WAMU: Art Beat

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 25

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 25 May 2012 17:33:40 -0400

(May 25-27) Dorm Dance
If you picked up some of your best dance moves in college, you’re not alone. The proof is at The Kennedy Center all weekend. This year’s National College Dance Festival brings 30 of the country’s colleges and universities together to showcase the finest in undergraduate, graduate, and faculty performance.

(May 25-July 1) Scary fun
If things go according to plan, there’s college and then marriage, with a few ritual celebrations in between. One of those rituals fails to go according to plan in Bachelorette, at Northwest Washington’s Studio Theatre through the first of July. Three unhappy friends show up to a posh Manhattan hotel room the night before a former classmate’s wedding to raise hell.

(May 27) Summer, Wolf Trap, Blast Off!
Wolf Trap gets into the spirit of summer and Memorial Day with its 2012 Summer Blast Off! Sunday night. The season-opener features “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band playing a set of concert band favorites and lives up to its name with fireworks.

Music: “On the Radio” by Donna Summer

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 24

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Thu, 24 May 2012 17:38:03 -0400

(March 25) Battle of the Beats
If you love hip-hop, dance, and a good competition, there’s a show that will make you want to pop, lock, and break it down at Artisphere in Rosslyn Friday night. Battle of the Dance Crews brings break dancers from the Washington area, Senegal, and France together for an unconventional evening of international exchange.

(March 24) The Manhattan of the movies
Before he fell in love with France, New York City was Woody Allen’s main muse. The prolific filmmaker’s 1979 classic romantic comedy Manhattan screens tonight at the Phillips Collection in Northwest Washington.

(March 25-27) Eddie, Denzel, Jay-Z, Will Smith, and Jay Pharoah
You can catch Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Jay-Z, and Denzel Washington in once place this weekend, as long as you don’t mind if none of them are actually there. Saturday Night Live’s hottest new impressionist Jay Pharoah spends three nights of the SNL off-season at the Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse.

Music: “Misty” by Chuck Brown & Ivan Goff

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 23

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Wed, 23 May 2012 18:38:31 -0400

(May 23-June 24) METALmorphology
Metalwork has been around for millennia, but a few local folks are helping keep the form fresh. Edward Bigelow Baker III is one of them. METALmorphology is a collection of his sculptures on display at the Washington Project for the Arts in Northwest through Friday. The part-time physicist, part-time artist makes the most of his two passions by harnessing processes usually used in industrial and scientific settings to manipulate metal. If you’ve always wanted to know more about electrodeposition, this is a great opportunity.

Eighteen artists from across the country show off their metal work at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria through late June. Forged showcases a number of contemporary approaches to one of the oldest known metalworking methods with pieces both practical and outrageous.

(May 23-June 16) Total Sham
If you like your art material a little more malleable, you probably couldn’t do much better than sawdust. Local sculptor Foon Sham explores themes of diligence and survival with towering cones made out of wood particles at Northwest’s Project 4 through mid-June.

Music: “Star Guitar” by Chemical Brothers

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 22

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:42:09 -0400

(May 22-June 10) The artsy, techy Zeitgeist
Technology and art are coupling in all sorts of interesting ways this month in the District. A few good artists from the area tackle the effects of all the data we’re streaming daily in Too Much Information? at the DC Arts Center in Northwest through early June. The exhibit’s themes of over-stimulation and access to information are the subject of a panel discussion with the participating artists and curators tomorrow evening.

(May 22-31) Photography vs. iPhoneography
One of the devices delivering all that information is the iPhone. Along with similar camera phones, it’s also changing the way we view photography. Diverging Mediums: Photography versus iPhoneography explores that change through the end of the month at Target Gallery in Alexandria. Nineteen artists make the argument that there’s a whole lot of fine art to be found in our social media.

(May 24) D.C. Art Science Evening Rendezvous
For a discussion that homes in specifically on the use of experimental and interactive technology in art, you’ll want to head to the Keck Center in Northwest Thursday evening. The D.C. Art Science Evening Rendezvous features a few local artists, academics, and experts exchanging thoughts on the cutting edge.

Music: “Sing” by Four Tet

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 21, 2012

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Mon, 21 May 2012 01:24:46 -0400

(May 21-Dec. 30) One Day, After the Rain

The movements of one day are traced in Brazilian artist Sandra Cinto’s One Day, After the Rain, showing at the Phillips Collection café in Northwest Washington until the end of the year. The massive ink and acrylic drawing takes the viewer from sunrise to nightfall through dreamlike landscapes.

(May 21-June 14) A little bit of everything

Somewhere between the worlds of sculpture, opera, and marionettes is Character Studies, showing at Northwest’s Watergate Gallery through the middle of June. Visual artist and veteran wigmaker Dennis Bergevin exercises his freedom to fashion ceramic sculptures of his favorite opera characters in disguise as marionettes.

(May 23-June 24) Getting silly with Servant

The Shakespeare Theatre Company takes on its favorite Carlo Goldoni production this season. A minion faces mayhem when he bites off more than he can chew in The Servant of Two Masters. The play promises music, dance, and lots of laughter through late June.

