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Much Ado About [Nothing]
Machine learning meets UFOs, an underground house music concert, and a chamber music concert series
The Museum of Jurassic Technology is the most confusing, truth-blurring institution I’ve ever experienced. Even calling it a museum feels like a stretch. Based in Los Angeles, it bills itself as natural science melded with a cabinet of curiosities, never letting on what’s truth and what’s fiction. I went from peering through a magnifying glass at a man barking to studying oil paintings of Russian space dogs, constantly questioning what I was perceiving: what was truth, what was truthy, what was fiction masquerading as science. The space reminded me how institutional structures mold our perception of truth and that formal presentation doesn’t equate to evidence.
Experience an artist who uses photography and machine learning to toy with those same ideas, head to a vintage market, and discover Oakland’s underground house music scene.
Opening Reception | Trevor Paglen’s The Horizon Waved, and Nothing Was Certain: 2006-2026
Category: Art
Date: Thursday, January 8th @ 5pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Jessica Silverman Gallery (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Artist Trevor Paglen isn’t afraid of AI and UFOs: He’s used computer vision and machine learning for decades to investigate technology and surveillance. I once heard him speak at the gone-but-not-forgotten Altman Siegel, and saw his video work Doty at a coordinated screening. In it, Air Force officer Richard Doty reveals how the government weaponized UFO conspiracies to distract from the tech they were actually testing. Paglen’s approach to perception and power is on full display in this retrospective, which pulls from four series tackling UFOs and surveillance, disguised as serene Turner-esque landscapes.
Film Screening | Chinese Couplets
Category: Film
Date: Saturday, January 10th @ 4pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Oakland Asian Cultural Center (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Director Felicia Lowe has told Bay Area stories for years, but Chinese Couplets puts her own family at the center. This documentary-memoir explores family, immigration, and identity through the Chinese Exclusion Acts that shaped Lowe’s history. It premiered a decade ago, but the questions it raises feel urgent today. Stick around for the post-screening panel with Lowe, her daughter, genealogist Grant Din, and community worker Sandy Jiang.
Opening Reception | Weaving The Community Together
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, January 10th @ 3pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Abrams Claghorn Gallery (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Abrams Claghorn Gallery rotates through monthly shows featuring local artists. This upcoming exhibition, Weaving The Community Together, is curated by the Oneness Projects and brings together seven visual artists and one sound artist whose work explores remembrance, the intersection of art & science, and sparking creativity. Stop by the opening, then return on the 16th for a community weaving workshop where you can try your hand at storytelling.
Chamber Sessions at The Drawing Room
Category: Music
Date: Sunday, January 4th @ 2:30pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: The Drawing Room: ANNEX (SF)
Price Range: Free (Suggested Donation $10+)
Why I Care: Pianist Jon Lee and cellist Ed Baskerville are bringing chamber music back to Sunday afternoons. Their inaugural Chamber Sessions at The Drawing Room pays homage to the Classical Revolution jam sessions that once filled Revolution Café before it shuttered. There’s no set program, just musicians performing what they love while you listen, snack, and take in the art on view. Pop in, consider donating, and help bring live music back to creative spaces.
Oakland Vintage Market
Category: Fashion
Date: Saturday, January 10th @ 10am (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Outdoor Parking Lot (222 Jefferson St) (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Oakland Vintage Market usually happens the first Saturday of the month, but rain pushed this edition back. Organized by Narrative Oakland (shoutout to them for my lovely vintage cocktail tumblers), a design collective with a shop around the corner. Expect clothing, art, and furniture vendors, perfect for figuring out that new-year-new-you look.
Opening Reception | Salt of the Earth
Category: Art
Date: Saturday, January 10th @ 3pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Strike-slip Gallery (SF)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: Touch grass at Strike-slip Gallery’s Salt of the Earth. This group show gathers artists working across disciplines to reconnect with the natural world and step away from screens. You’ll see work from multimedia artist Trina Michelle Robinson, glass artist Rafi Ajl, textile artist Enam Gbewonyo, and six others with varied cultural backgrounds and material practices. Bonus: soon-to-launch Passage wine bar will be pouring bottles to supplement your digital detox for those participating in a wet January.
Concert | LUNR
Category: Music
Date: Saturday, January 10th @ 9pm (Add to Google Calendar)
Location: Moonglow - RSVP Required for Exact Location (East Bay)
Price Range: Free
Why I Care: “If you know, you glow” is LUNR’s tagline, and honestly, who doesn’t want to glow? This underground house series brings intimate DJ performances to Moonglow, Oakland’s “secret” bar from the minds behind Bar Shiru. January’s edition features DJs Kream and Musa Bey spinning soul and afro house, b-sides, and dance beats that ease and energize. RSVP for the event’s exact location.
Next Drop: Monday, January 12th