Gray Area’s annual, wonderfully experimental Recombinant Festival (Thu/5-Sat/7)—from seminal “spatial media synthesis” performance and art incubator Recombinant Media Labs—manages to explore the nexus of art, music, and technology without being, how shall we say it, cringe. We get terrific things like Motion Control-MODELL 5 by the group Granular=Synthesis, which premiered 30 years ago in 1994 in London, and “has been described as one of the most feverish experiments in bringing extreme digital video assemblies to a live audience.”
We also get “personal live-to-multi-channel disc performance” PLAYTHING by Maryanne Amacher, developed almost 25 years ago at Recombinant Media Labs, “a 50-minute epic epiphany, chronicled and performed by Amacher herself in real time before her death.” And electroacoustic showcase Akousma featuring cutting-edge performers from Montreal. And TRIPTYCH by Robin Fox, “described as an ‘audio visual space-time carving’ that uses laser projectors to transform a venue’s unique architecture into a completely new environment.
Alongside all this (including performances by performances by SHAO, Kyoka, Ma Haiping (MHP), Le Fou , and N3ZHA) is a three-day art installation by Shigetoshi Furutani, who work “attempts to develop responses to limitations of language and expand the expression of two dimensional form in an age of social media, and engages with the limits of chaos and order, generativeness and restriction.” I am drooling. The theme of the whole thing is “Doors to Her.” Pop by this weekend and expand your mind, if you’re able.
MORE EVENTS OF NOTE
THROUGH DECEMBER 8: THE VELVETEEN RABBIT Spectacular costumes and dancing enliven ODC’s rendition of this beloved tale (and make me long to curl up with the picture book beneath the stairs again). YBCA, SF. More info here.
THROUGH DECEMBER 14: ‘BORDER / LINE خط التماس ‘ AND ‘SA ATING NINUNO (TO OUR ANCESTORS)’ 48 Hills contributor Halim Madi and Jess Semeen explore diasporic storytelling at Counterpulse: “From the ancestral breezes and passageways of the Philippines to the oral traditions of the mountains of Lebanon, Semeen and Mali invite the audience into a poetic and movement ritual exploration of the story of migration and the formation of self.” CounterPulse, SF. More info here.
THROUGH DECEMBER 21: ATSUSHI KAGA: THE WORLD WILL NOT END TOMORROW ‘Tis the week for bunnies. Deploying his playful, signature rabbit iconography in his first solo show at Jessica Silverman gallery, the Dublin/Kyoto-based artist “takes the innovations of his Pop art elders, Takashi Murakami and Yoshitomo Nara, into new experiential and emotional domains that defy easy categorization in a single artistic genre.” Hippy-hoppity! Jessica Silverman, SF. More info here.
THROUGH DECEMBER 29: PETER PAN Who doesn’t love a good Peter Pan panto, full of colorful characters and delightful scenes to please the young ‘uns. “Now in its fourth year, Panto in the Presidio has quickly become a San Francisco holiday staple. The annual production is a uniquely San Franciscan twist on the British tradition of holiday pantomimes which are over-the-top musical theater parodies of popular children’s stories and folklore. Join in the Panto traditions of booing the villains, cheering the heroes, and singing along to popular songs played by a live band. Oh, and watch out for flying candy!” You’ll be hooked, ha ha. Presidio Theatre, SF. More info here.
THU/5: VICTORIA MANALO DRAVES 100TH BIRTH MONTH CELEBRATION The legendary Filipina diver broke boundaries when she scored gold medals in the 1948 Summer Olympics. There has been a recent explosion of Filipino artwork in SoMa, and Victoria has hardly been left out, with a stunning tribute mural by Jessica K. Wofford at SFMOMA. Come celebrate this woman who made a big splash, and receive a free poster by Wofford, with poetry and stories by SOMA Pilipinas Poet Laureate Oscar Peñaranda, and a sports identity ceremony facilitated by Coach Carolyn Sideco of Coaching Kapwa. 5pm-7pm, YBCA, SF. More info here.
FRI/6: DJ FUCKOFF New Zealand-born, Berlin-based DJ Fuckoff, aka Zoe Angelina, packs all the punches of contemporary techno—BPMs borrowed from hard trance, chopped and scratched samples, drum ‘n bass drops, psychedelic effects, pummeling bass, a refreshing willingness to just be goofy—and adds a bit of her own melodic twist. She’s backed at the always wild Fake & Gay party (presented with Vitamin 1k and Public Works) by Physical Therapy, a slow burn, sexy artist from New Jersey, who might be described as Fuckoff’s polar opposite. 9pm-3am, Public Works, SF. More info here.
FRI/6 + SAT/7: SF GAY MENS’ CHORUS HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR A glorious San Francisco tradition that wink-winks, nudge-nudges at some of the queer subtext peeking out from those beloved holiday jingles. This year’s theme, “Together,” “embodies the spirit of community, love, and connection that pours from the stage in every note.” Sydney Goldstein Theater, SF. More info here.
SAT/7: DJ LOUIE VEGA The Grammy-winning Master at Work returns to show the Bay Area how soulful house music is one—he would know, he basically invented it. (His wife is also spectacularly talented.) he’ll be at the Foundry for the Signature Sounds Residency party, backed up by San Francisco selectors Lossless Wax, Louiv b2b Philco, Sara Afshar b2b Yanzy. 9pm, The Foundry, SF. More info here.
SAT/7: 40 YEARS OF THE LAB W/ PAMELA Z SF’s terrific experimental music and art pitstop blazes into its fourth decade with an appearance by one of our favorite composers here at 48 Hills, Pamela Z, who will show us what she’s been up to lately. (Her recent contribution to pianist Adam Tendler’s “Inheritances” grief anthology, in which she sampled room tone as a metaphor for building on emptiness, was a showstopper.) There will also be food by chef Leif Hedendal, a pre-show open bar of natural wines and non-alcoholic alternatives, cake by Vinegary Personality, and afterparty DJ sets from Brontez Purnell and others. 6pm-10pm, The Lab, SF. More More info here.
SAT/7: 15TH ANNUAL EAST BAY ALTERNATIVE BOOK AND ZINE FEST EBABZ! One of this incredible events where my husband will insist on holding my purse so I won’t break the bank (little does he know I have a separate “emergency book purchase” phone). 100+ vendors selling zines, comics, books, and other goods from local artists and zinesters—and if you know the East Bay scene, you know there will be eye-popping treats galore. Noon-5pm, David Brower Center, Berkeley. More info here.
SAT/7: MATEUSZ KOWALSKI The Polish guitar virtuoso slays on the strings, and returns to our shores for another stellar concert at St. Mark’s church, presented by the Omni Foundation, in which he’ll tackle a special arrangement of Chopin’s Piano Concerto in F minor for guitar and string quartet. Students from SF’s Music Conservatory open up. 7:30pm, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, SF. More info here.
