The to-do list

Art

Stitching survival

As President Obama’s recent European trip reminded, the horrors of the Holocaust are still with us. Along with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and architect Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe sculpture in Berlin, Esther Nisenthal Krinitz’s Fabric of Survival is a world-renowned showcase of survival through art. On display at the Oceanside Museum of Art (704 Pier View Way) starting with a memorial service at 2 p.m., Sunday, June 14, the exhibition, which runs through Oct. 25, tells the story of Krinitz’s experience as a young girl in Nazi-occupied Poland during WWII through 36 self-stitched appliqué and embroidered cloth panels. Though she never considered herself an artist before her death in 2001, Krinitz’s work is an amazing and timeless take on the tradition of storytelling through folk art. $8, $5 for seniors, free for students, members and military. 760-435-3722, www.oma-online.org.

In bloom: Think of San Diego Museum of Art’s annual Art Alive as a museum version of the Rose Parade. For this year’s installation, floral designers were asked to “interpret” a piece in SDMA’s Spanish and Italian art collections; each designer’s product will sit side-by-side with its inspiration for a brief three days: Friday, June 12, through Sunday, June 14. Events surrounding the exhibition include “Flowers After Hours”—a special edition of the semi-regular Culture and Cocktails—happening from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 12 ($35 for non-members); the kid-focused Garden of Activities, free with admission on June 13 and June 14; and, for the duration of the show, the museum store will hold a trunk show featuring artists Sheri Liebert and Pamela Pogue. www.sdmart.org/artalive2009.

Media

Super Mario Hero

Imagine playing the old Atari game Pong, but instead of batting around a four-pixel ball on a screen, you bat around a sound. Or imagine playing Rock Band, but instead of classic-rock tunes, the music is the old MIDI sounds from Nintendo Entertainment System games like Super Mario Brothers and the Legend of Zelda. Or how about just a dance remix of The Wizard of Oz? Mixing old media with new technology is the theme of Recombinant Serendipity, a three-day (Wednesday, June 10, through Friday, June 12) presentation of senior projects from UCSD’s Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts majors. Each night will feature presentations of different projects at UCSD’s main campus, at no cost to the audience. For exact times and locations, visit icam.ucsd.edu. 

Special Events

Musical-fare fair

This year’s San Diego County Fair, which opens Friday, June 12, has always been good for some old-fashioned family fun, if “fun” to you is eating entirely too much artery-clogging crap and throwing up after a Zipper ride. But, hey, that’s part of the experience. The twist at Del Mar this year comes with a “Music Mania” theme, with retro acts that we know and love, like The B-52’s and Smokey Robinson, plus younger draws like Kelly Clarkson and Switchfoot. An exhibit will showcase art, merch and memorabilia from the last 50 years of pop music, and there’ll be a Guitar Hero competition, too. An ongoing battle of the bands, countless cover artists (from Coldplay to CCR) and everything from monster-truck expos to llama shows will keep you busy. Oh, and did we mention that the fair has just about every kind of fried food on the planet? $13 for adults, $7 for kids. www.sdfair.com.

Keepin’ it fresh: Normally we try to be proletarian in out recommendations on this here page, searching for events that the majority of our readers can easily afford. But for Sushi Performance and Visual Art’s Red Ball (back after a two-year break), we’re willing to make an exception. Why? Because Sushi is one of San Diego’s arts-and-culture gems, consistently impressing us with their outside-the-box programming—from live music to art to dance to combinations of all three in one night. To keep that programming going, they need folks to shell out $75 per person ($125 per couple and $35 for students) for the 7 p.m.-to-midnight soirée happening Saturday, June 13, at (and around) 390 11th Ave. in East Village. There will be lots of good eats and drinks and performances by gypsy circus troupe Zirk Ubu, Wolfgang von Cope and his Orkestra Moustachio and spoken-word artists like Ant Black and grace shinhae jun. There’ll also be a silent art auction and a chance to see new works by Teddy Cruz, Joshua Krause, Allison Weise, Brian Dick, Acamonchi and others. www.sushiart.org.

Design

Stirring it up

The sure sign you’ve made a splash in the art and design world comes when your exhibit sparks a similarly themed rival show. Although the details of what will be on display are being kept hush-hush, you can bet we’ll be checking out Shaken, Not Stirred: 15 Architectural Designers from TJ/SD, which opens for one night only at Spacecraft Gallery (2865 North Park Way, North Park) from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, June 12. Organizers say the designers that will be featured at Spacecraft were “shaken (with the news of not being invited), but not stirred (in anger or jealousy)” over the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego’s MIX: Nine San Diego Architects and Designers exhibition—so they decided to do their own show. Highlights include furniture designer Miki Iwasaki, architect Christopher Puzio and computer design guru Cameron Crockett. www.spacecraftgallery.com.

Community

The kids are alright

Ray at Night in North Park, Kettner Nights in Little Italy—seems like every ’hood’s starting up a night. But Sol Summer Nights, happening at Colina del Sol park in City Heights (54th and Orange streets, just off University Avenue) is something different. It’s a big celebration where hard-working community organizations will show off the products of their efforts. And we’re not talking strictly feel-good stuff—some of it’s pretty cutting-edge. Take Heads on Fire: Fab Lab’s “Fab Tag” project, for which the City Heights media-arts organization worked with a group of students from Crawford High School to create a virtual graffiti-art program that allows people to “tag” their surroundings using a laser-light stylus. We’re also looking forward to checking out the work of Media Arts Center San Diego’s Teen Producers Project in a showcase of documentaries by young filmmakers about issues affecting their communities. There’ll also be free food, dance performances and more. It all happens from 4 to 9:30 p.m., Saturday, June 13.

Food & Drink

Afternoon delights

We hear it all the time: “Gaslamp restaurants are too expensive, and there’s too many drunken idiots down there at night.” If that sounds like something you might say, take note: From 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, June 13 and 14, the 16th annual Taste of Gaslamp will showcase more than two dozen different restaurants each day. For your $25 ticket (per day), you get a 2- to 4-ounce sample of each eatery’s featured dish, plus a Taste of Gaslamp recipe book, and if you’re 21 or older, you can knock back some Sam Adams in a beer garden—all before the drunken idiots even think of heading Downtown. Buy tickets at www.gaslamp.org.