We all went through an experimental phase, whether it was with that cutie who made you feel funny things in your swimsuit area back in college, a toke of a weird-looking cigarette at a party or agreeing to let a hairstylist give you a “the coolest mullet ever,” complete with a bleached blonde rat tail, as I did when I was an impressionable 19-year-old. What a stupid idea.
From 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday, March 22, a long stretch of Adams Avenue will go through an experimental phase that will hopefully not leave you with a lower back tattoo of a pentagram that seemed like a good idea after your brief spell with Wicca resulting from watching “The Craft.”
The area between 32nd and 34th streets in Normal Heights will be the scene for Transannual, an art fair featuring arts of different mediums. Not a lot of details are available in an effort to keep things mysterious and improvisational.
“Basically, the street becomes the studio,” Robert Sanchez of robyko, a collaborative art project he does with his wife, Emiko Lewis-Sanchez, told CityBeat. “It’s about an experience — coming upon art in a fresh way without expectations.”
And they do mean it’s just an experience. Transannual takes an anti-consumerist approach. Unlike most art fairs, no art is for sale. Instead, attendees will see site-specific art happenings around the area.
“We, as many artists, divorce ourselves in a sense, whether it’s conscious or not, from the notion that we’re making something to be displayed for sale so that someone can collect it,” Robyko told the Reader. “We create work that’s exposing people to an experience that the aesthetic of an idea isn’t tied to an object as a saleable thing. In other words, we’re creating experiences as opposed to products.”
In other words, don’t bring cash but do bring an open mind.
You’re reading the Culture Report, Voice of San Diego’s weekly collection of the region’s cultural news.
Meeting of the Minds, Criminal Minds and More Visual Art Goods
• Every few months, we here at Voice of San Diego throw a cultural shindig we call Meeting of the Minds. Organizer Kelly Bennett chooses a theme that covers something new or interesting in the local arts and culture scene, and this time it’s all about the great things that are “made in San Diego.” We welcome Mary Beebe, Steven Cohen, Iris Engstrand, Margaret Noble, David Krysak and Andy Powers on Wednesday, March 19, at Building 32 in Liberty Station.
Before I became a contributor at VOSD, I attended Meeting the Minds and was inspired to do bigger and better things that didn’t end in a hangover for our lovely city. I’m still working on it. Admission is $20 and includes two drink tickets, admission to future events and a one-year membership to VOSD.
• Artist Brian Goeltzenleuchter and criminologist Paul Kaplan co-directed one of the most fascinating exhibitions I’ve heard about in a long while. “Shadow Spaces from the Art/Crime Archive” is a series of exhibits and events that provides an artful dialogue on culture and criminality. One of the photographic exhibits includes photographs of famed dump sites where serial killers disposed of their victims. Head to room LL108 of the SDSU Library on Thursday, March 20, from 2 to 4 p.m. for a reception and panel discussion on art, crime and the project.
• Voz Alta, the beloved art and performance space in Barrio Logan, is packing up and moving. Founders tell CityBeat that “gentrification and redevelopment” made it too difficult to stay in the neighborhood.
• A Reason to Survive (A.R.T.S.) will host an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. March 22 at their new(er) National City facility. See students’ artwork, performances and tour the facility. This organization is doing great things for the community.
• Stop by Central Library at 6:30 p.m. March 20 for the closing reception of “Renewed,” the library’s first exhibition featuring a group of talented artists, including Ernest Silva, Jeff Irwin, Gail Rogers and Faiya Fredman. It’s in the no-shush zone of the library’s top floor gallery.
• You know when you meet a music snob and they’re all, “Oh, you’ve never heard of The Pastels? That’s so embarrassing for you.” Well, now you can retort with a few little-known artists and make them feel like the epitome of un-hip after attending “No One You Know,” an exhibition featuring “good work by artists you’ve never heard of” according to their flier. From 5 to 9 p.m. on Saturday at Space 4 Art, see art by Gloria Rivera, Trace Mendoza, Emily Geiger, Alex Eng and Ry Beloin. You probably haven’t heard of them, but you will.
• Spring is in the air, and just like bunnies, gallery shows are beginning to multiply. James Chute of U-T San Diego lays out all of spring’s upcoming exhibitions.
• Artist Concetta Antico can see 100 million more colors than the average person, has more than nine cats and her Mission Hills home is gorgeous. Is one of the colors she sees jealousy, because I’m colored it right now. (San Diego Magazine)
• In honor of Women’s History Month, Oceanside Museum of Art will host a talk comparing legendary American artist Georgoa O’Keeffe with French artist Camille Claudel on March 19 at 10:30 a.m.
• I.D.E.A. District profiles artist/teacher/community leader Candice Lopez.
Previews, Being Human and More Music and Performance Pieces
• Above I mentioned the U-T’s spring art preview. Now here’s the classical music preview.
• Aww, theater is suffering from FOMO (fear of missing out. It’s a real thing, sort of). It’s a good thing the U-T also previews what’s going down on the theatrical stage this spring, including “The Book of Mormon.” Dying to see that!
• Now that I mention theater, Culture Buzz talks the upcoming run of the Broadway indie-rock musical “Spring Awakening” and Ion Theater’s coming stage offerings.
• The human body is a work of art and can create beautiful things. Some people take that notion and spew barf all over it (Oh, Gaga). Others do less … chunky (?) things with that idea. Dancer/choreographer Laura Binder keeps the vomit far away for The Art of Being Human, a site-specific dance that tips a hat to the visual arts world. Check it out at 6:15 p.m. on Saturday, March 22, at Art Produce.
• The La Jolla Symphony welcomes Berlin’s Scharoun Ensemble to its Chamber Music Series on March 25. Wouldn’t it be awesome if they made a chamber version of “My Sharona” and called it “My Scharouna”? No? OK, I’ll take a seat now.
Bar-Hopping Scientists, Architecture Port and More Culture Business
• What would you do if you walked into a bar and Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye were there, drinking beers and playing Big Buck Hunter? I know I would have a million hard-hitting, highly scientific questions to ask them, like, “Could there be ghosts on Mars?” Well, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is making that happen with some of San Diego’s most brilliant scientists. On March 20, the Fleet will have 50 scientists posted up at bars around town, hanging out and answering any questions you have for Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar.
• You into architecture porn? Yeah I bet you are, you dirty minx. (Pacific)
• The San Diego Latino Film Festival, curated by Media Arts Center, is in full swing. Check out films of all genres through March 23.
• MCASD La Jolla chooses architect Annabelle Selldorf to design the museum’s gallery expansion. She should add a glass ceiling to the building, and then go ahead a break it. (KPBS)
• The Balboa Park Explorer Pass was officially launched with help from Todd Gloria, new mayor Kevin Faulconer and the San Diego Chicken. Yup, I just wrote that.
Here’s your photo of the week, taken during a hike up Stonewall Peak. I’m not a real photographer, but I play one in my life as a culture reporter.
