MUSEUM EVENTS: APRIL 1 - APRIL 15, 2010

Eighth Annual National Cherry Blossom Festival Anime Marathon
Saturday, April 3
11am - 3pm
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution Washington D.C.
http://asia.si.edu/events/films.asp

A day-long festival of Japanese anime, including film screenings and a costume contest, in honor of the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Japanese anime films, all with English-language soundtracks or with English subtitles, will be shown throughout the day:

11 a.m.: "Chocolate Underground"
1:30 p.m.: Cosplay Contest
4 p.m.: "Sword of the Stranger"
7 p.m.: "Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade"

Tickets will be given away on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open 30 minutes before the screening. (Washington Post)

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Hirshhorn After Hours
Friday, April 9
8pm - midnight
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden - Smithsonian Institution
Independence Avenue at Seventh Street SW
http://hirshhorn.si.edu/afterhours/

Internationally renowned artist Bill Shannon arrives with his NYC house / break hybrid dance crew The Step Fenz and DJ "Brian The Wizard” Coxx of Soulgasm NYC.

Shannon will perform throughout the evening around the plaza and demonstrate cutting-edge streetdance moves on the mainstage. The ongoing freestyle dance sessions will be shot and mixed live by VJ Glytch (NYC) with live feeds to three large-scale video installations.

Experience one of Shannon's intimate but intense sculptural, 8-channel video installations on the plaza, which is on view for one-night only courtesy of the artist and Douz & Mille.

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Contemporary Japanese Fashion: The Mary Baskett Collection
Now until Sunday, April 11
Textile Museum, Washington, DC
http://www.textilemuseum.org/exhibitions/upcoming/Contemporary_Japanese_Fashion.htm

This exhibition, an expanded version of an earlier showing at the Cincinnati Art Museum, will include approximately 40 garments from the collection of Mary Baskett, an art dealer and former curator of prints at the Cincinnati Art Museum who has been collecting and wearing Japanese high fashion since the 1960s.

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Eddie Adams: Vietnam
Now open through April 22
National Museum of the Marine Corps, Triange, VA
http://www.usmcmuseum.com/news_Calendar.asp

This show depicts 50 photographs, artifacts and information panels based on the experiences of the Pulitzer Prize winner Eddie Adams experience in Vietnam.

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A Dream...but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey
Now Through May 16
National Museum of Women in the Arts
http://www.nmwa.org/exhibition/detail.asp?exhibitid=200

Turkey has long been considered a nation with one foot in the East and the other in the West, whose art and design production has permeated and influenced European nations over the past four centuries. In the 21st century, Turkey’s contemporary artists ensconce themselves mentally in global art production, notwithstanding the physical location of their studios. The National Museum of Women in the Arts is pleased to present some of the leading women artists who claim Turkey as their homeland, but whose video art, photography, and painting declare their identity. A Dream…but not Yours: Contemporary Art from Turkey features work by eleven internationally-established artists who pose the elemental question “why do so many women seek to conform and adhere to standards set by others, and continue to be judged by their roles as spouse, mother, and keeper of the house?”

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Orchids: A Cultural Odyssey
Now Through April 11
United States Botanic Gardens
http://www.usbg.gov/education/events/Orchids-A-Cultural-Odyssey.cfm

Go on a journey with the U.S. Botanic Garden as we explore the ways orchids have permeated the lives of people around the world. Discover orchids in arts, literature, exploration, jewelry, trade, and business. Travel the world within our Conservatory and discover how influential and magnificent orchids have been in our lives! As in previous years, the exhibit is a collaborative effort involving the collections of the U.S. Botanic Garden and the Smithsonian Institution Horticultural Services Division. Free.