Month: October 2019

Fantastic Fungi Screening Start Date: Thursday 10/10/2019 — End Date: Thursday 10/10/2019 Admission:25$ for Balcony The visually stunning and groundbreaking documentary FANTASTIC FUNGI comes to San Francisco on October 10th at 7pm and will debut at The Castro Theatre. This film showcases the amazing world beneath our feet and how mushrooms can offer solutions to some of our most pressing issues today. Narrated by Brie Larson, FANTASTIC FUNGI takes us on a journey to discover an often overlooked area in nature through the work of experts like Paul Stamets, best-selling authors Michael Pollan, Eugenia Bone, Andrew Weil and others. Following the film, there will be a inspirational conversation with the director and mycologist, Paul Stamets. FANTASTIC FUNGI is sure to captivate your attention and impact the way you think about mushrooms. Location: 429 Castro St Eureka Valley San Francisco Contact: Moving Art team@movingart.com URL: https://fantasticfungi.com

Mieke Marple: Bad Feminist Start Date: Saturday 11/9/2019 — End Date: Saturday 12/21/2019 Admission:Free Ever Gold [Projects] presents Bad Feminist, a solo exhibition by Mieke Marple. Bad Feminist reflects on the ancient Greek myth of Medusa in the era of #MeToo. Taking its title from Roxane Gay’s book Bad Feminist: Essays (2014), in which the author describes a sexual assault she experienced as a child, Marple reflects on historical depictions of women and rape in light of today’s changing understanding of the power dynamics at play within society at large. While the details of the myth of Medusa have evolved overtime, in Ovid’s canonical telling, Medusa, the most beautiful of her three Gorgon sisters, is raped by Poseidon, god of the Sea, in the Temple of his wife, Athena. Enraged, Athena, god of Wisdom and War, punishes the mortal Medusa, instead of her husband, turning Medusa into a half woman-half serpent with snakes for hair and eyes that turn anyone she looks at to stone. In Ovid’s telling, Athena is justified in her punishment and it is Medusa’s beauty, not Poseidon’s lust or cruelty, that is blamed for both the rape and the subsequent violence acted against her. Marple’s paintings of Medusa are based on three canonical Italian sculptures. The first is Benvenuto Cellini’s “Perseus with Head of Medusa” (1550), which features the Greek hero holding up Medusa’s decapitated head as a sign of victory. The second is Gian Lorenzo Bernini’s “Medusa” (1640), considered conceptually avant-garde for its time in rendering the moment Medusa is turned into a monster with pathos and humanity. The third is Antonio Canova’s “Perseus with Head of Medusa” (1804), thematically similar to Cellini’s though less gruesome in its details. In Marple’s paintings, images of Medusa’s head are layered upon backgrounds of delicate lace, floral wallpaper, and luxury brand logos in garish colors. These signifiers highlight the status of these works as decorative objects and allude to the metamorphosis of Medusa into a symbol of luxury and excess with the adoption of her severed head as the logo for the fashion house Versace. This conflation of contemporary and classical narratives serves to reinforce the importance of the myth of Medusa as an allegory still relevant today, though greatly in need of #MeToo revision. Please inquire for more information: info@evergoldprojects.com Mieke Marple (b. 1986, Mountain View, CA) received her B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2008. She was co-owner of Night Gallery, Los Angeles, from 2011 until 2016, and has been written about by The New York Times and W Magazine, among other publications. In 2012, Marple produced the web series Feast of Burden, directed by filmmaker Eugene Kotlyarenko and distributed by MOCAtv. In 2014, she also co-founded the “Sexy Beast Benefit for Planned Parenthood LA,” and remains on the organization’s advisory board. Recent exhibitions include [On Approval] Beta Launch at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco, 2019); God is an Audiobook at 1301PE (Los Angeles, 2019); Gold Standard at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco, 2019); The Internet Archive’s 2018 Artist In Residence Exhibition at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco); and Relocation Tarot (2018) at Ever Gold [Projects] (San Francisco). A solo exhibition at Ever Gold [Projects] is forthcoming (Fall 2019). Marple lives and works in San Francisco. Location: 1275 Minnesota Street, Suite 105 San Francisco Contact: Andrew McClintock info@evergoldprojects.com URL: https://evergoldprojects.com/exhibition/mieke-marple-bad-feminist-november-9-december-21/

SF Dance Film Fest Opening Night – Queen + Béjart: Ballet For Life Start Date: Saturday 11/2/2019 — End Date: Saturday 11/2/2019 Admission:$21 – $75 Queen + Béjart: Ballet For Life The SF Dance Film Festival invites you to join us in celebrating the North American premiere of Queen + Béjart: Ballet For Life by Lynne Wake and Simon Lupton, which tells the story of the creation and subsequent success of Ballet for Life, the unique collaboration between three huge cultural brands: Queen, Versace, and the visionary choreographer Maurice Béjart. At its heart is the loss of two legendary performers, Freddie Mercury and dancer Jorge Donn, both of whom died of AIDS in the early 1990s. This film marks the ultimate fusion of Queen’s sweeping emotional melodies and the timeless ethereal grace and movement of ballet. It is the first and only time a full-length ballet has been paired to rock music albeit peppered with some equally well-known pieces from Mozart. Featuring: Brian May and Roger Taylor, and Adam Lambert, Wayne Sleep and Arlene Philips, and of course incredible archive footage of Freddie Mercury, Maurice Béjart, Queen, and Gianni Versace. Location: 1110 Gorgas Ave Presidio of San Francisco San Francisco Contact: SF Dance Film Festival info@sfdancefilmfest.org URL: https://www.sfdancefilmfest.org/festival-films/2019-program/queen-bejart/

The Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show Start Date: Sunday 12/29/2019 — End Date: Sunday 12/29/2019 Admission:$28 Advance / $35 Day of Show Pucker up and kiss 2019 goodbye on Sunday, December 29th, when political satirist Will Durst brings his irreverent tribe of merry pranksters back to the Rhythmix stage. Bay area favorite Johnny Steele along with Debi Durst, Michael Bossier, Mari Magaloni, and Arthur Gaus join Will for a hilarious evening of stand-up comedy, improvisation, and sketches riffing through the major news stories of 2019. The troupe vows to lampoon, satirize, mock, scoff, scorn, taunt, tease, rib and ridicule the people and events of the past year and do it with a modicum of taste. Presenting “comedy for people who read, or know someone who does,” Will makes a point of puncturing the pomposity of sacred cows on both sides of the aisle. A five-time Emmy nominee and a regular commentator for audible.com, CNN, and NPR, Will is as current as today’s headlines, as accurate as a sharpshooter, and in the words of the New York Times, “quite possibly the best political satirist working in the country today.” The annual Big Fat Year End Kiss Off Comedy Show features an uproarious collection of riotous skits, songs, sketches, and stand- up, all based on the wacky events that made up 2019. Some calendars are less conducive as subjects of humourosity, but this one gave us Megyn Kelly, Brexit, the Zika virus and bad hombres grabbing nasty women. Lush like a tropical rain forest… Location: 2513 Blanding Ave Alameda Contact: Tina Blaine info@rhythmix.org URL: https://www.rhythmix.org/events/big-fat-year-end-comedy-2019-2/