Engineer's Daughter

input march 2020

Art

No More I Love Yous at Creative Growth

Feminizing Permanence at St. Mary's College Museum of Art

No Part Left Out at Interface Gallery

CTRL+SHFT Members Pop-Up Show at CTRL+SHFT Collective

 

Books

Cane - Jean Toomer

The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne - Brian Moore

In a Lonely Place - Dorothy B. Hughes

Machines in the Head: Selected Stories - Anna Kavan

 

Food and Drink

De Afghanan Kabob House

 

Hikes

George Miller Regional Trail at Carquinez Strait Regional Shoreline

Point Pinole/Cooks Point/Marsh/Owl Alley/China Cove/Pinole Point/Bay View Trails at Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

 

Movies

Charlie Says - Mary Harron

Holy Smoke - Jane Campion

In the Cut - Jane Campion

Fat Girl - Catherine Breillat

Daughters of the Dust - Julie Dash

The Hole in the Ground - Lee Cronin

Mustang - Deniz Gamze Ergüven

Border Radio - Allison Anders, Dean Lent, and Kurt Voss

The Biggest Little Farm - John Chester

Gas Food Lodging - Allison Anders

5 short films by Mati Diop - Atlantiques, Snow Canon, Big in Vietnam, A Thousand Suns, Liberian Boy

Too Late to Die Young - Dominga Sotomayor

Pokémon Detective Pikachu - Rob Letterman

Orlando - Sally Potter

The Cruz Brothers and Miss Malloy - Kathleen Collins

Losing Ground - Kathleen Collins

Robin and Marian - Richard Lester

Women of the Resistance - Liliana Cavani

The Night Porter - Liliana Cavani

The Skin - Liliana Cavani

 

Performance

Ethan Philbrick: 10 Meditations in an Emergency at BAMPFA

 

Theater

Gloria at A.C.T.'s Strand

the week that was

Things worth sharing:

1. Peter Brannen's fascinating book The Ends of the World gave me new appreciation for the work of modern geologists, what we're still learning about Earth's previous mass extinctions, and what said extinctions can teach us about the harm we're currently inflicting on our home planet. Come for the science, stay for the hilarious footnotes.
2. The current exhibition of portraits at the SFAC Gallery The Continuous Thread: Celebrating our Interwoven Histories, Identities and Contributions is incredibly moving, and it's just one component of the citywide American Indian Initiative. Check out the full schedule of events here.
3. Matt Borruso's show You Live at my fave local gallery Et al. just got extended to October 26, highly recommend carving out some time to experience the succession of images he has woven together for this video installation. I had to hightail it when the snake section started, but you are probably not as phobic as I am.
4. I felt lucky to catch HUSH-HUSH at the Berkeley Art Museum Saturday evening in a performance piece called Crummy Sheets in which a trio of artists used a real bed as a platform to explore sleep, dreams, and the concept of home. From their website: "HUSH-HUSH provides a space to blur genres, take risks, and be strange."
5. More Terry Fox! The Lab has videos, sound pieces, one of his pendulums, and a slideshow documenting his performances. Go check it out.
6. Movies worth revisiting: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's 2006 heartbreaker The Lives of Others, and Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud's 2007 adaptation of Satrapi's gorgeous graphic novel Persepolis.
7. And my local biz rec for the week: Voodoo Love is an authentic slice of New Orleans on a sunny corner in SOMA. They take excellent care of the vegetarians and vegans too.

now see this

Dennis Gallagher

Through March 8 - Dennis Gallagher: Shape / Structure at Rena Bransten.  Unless they've closed the show a smidge early ahead of their move to Minnesota Street Project (yay!) you have one more day to see Dennis Gallagher's intensely absorbing sculptures and works on paper at Rena Bransten Gallery.  Gallagher was an important artist and teacher in the local scene before his death in 2009, and he is still very very much missed.

 

 
Eleanor Friedberger

March 8 - Eleanor Friedberger at the Independent.  I just saw her a few months ago when she did a free show at the Brick & Mortar to premiere songs off her album New View, and I can't wait to see her again so soon.  Certified goddess.

 

Lauren McKeon

Through March 13 - Bodily Engagements at Interface Gallery.  For the past two months Interface has been bringing together performance and visual artists into exciting juxtapositions, and the project series concludes with sculptures by Lauren McKeon and a movement piece by Renée Rhodes and Melissa Lewis entitled Endless.  I saw it yesterday and highly recommend swinging by this Saturday to view for yourself.

 

Mel Prest and Martha Clippinger

Closed (sorry!) - Mel Prest and Martha Clippinger: Project 9 at c2c project space.  This was one of the best shows I've seen yet in Kirk Stoll's intimate exhibition/live/work space.  Both artists have an innate grasp of color, optics, and form that is sheer pleasure to behold, with Prest's paintings contrasting nicely with Clippinger's more sculptural work, and they clearly had a lot of fun working together to make best use of the space too.

 

 
John Mulaney and Nick Kroll

On a recommendation from my friend Carrie, who is never ever wrong, I impulse-bought a ticket to go see Nick Kroll and John Mulaney perform their "Oh, Hello" characters from Kroll Show at Herbst last week.  And just like that now I'm officially a huge Nick Kroll fan.  That was some serious comic genius, and yes there was Too Much Tuna.

 

 
Renée Fleming

And last but definitely not least, please enjoy this clip of Renée Fleming singing the most beautiful aria of all time.  meriko whisked me off to see her recital at Zellerbach Saturday night, and while the monsoon raged outside we thrilled to her renditions of Schumann, Rachmaninoff, Strauss, Patricia Barber(!!), and selections from The King and I.  All unamplified, bitches.

go see this

Sarah Hotchkiss

Through September 13 - Something Completely Different at City Limits Gallery.  For a gallery that usually focuses on a single artist or two at a time this is a veritable supernova of a group show, with 60 different artists represented.  In keeping with the City Limits philosophy each artist was invited to submit a piece that differs from their customary practice, and the resulting works encompass a dizzying array of sculpture, painting, drawing, video, installation, and more.  No previous knowledge of the artists is necessary to enjoy the show, and it's a really fun way to wrap up the summer (the traditional group show season) and maybe pick up a little something for your home collection too.

 

 

Through September 14 - Disruption at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.  The most exciting part of the current Bay Area Now 7 show at Yerba Buena might be the roster of public programs being held in conjunction with the exhibition, including this series of workshops curated by Bean Gilsdorf.  On Saturday I attended Kristina Lee Podesva's hilarious and thought-provoking class "Learning SSL (Startups as a Second Language)" in which we participants sharpened our listening comprehension and translation skills.  Remaining installments in the series include a clinic with Amanda Curreri exploring blauwe bloempjes (ie "bold-faced lies") and double zero's playful session with a seesaw.

niicugni

 

Tonight's find is this trailer for Emily Johnson's piece Niicugni which toured earlier this year to a number of venues around the U.S. including the Baryshnikov Arts Center in New York.  From the Baryshnikov's website:

Niicugni—the word—is a directive to pay attention, to listen. Housed within a light/sound installation of handmade fish-skin lanterns, Emily Johnson's Niicugni quietly compels attentiveness, layering multiple dances, live music, stories, and histories into a space occupied by past, present, and future.

See also:

• Baryshnikov Arts Center
• Emily Johnson