Latest in Calendar

• Latest in Calendar

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    Visual Arts Art - Galleries

    Recommended

    What Keeps Mankind Alive

    Remember that age-old question: Is advertising art? The two have a strained relationship and San Francisco has never been immune to the tug-of-war between expression and capitalism. Now try to remember a music festival called Wild West in Golden Gate Park during late 1960s. You probably can't because it never happened. (The show was canceled due to major disputes over admission price and funding. This idea that art couldn't survive without monetary help only brought further conflict between artists and advertisers.) In Steven Wolf Fine Arts newest group show, What Keeps Mankind Alive, Anthony Discenza and Jacqueline Gordon use typical advertising graphics and characteristics in the way of murals and installations, to create pieces that go on to provoke the conversation between the two sides. These pieces are displayed next to found art — such as the poster for Wild West — in an attempt to examine the balance between art and capitalism. More
    Jul. 12
    Steven Wolf Fine Arts
    Laura Jaye Cramer
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    Comedy Comedy

    Recommended

    Improvised Downton Abbey

    Every once in a while a television show comes along and turns the general population into a bunch of binge-watching boob tube addicts. Ever since Downton Abbey came to the United States in 2011, seemingly half of the country has canceled its social life to sit by the TV, hoping Lady Mary would find a suitable husband. Maybe it’s the historical references, maybe it’s the flawless-looking actors in flawless-looking outfits — whatever it is, people are hooked. This weekend, BATS Improv jumps on the Abbey bandwagon with its Improv Downton Abbey, a two-day improvisational theater show based on everyone’s favorite costume drama. The performances are part of the troupe’s 20th Annual Summer Improv Festival, and BATS’ razor-sharp actors are sure to deliver an evening as over-the-top and delectably dramatic as its namesake. Just don’t expect a series of Maggie Smith impersonations — the characters are made up on the spot based on (here’s the really fun part) audience suggestions. More
    Aug. 1
    Bayfront Theater
    Laura Jaye Cramer
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    Calendar Food Events

    Recommended

    Off the Grid

    More than 32 food trucks will pull up to Fort Mason for Friday night’s Off the Grid Food Truck Party. Off the Grid is sort of like a food court for nomads, gatherings of extreme culinary variety, with live music and full bars. If you get there early enough, you’ll be able to snack on treats from the Koja Kitchen, the Fat Face truck, Curry Up Now, and many more. There is also a Prix Fixe option, which costs $40 per person and must be reserved beforehand. The event is BYOB, meaning Bring Your Own Blanket More
    Jul. 19
    Fort Mason
    Emilie Mutert
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    Calendar Dance - Performances

    Dohee Lee: ARA Gut (Ritual of Ocean)

    We are privileged to have extraordinary international artist Dohee Lee among us. Born and raised on Jeju Island in South Korea until the age of 7, Lee was carefully shielded from the native culture of shamanism, as well as her own core desire to dance. But, like a fate-bound creature from an ancient myth, she was inescapably drawn to both, going so far as to take dance classes in secrecy until she was 16. As she grew into her work, ritual experience and connection between people, states of consciousness, and realms of being became integral. Lee’s performances can be elaborate, with towering architectural costumes, projections, and puppets, or bare bones (it’s pretty astonishing what Lee can achieve with an audience and a spool of thread), but they most always include movement, music, and vocalizations that can range from refined porcelain-like delicacy to deranged Diamanda Galas-like intensity. Today’s offering of ARA Gut, a seasonal “performance installation,” is a chance to see Lee in an intimate setting before the premiere of her long-awaited major show MAGO this fall. More
    Aug. 1
    City Hall
    Silke Tudor
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