preview | San Francisco Art Events Nov. 22 – Dec. 5, 2011

BY EVENTSEEKER STAFF

Left Coast Leaning, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, December 1-3, 8pm. This annual performing arts festival supports diverse forms of expression. The centerpiece of this year’s edition is perhaps a multimedia work by Alexandro Segade, which “takes place in a dreamlike, sci-fi L.A. cityscape where gay marriage is state-mandated and those who don’t conform are hunted down.” Also on the bill: slam poetry (Rafael Casal), tap dancing (Jason Samuels Smith), and dance performances that explore “the sexualized black body in the realm of the spectacle” (Anna Martine Whitehead) and “the awkwardness of human beauty and the struggles of intimate negotiation” (tEEth).


Alexandro Segade, Replicant VS Separatist, Pictured: Colin Martin and Justin Streichman. Credit: Scott Groller

Oceans and Campfires: Allan Sekula and Bruno Serralongue, San Francisco Art Institute, November 30, 2011 – February 18, 2012. This exhibition is seriously not to be missed. It features new photo and video documentaries that engage the audience using intelligent critique as opposed to spectacle. Allan Sekula’s works zoom in on the often unthought-of field of maritime economy, whereas Bruno Serralongue searches for under-represented facets of crucial geopolitical events. November 30 is the opening reception, which will start at 5:30pm and continue into a conversation between Sekula and Serralongue (from 7:30pm to 9pm).


Bruno Serralongue Feu de machines, New Fabris, Châtellerault, jeudi 30 juillet 2009 From the series New Fabris, Châtellerault, 2009 2009 49 x 61 inches Courtesy of the artist and Air de Paris, Paris. Photo provided by the San Francisco Art Institute.

 

J. John Priola: Philantropy, Gallery Paule Anglim, November 30 – December 23, 2o11. In his photography series Philantropy, J. John Priola portrays people in an interesting way: through the items they donate to the dispossessed. Along with the 75 images, Paule Anglim will exhibit an ever-growing “sculpture” that is made of things brought by visitors. You can bring your stuff, too. Everything will be donated to CARH, a nonprofit organization that assists people with intellectual disabilities. In a curious twist, everyone who walks into the sculpture gallery will also be observed and documented, since the space will have a webcam.

Artist Talk: Alec Soth, SFMOMA, November 29, 7pm. Alec Soth, a respected contemporary photographer, is one of the best at capturing America’s weirdness. Hear his talk for free.

Trance Cinema, An Evening of Ritual and Trance Films from Bali and Indonesia, Oddball Films, November 25, 8pm. The title is pretty self-explanatory.

From Muppets to Metal: Music Movies, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, December 1 – December 18. The YBCA will screen films about Cuban ballads (Chico and Rita), avant-garde personalities Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk and John Cage (a program called “Coleman-Rollins-Kirk-Cage”), heavy metal (Saxon: Heavy Metal Thunder – The Movie), and Muppets (Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas). The last movie will be the experimental Film in 15 Scenes by John Zorn. Check out the detailed program here.

Regression, Drainolith, Copy Lake, Cops, Commode Minstrels and Bullface, The Lab, November 27, 8:30pm. End your Thanksgiving weekend with noise music with members of acclaimed bands Wolf Eyes, AIDS Wolf, and Death Sentence: PANDA!

 

RELATED LINKS

San Francisco Art Institute

San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Oddball Films

The Lab

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