Events on Wednesday, May 21

Willy Vlautin and Paul Brainard: <em>Northline</em>

Books: Reading

Willy Vlautin and Paul Brainard

Wednesday 5/21 @ Edinburgh Castle Pub

Film and music have a long history together. Rarely, though, do musicians score books, as Willy Vlautin has done for his... 

The Presets w/ Walter Meego

Music: Electronic

The Presets

Wednesday 5/21 @ Mezzanine

The Sydney-based Presets lug their drums and keyboards halfway around the world to show off the follow-up to their 2005 electro-dance... 

<em>Sebastiane</em> (1976) and <em>In the Shadow of the Sun</em> (1972)

Film

Sebastiane and In the Shadow of the Sun

Wednesday 5/21 @ Artists' Television Access

"How did Saint Sebastian die? / Arrows pierced his throat and thigh / which only knew, before that time / the... 

El-P w/ Dizzee Rascal

Music: Hip-Hop

El-P

Wednesday 5/21 @ 1015

Fresh off the Def Jux release of his tech-rap album Maths + English, UK grime mastermind Dizzee Rascal brings his introspective... 

The Intergenerational Writers Lab feat. Bushra Rehman and Jeff Chang

Books: Reading

Bushra Rehman and Jeff Chang

Wednesday 5/21 @ Kearny Street Workshop

Now in its fifth year, the Intergenerational Writers Lab is an annual intensive workshop led by a group of the Bay... 

Destroyer w/ Devon Williams

Music

Destroyer

Wednesday 5/21 @ The Independent

As if universal healthcare isn't enough, Vancouver's Dan Bejar strengthens the case for our red, white, and maple neighbors to the... 

M83 w/ Berg Sans Nipple

Music: Electronic

M83

Wednesday 5/21 @ Great American Music Hall

When France's M83 first washed up on these shores with 2003's Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, it was a... 

M.I.A.

Music: Hip-Hop

M.I.A.

Wednesday 5/21 @ Concourse Exhibition Center

After the rainbow-colored, electro-bailé blast of Arular, M.I.A. could have easily taken her worldly flow to the bank, throwing her hat... 

The Brothers Unconnected feat. Alan and Richard Bishop w/ Neung Phak

Music

The Brothers Unconnected

Wednesday 5/21 @ Slim's

After 27 years of melting minds with their bold mix of hardcore, psychedelia, and ethnomusicology, Sun City Girls came to a... 

Ongoing Events

Tim Lee

Art

Tim Lee

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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>Flight of the Red Balloon </em>

Film

Flight of the Red Balloon

Wednesday 5/21 @ Landmark Bridge Theater

Chinese director Hsiao-hsien Hou's glorious response to the 1956 classic The Red Balloon commences with a long, nearly silent scene of... 

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

Art: Photography

Ryan McGinley

Wednesday 5/21 @ Ratio 3

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

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

Art

Reclaiming Materials: Four Sculptors Recycle

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

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

Art

Veronica Graham

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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.... 

William T. Wiley: <em>Punball: Only One Earth</em>

Art

William T. Wiley

Wednesday 5/21 @ Electric Works

Pinball machines have largely been relegated to the scrap yard of nostalgia, but that hasn't stopped William T. Wiley from resurrecting... 

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

Art: Photography

The Reggae Scrapbook

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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>Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector</em>

Art

Within Two Hands: The Eye of the Collector

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

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

Art

Inkie Whang

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

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

Art

Sarah Wagner

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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>2nd Skin: Imaginative Designs in Digital & Analog Clothing</em>

Special Event

2nd Skin

Wednesday 5/21 @ Exploratorium

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

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

Art

How I Learned to...

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

Christopher Brown<em> </em>and Clare Kirkconnell

Art

Christopher Brown and Clare Kirkconnell

Wednesday 5/21 @ John Berggruen Gallery

Christopher Brown and Clare Kirkconnell's concurrent exhibitions at John Berggruen Gallery have sympathetic interests: each artist makes work that quietly reinterprets... 

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

Art

Feudal Echo

Wednesday 5/21 @ Park Life

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

<em>Redbelt</em>

Film

Redbelt

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

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

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

Art

Saskia Leek

Wednesday 5/21 @ Jack Hanley Gallery

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

Amanda M. Smith: <em>Candy Garden and Sparkling Sabers</em>

Art

Amanda M. Smith: Candy Garden and Sparkling Sabers

Wednesday 5/21 @ Jack Fischer Gallery

Little children run amok in Amanda M. Smith's series of exquisitely rendered ceramic reliefs. Set in a vivid world of flattened,... 

<em>Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design and Culture at Mid-century</em>

Special Event

Birth of the Cool

Wednesday 5/21 @ Oakland Museum of California

Fashion designer Christian Lacroix put it most directly: "...the history of cool in America is the history of African-American culture." That... 

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

Special Event

Art & Artifice

Wednesday 5/21 @ Museum of Performance & Design

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

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

Art

The Rape of the Sabine Women

Wednesday 5/21 @ SFMOMA

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

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

Art: Photography

Protest in Paris 1968

Wednesday 5/21 @ Berkeley Art Museum

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

Adam5100: <em>The Heart vs the Mind in a Fight to the Finish</em>

Art

Adam5100

Wednesday 5/21 @ Rowan Morrison

The graffiti artist Adam5100 may have started out bombing derelict sections of Albuquerque, New Mexico, but he's brushed up on his... 

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

Art

The Question Is Known

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

Special Event

Dykes on Bikes®

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

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

Art: Photography

Annie Leibovitz

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

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

Art

Lacey Jane Roberts

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

San Francisco International Arts Festival

Festival: Performing Arts

SF International Arts Festival

Wednesday 5/21 @ Various locations

The International Arts Festival situates the Bay Area's creative microcosm in a global context. The calendar is brimming with performances at... 

Gareth Moore

Art

Gareth Moore

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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... 

Christian Marclay:<em> Stereo</em>

Art

Christian Marclay

Wednesday 5/21 @ Fraenkel Gallery

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

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

Art

Quarter Century

Wednesday 5/21 @ Creativity Explored

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

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

Art

The Way That We Rhyme

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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>After the Revolution: Contemporary Photography from Tehran and California</em>

Art: Photography

After the Revolution

Wednesday 5/21 @ 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...