Happy Monday, all! Check back tomorrow to get a jump on some of the exciting arts events happening in May. From now on, we’ll look ahead at the coming month, in order to let you get the jump on events, including those that have a cap on participants/require registration, as those often tend to fill up far in advance. Weekly, we’ll still bring you reminders and notifications about fun arts events happening around the city. Filling up your Friday night this week:
Friday May 4th
This week, UMOCA’s First Friday event celebrates the opening of a new show in their Locals Only Gallery— as you might guess from the name, this gallery promotes local artists, both providing visitors with exposure to home-grown local talent, and providing the chance for unique Utah voices to gain more exposure at the national level. This week’s opening is for Mark Hedengren’s The Invincibility Fable. Over two years, Hedengren joined the informal communities that spring up around swimming holes, to create photographs that explore the adventures found by young risk-takers who’ve snuck beyond the neat suburban yard. Fable features over 30 color photographs from the series “Cliff Jumpers”, created out of Hedengren’s explorations in the American south and mountain west. The First Friday event will include food, cash bar, and music by DJ TiDY, so come prepared to show some youthful exuberance of your own. Admission is free; Show runs until August 18th.
UMOCA, 20 South West Temple, 8-10PM.
Join the Leonardo for the grand opening of two new exhibits. Fantastic Fabrications! focuses on the concept of inventions-that-should-have-been. Among other treats, you’ll be able to learn about Boilerplate, a robot invented in an alternate history. The exhibit uses artifacts, images, and tools from this imagined past to take visitors along on Boilerplate’s adventures, and helps them get hands on to create their own should-have-been inventions in the tinkering studio. (And Boilerplate creator Paul Guinan, will be on hand with wife-and-collaborator Anina Bennett over the weekend to explore the art of comic-making—If you can’t make it for the grand opening, stop by Library Square the Leonardo’s gift shop or Night Flight Comics on Saturday to get a free comic.) Think Art—Act Science contains a series of art installation created by Swiss artists as part of the Swiss government’s intriguing Artists-in-Labs program, which teams up artists and researchers for nine-month collaborations. Regular admission is $14; special price of $10 available through May 4.
The Leonardo, 209 East 500 South, 8pm-10pm.