Sue Conley, co-founder of Cowgirl Creamery
@ National Harbor
Q:What's your favorite food TV show or host?
A:"John Shields of 'Chesapeake Cooking.' He was a deep appreciation for local foods."
THURSDAY: Walead Beshty is pretty busy of late — his stunning photographic art and sculptures are on display in Los Angeles, New York and, as of Friday, here at the Hirshhorn. Massive, color-drenched photograms like "Six Color Curl (CMMYYC)," above, will reboot your perceptions of photography.
» Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th Street & Independence Avenue SW; opens Fri. May 1, through Sept. 13; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Written by Express' Arion Berger
SUNDAY: Sunday is the last day to catch Israeli-born, London-based artist Ori Gersht's lavish and violent works in Hirshhorn's Black Box space. The moving-image piece "The Forest" and flat-screen work "Pomegranate" (detail at right) explore with meticulous attention and a keen eye on art history the effects of violence and abrupt intervention on the natural world.
» Hirshhorn, 7th Street & Independence Avenue SW; through Sun., April 12, free; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Written by Express' Arion Berger
THIS WEEK: The Internet has for years proclaimed that this is the age of the comic book, and the National Museum of the American Indian wants in on the action.
"Comic Art Indigene" is an exhibit of comic books illuminating the Native American experience. The exhibit links ancient illustrated stories, including rock wall paintings, to modern comic books and graphic novels.
» National Museum of the American Indian, Fourth Street and Independence Avenue SW; through May 31, free; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Photo courtesy of Museum of Indian Arts and Culture
AT FIRST GLANCE, Ori Gersht's "Pomegranate" recalls the lush, precise still life painting of Dutch masters. Intent on conveying every drop of dew clinging to the apricot, every crunchy ridge in a cabbage, they painted life at its luscious peak in order to tweak the 16th-century viewer's conscience, from which the inevitability of decay and death was never very far away.
Gersht, however, speeds up the process. With a gun.
The London-based, Israeli-born artist, who has two moving-image pieces on display in the Hirshhorn's Black Box, doesn't wait for nature and entropy to take their course, or even leave the squishy fate of the title fruit to one's imagination. He shoots it, and in the moment the bullet hits the pomegranate's skin and its brilliant ruby seeds are loosed in a starburst, you actually feel for the poor, surprised thing, its time cut so abruptly short.
IF WASHINGTON, D.C., had a Statue of Liberty just for inauguration season, her plaque would read, "Give me your hungry, your footsore, your crowded masses yearning to warm up ...."
While it's great to be a part of history, particularly on an occasion as momentous as the inauguration of Barack Obama, America's 44th president and its first half-black one, witnessing the Jan. 20 event is also going to be chock-full of inconvenience. Transportation? Oy. Bathrooms? Ha! Sight lines? Fuggedaboutit. And should the celebrating citizen get peckish — actually, we can help you there.
Below is a list of our top 15 restaurants within walking distance from your hotel/friend's house/sleeping bag or the Mall itself. In the spirit of change, hope and other vaguely delicious promises, we vow that if we can help fill one American's belly on Jan. 20, we will have done our part.
UPSCALE
1. Poste
Earth-conscious visitors to the nation's capital will be blown away by Poste's uber-sustainable approach to contemporary American fare. Outside is an organic garden from which the chef plucks ingredients. Even the wine list is filled with excellent sustainable varietals.
» 555 8th St. NW; 202-783-6060. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
2. Oya
Fantastic Asian-fusion food is served up by a friendly and attentive (but not too attentive) waitstaff. Arrive for happy hour to feast on reasonably priced, delectable sushi and cocktails on special. If you're there for dinner, ask about its three-course fixed price specials.
» 777 9th St. NW; 202-393-1400. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
3. Rasika
This upscale Indian restaurant offers inventive takes on everything from tandoori chicken to street food such as papri chaat. At the bar, you'll find creative cocktails, and a nice beer and wine selection. Try the bright green French beer--La Verte from Brasserie Du Mont Blanc.
» 633 D St. NW; 202-637-1222. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Continue Reading "Food Nation: Nearby Inauguration Eateries" »
THIS WEEK: In the 1960s, people questioned the foundations of culture and tested the limits of art. Also, they did a lot of drugs, which might account for the strange, intensely conceptual art on display at the Hirshhorn.
The Panza Collection (so called because it's all from the collection of a famous art-amasser named Panza) is only here through this week, and its pieces play with light, form and your mind in ways you won't expect.
One of the works, by Richard Long, consists of a wide strip of white rocks. You will want to walk on the rocks, jumping from one to the other like a child in an E. Nesbit novel. Do not walk on them. You WILL get in trouble.
» Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th Street & Independence Avenue SW; through Jan. 11, free; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Photo courtesy Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution
THIS WEEK: The itsy-bitsy spider isn't so itsy-bitsy anymore — Louise Bourgeois' "Crouching Spider" at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden towers over visitors — no word on a possible gigantic water spout.
» Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, 7th Street & Independence Avenue SW; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Written by Express' Jason Koebler
SO YOU WORK downtown, and, though you'd never admit it, it's killing your soul. Remember when you were a little kid and you wanted to be an astronaut? Yeah, how did you end up a consultant? Someone actually WALKED AWAY last time you tried to describe your job at a Christmas party. It's a good thing Charles Dickens didn't live to see this.
Anyway, there's no better way to regain your childish wonder and a sense of gratitude for life than learning something new and exciting. The Air and Space Museum holds periodic "Ask an Expert" talks, 15-minute chunks of "Isn't space awesome?" that explain some majestic aspect of our universe. It's an even better pick-me-up than that double-shot, and it doesn't cost $4.
Today, David DeVorkin will talk about the Hubble telescope. Meet at the Great Seal on the first floor.
» National Air and Space Museum, 4th Street and Independence Avenue SW; Wed., Dec. 17, noon, free; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Photo by James A. Parcell/The Washington Post
"SMOKE SIGNALS" was the first movie written, directed and produced by American Indians. See the 1988 award-winner Sunday.
» National Museum of the American Indian, 4th Street & Independence Avenue NW; Sun., Dec. 7, 2 p.m., free, 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Written by Express' Nathan Martin
Photo courtesy Miramax
IT'S THE BEST party in D.C. — if you're a hipster, that is. In the morning you can tell your friends "I went and danced till dawn at the modern art museum." Their jaws will drop in awe.
Hirshhorn After Hours happens every few months, and the party-at-the-museum fun has unequivocally marked the 'Horn as the "cool" Smithsonian. See the new exhibit (a newly acquired collection) before everyone else. Even if you think the Hirshhorn's collection can't be improved by anything, wait till you inspect it with a drink in your hand. Dan Deacon and DJ Gavin Holland will provide the music.
» Hirshhorn Museum, Independence Avenue at 7th St. SW; Fri., Nov. 7, 8 p.m., $10-$12; 202-633-1000. (L'Enfant Plaza)
Photo courtesy Smithsonian Hirshhorn
Addison Road