Music: “Wen Uuu” by Shlohmo

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 18

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Fri, 18 May 2012 17:52:34 -0400

(May 18-June 24) Artomatic for the People
Nothing says art by and for the people like taking over a soon-to-be-demolished building with the help of a thousand of your favorite filmmakers, fashion designers, musicians, performers and visual artists. That’s what Artomatic is all about. This year’s event opens today at 1851 South Bell Street in Crystal City. What may just be the D.C. area’s biggest, freest art event features ten floors of creativity, community, workshops, and seminars through late June.

(May 20) Sound Bites
A number of community-minded musicians and cooks get together for Sound Bites Sunday evening outside the 9:30 Club in Northwest Washington. The benefit for DC Central Kitchen features an endless selection of food from 25 local restaurants and a soundtrack of District reggae and electronic music.

(May 20) Recycle, Reduce, Reuse
If you’re looking to spend the rest of your weekend outdoors there’s Think Outside the Store Sunday afternoon in downtown Silver Spring. The jewelry-swapping event invites you to revamp, reinvent, and personalize your bling selection with the help of a few strangers and pros.

Music: “Little People (Black City)” by Matthew Dear

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 17

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Thu, 17 May 2012 17:40:25 -0400

(May 18) Buzz Bissinger
If you’re a fan of Friday Night Lights the book, the movie, or the TV series, Buzz Bissinger is the man to thank. The acclaimed storyteller drops by Northwest Washington’s Politics and Prose Friday, but he won’t be focusing on high school football in West Texas. Bissinger reads from his new memoir, Father’s Day. The work covers the discoveries the author made while on a road trip across the United States with his special-needs son.

(May 18-24) Bernie
For a peculiar story from a small Texas town, there’s Bernie, opening tomorrow at Northwest’s E Street Cinema. Bernie is a beloved funeral director who teaches Sunday school and always lends a helping hand-even to the town’s most misanthropic widow. That is, until he murders her and creates the illusion that she’s still alive. The black comedy is based on actual events.

(May 17-July 19) Bethesda brings the jams
Bethesda is basking in warm sunny evenings with outdoor concerts every Thursday through late July in Veteran’s Park. The shows offer a broad selection of the region’s best, including rock, funk, reggae, and Latin sounds. Tonight, it’s the piano jazz of Charlottesville’s Adrian Duke.

Music: “Hill Justice” by The Goat Rodeo Sessions

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 16

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:10:13 -0400

(May 16-July 22) Includes 76 Trombones
A classic con-man thinks about going straight in The Music Man at Arena Stage through late July. Meredith Wilson’s musical finds the smooth-talking Harold Hill trying to swindle the good people of River City, Iowa out of their money. Love shows up in Act II and threatens to make an honest man out of him.

(May 20) Does not include killer whale
New York’s Harlem KW Project brings Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale to BusBoys and Poets on 5th and K in Northwest Washington this Sunday. The production features three women coming to terms with the gentrification of Harlem through a montage of poetry, theater, dance, and song.

(May 16-Sept. 15) Apocalypse remains to be seen
The Mexican Cultural Institute in Northwest opens an exhibit of over 50 small-scale Mayan sculptures today. The thousand-year-old figurines discovered on the island of Jaina, off the Yucatán Peninsula, reflect the rituals, religious beliefs, and cosmology of the ancient civilization.

Music: “Aao Twist Karen” by Kazi Aniruddha

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 15

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Tue, 15 May 2012 00:42:39 -0400

(May 17-20) Women of the Blues
Some of the best voices in blues were those of women and several of them are remembered this week with Creative Cauldron’s Women of the Blues, showing at ArtSpace Falls Church. The musical features a powerhouse quartet of local female vocalists channeling a few of the form’s most soulful and sassy.

(May 15) Hunger Angel
One of the most acclaimed voices in contemporary literature speaks tonight at the Library of Congress. Nobel Laureate Herta Müller reads from and discusses her latest book, The Hunger Angel, which depicts the physical and moral absurdity of a Gulag.

(May 15-21) Verdi’s landmark libretto
The Kennedy Center presents the libretto that put Giuseppe Verdi on the map through next Monday. The Washington National Opera’s Nabucco tells of the epic struggle of one royal family at odds with their nation and each other. The powerful work traces the defeat, enslavement, and exile of the ancient Babylonian Jews.

Music: “Family” by Bill Frisell

Art Beat With Sean Rameswaram, May 14

WAMU 88.5 - American University Radio — Mon, 14 May 2012 02:00:00 -0400

(May 16-27) Occasional Acts of Art

Peter Loge has been a political strategist on Capitol Hill for a couple of decades. When he's not advising members of the House and Senate, he's making assemblage art out of found objects. Loge uses photo negatives, lights, and boxes to draw attention to the randomness of our world. His latest work is showing at the Foundry Gallery in Dupont Circle through May 27.

(May 15-June 30) Polipop & Paintings

Korean-American artist Mina Cheon makes Polipop—that's political pop art. Her sizable digital paintings use strong primary colors and eye-catching images to critique the East's relationship with the West and the Asian media's coverage of political conflicts. Polipop and Paintings is showing at Baltimore's Maryland Art Place through the end of June.

(May 14-18) Transforming War and Trauma Experiences

Veterans cope with trauma from our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan through art this week at a number of venues in and around Washington. Arts, Military + Healing brings visual art, performance and workshops to the Library of Congress, the National Air and Space Museum, and George Mason University among others.

Music: "Multilateral Nuclear Disarmament" by Beastie Boys