Fotoweek DC!!!

If you are an avid lover of photography (like me) than this week of all weeks is definitely a great week to call yourself a resident of DC (or surrounding area). People, people, Fotoweek has arrived. It officially began over the weekend, but that doesn't mean that you have missed out on the gobs and gobs of photography events going on in this city. There are gallery openings, lectures...the works. And many of them are free.

Check out the events here.

Ever thought: "Yeah, I might go to the wax museum, if it was free!!"

Well, you practically can!

The Washingtonian revealed that the ongoing birthday celebration at Madame Tussauds allows you to skip the normal $20 entry fee, and with a mere rendition of the "happy birthday" song, you can enter the museum for $1.

Check out the possibilities here: http://www.madametussauds.com/washington/

Free Film(s) at the Hirshorn

Well, I know that I'll be glued to my television on Thursday night, but if for some (crazy) reason the upcoming vice-presidential debate doesn't interest you, check out a night of free short films at the Hirshhorn Museum.

The Spanish embassy is partnering with the museum to bring films from one of the well-acclaimed film festivals in Barcelona, LOOP. The Hirshhorn website boasts "new media arts, cinematic work, artists' films, and documentaries provide a wide range of uncommon fare for discerning cinephiles and casual movie fans alike." Please note that some of the material may be for mature audiences only.

Hirshhorn Museum
Thursday, October 2, 2008
8pm

Architecture Week

Some of this year's Architecture Week events are a little pricey and may only appeal to hardcore architecture enthusiasts or people planning on building their own homes. But if you keep meaning to pay a visit to the National Building Museum, this event's a good excuse:

Sunday, September 14, 10-4
Student Competition
Meet the next generation of Washington architects and watch them at work. Students from local architecture schools are challenged by an intriguing design problem (which remains a closely guarded secret until a week prior to the competition). They will work all day to come up with a solution.

Location: National Building Museum | 401 F Street, NW
Metro: Judiciary Square

FREE.

Apartment Therapy: Event Alert: DC Architecture Week

Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future at National Building Museum

The National Building Museum got some exposure a few months ago when Hillary Clinton conceded to Barack Obama in the museum's cavernous atrium. It's also widely believed to have one of the best museum gift shops in the city- heavy on innovative kitchen utensils and design books, light on umbrellas printed with Monet's "Water Lilies." I highly recommend their Washington: Symbol and City exhibit to anyone who wants to know more about the city; and I still elicit eye rolling when I start gushing about the oddly fascinating exhibit on cement I saw there a few years ago. On my last visit I saw Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future, which I thought was very well done. The exhibit gave a survey of the structures (which included terminals at Dulles and JFK, and the St. Louis arch) and furniture he designed throughout his short but illustrious career, and conveyed the post-war sense of possibility that his work embodied. I could have been misreading his handwriting, but I'm 95% sure that if you look closely at some of his papers you might catch what appears to be an extremely vulgar anatomical reference.

National Building Museum
401 F Street NW Washington, DC 2000

One Liners closing party

When you were a kid, did you ever try drawing a picture without lifting your pencil? Pretty hard to come up with anything but scribble. But Meghan Walsh's actually look pretty good, and until Saturady, May 3 they'll be on display at the Big Bear Cafe in Bloomingdale. The closing party is on Saturday at 7. A preview of Meghan's work and more about this neighborhood gem, see here.

Botanical Garden

Last Saturday marked my (embarrasingly enough) FIRST trip EVER to the United States Botanical Garden. I have definitely been missing out. The purpose of the trip was to check out “An Alphabet Garden of Orchids” which only runs until APRIL 13 (you have 11 days left). Venturing to the National Mall on the weekend is, as a rule, never a sound move in spring but I was willing to take the risk. Yes, it was mobbed and people were very agitated trying get the perfect orchid picture but if you found a tucked away bench, it could be quite peaceful for moments at a time. The orchids were amazing (duh). But even if you miss this exhibit, the rest of the conservatory is more than worth checking out. There’s a jungle area (with a canopy you can walk on to get a bird’s eye view), desert area, and my personal favs- the medicinal plants and rare and endangered species. The Conservatory is open 10 AM - 5 PM everyday and it’s FREE. Plus you’ll be right by the American Indian Museum which has the best food on the Mall. The Conservatory main entrance is located at 100 Maryland Avenue, SW.

Dreams at the Hirshhorn, Review

According to the little pamphlet that I picked up Dreams, the current exhibit at the Hirshhorn, is a collection of artists who "employ and evoke the technology and techniques of the cinema to recall the dream-like state induced by film viewing, transporting viewers out of their daily lives to a place where definitions and understandings of reality are questioned."

First of all, let me say, if you are thinking about being transported out of your daily life on a casual sunday and are ridiculously hungover, Dreams, may not be the exhibit for you. There were moments at which I thought some of the films were more like nightmares, and I almost fell over, from well, just standing....maybe it was just me. BUT...in an normal state, this has been one of the less cohesive, but more interesting exhibits that I have been to. All of the videos definitely fit into their description above, but, in my history of museum going, I haven't thought about the placement of pieces as much as I thought about it during this one. Seeing actual images is clearly a very powerful tool, and I often left one piece wondering "hmmm....I don't really know how that was supposed to make me feel" and before I had time to ponder that thought, the dark hallways led me to a piece that evoked an entirely different emotion than whatever it was that I was feeling before. However, I must admit, the installations that I found to be interesting, I thought were really, really cool. And the others, well, no dream is run-of-the-mill.

Dreams is the first part of "Cinema Effect: Illusion, Reality and the Moving Image" and runs until May 11, 2008. The second part (which I am definitely going to check out) Realisms will run June 19, 2008 - September 7, 2008.

Hirshhorn Museum

General Admission: ALWAYS FREE