 

<em>Friedlander</em>

Art: Photography

Friedlander

Thursday 5/15 @ SFMOMA

Over the last half-century, photographer Lee Friedlander has made a career of cataloging America's urban — and increasingly suburban — landscape.... 

<em>Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector</em>

Art

Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector

Thursday 5/15 @ San Francisco Museum of Craft+Design

Peter Voulkos founded the Arts Ceramics departments at both Los Angeles' Otis College of Art and Design and UC-Berkeley in the... 

Paul Sietsema: <em>New Work</em>

Art

Paul Sietsema

Thursday 5/15 @ SFMOMA

Los Angeles artist Paul Sietsema presents an exceptional body of recent drawings and films in SFMOMA's New Work series. Sietsema straddles... 

<em>Uncharted: Imaginary Landscapes </em>

Art

Uncharted

Thursday 5/15 @ Hayes Valley Market Gallery

Like intrepid cartographers, the nine artists featured in this exhibit navigate land and space from many angles. Their interpretations range in... 

Sarah Wagner: <em>Nuclear Family</em>

Art

Sarah Wagner

Thursday 5/15 @ Patricia Sweetow Gallery

Sarah Wagner turns out delicate textile sculptures that resemble tangled roots and vines. Her faux-plant shapes sprout from the gallery's cement... 

<em>The Way That We Rhyme: Women, Art & Politics</em>

Art

The Way That We Rhyme

Thursday 5/15 @ Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

American culture always seems poised to pronounce feminism down for the count, when it clearly still has plenty of fighting to... 

<em>Quarter Century: </em>Creativity Explored's 25th Anniversary

Art

Quarter Century

Thursday 5/15 @ Creativity Explored

Creativity Explored has long been an outlet for local developmentally challenged adults to express their artistic visions. Now celebrating its 25th... 

Lacey Jane Roberts: <em>The Master's Tools (Decay Goes Both Ways)</em>

Art

Lacey Jane Roberts

Thursday 5/15 @ Little Tree Gallery

Little Tree Gallery has now been fortified, thanks to Bay Area artist Lacey Jane Roberts' handwoven barbed-wire fence. Even though every... 

<em>The Rape of the Sabine Women</em>

Art

The Rape of the Sabine Women

Thursday 5/15 @ SFMOMA

Eve Sussman and the Rufus Corporation's epic video-opera, The Rape of the Sabine Women, is a sprawling, beguiling exploration of classical...