Thursday, November 10 2005
Executive Order 9066
Performed by the Lunatique Fantastique Ensemble
Directed by Christine Young & Liebe Wetzel
8 p.m. in the Exploratorium's McBean Theater

Mature Content: Parental Discretion Advised

Using a Japanese tea set, a tablecloth, sand, brown paper, and an old suitcase, the Lunatique Fantastique Ensemble tells the poignant story of one family's forced relocation from their Berkeley home to Topaz, Utah during World War II—and their return at the War's end. "In a nearly silent 60-minute puppet show, Liebe Wetzel and her crew create more emotion and eloquence than most dialogue-filled plays can produce in two hours... one stirring image after another. Chalk up another amazing adventure in puppetry for remarkable Liebe Wetzel." Chad Jones, ANG Newspapers, 5/29/03

Thursday, December 15 2005
Dry Run by Kristin Lucas
8 p.m. in the Exploratorium's McBean Theater

Kristin Lucas is one of a new generation of artists working in video, installation, performance, and interactive media. In her anecdotal mini-dramas, she constructs virtual relationships with computers, television, and electronic media. Set against an empty world of video games, daytime television, and shopping malls, her work balances seriousness with humor and resonates with a sense of social isolation and alienation from the electronic media that she posits as a surrogate for personal interaction. Lucas' improvisational performances address the complexity of our relationships toward automation and the psychological effects of rapidly spreading technology.

This event is sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

Friday, January 13 2006
Success: The YD Way by James Bewley and George Nachtrieb
8 p.m. in the Exploratorium's McBean Theater

This dynamic roadshow, produced by "corporate powerhouse" YD Industries, is an entertaining and educational analysis of the principles of success on both corporate and personal levels. This energetic event includes video clips, swashbuckling PowerPoint presentations, break-out (and break-in) sessions, and guest entertainers and inspirational speakers who show how YD's model of success can be applied to the life of the everyman—also known as you ! As brought to you by artists and entertainers James Bewley and George Nachtrieb, the evening will be a fun and occasionally bizarre parody of the corporate success seminar and PR extravaganza.

This event is sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

Friday, February 3 2006
Reconsidered Materials
7 - 9 p.m. throughout the museum

Stone suitcases. Styrofoam Hummers. Crocheted cells. In conjunction with the opening of a new exhibition in the Exploratorium's Seeing Gallery, local artists explore objects made from surprising, unexpected, and unusual materials in a reexamination of the relationship between form, function, and substance. The cavernous Palace of Fine Arts itself becomes part of the canvas as animated artworks hang from the building's exposed beams and trusses.

This event is sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

Thursday, March 2 2006
Speaker Swinging and Piano Mechanics
Composed by Gordon Monahan
Swingers include Amy Loewen, and Mary Elizabeth Yarbrough
8 p.m. in the Exploratorium's Skylight Area

Speaker Swinging
Three swinging loudspeakers and nine audio oscillators combine in a dynamic audio environment. Speaker Swinging was inspired by cars cruising by on hot summer nights with heavy metal music blaring from the windows. As the cars sped by, sound waves interwove in fleeting moments of wet, fluid music as tonalities melted into one another. Tonight's performance builds on that sonic foundation to create an exhilarating aural world.

Piano Mechanics
This solo work in nine movements reimagines the instrumental qualities of the piano as extreme, un-pianistic keyboard techniques are used to excavate acoustical sounds not normally associated with this iconic instrument.

This event is sponsored in part by a grant from Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.