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Picks of the Week: Construct your creativity

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FEBRUARY 24, 2020

Here’s to another Monday, Berkeley.

As we hit the mid-semester lull, our perspective and purpose may become obscured. Classes might not seem as exciting as they did in the beginning, and routines may become the new standard. Instead of going through the motions this week, pick up the pace through your creative pathway with these events. For your enjoyment and creativity, here are my selections for this week.

Staying true to character, return to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive for a Monday night at the museum. This time, pop in on a speaker event, titled “In Search of My Robot: Emergent Media, Racialized Gender, and Creativity.” Creative thinking elicits creative production, and this event will definitely motivate introspection. Poet, scholar and new media artist Margaret Rhee is leading an intersectional discussion, speaking about technology’s complications with race, gender and sexuality. Rethink the relationship you have with technology, paying heed to Rhee’s investigation into the racialization of robots.

After a night of intense rumination on your physical relationship with technology, begin virtual production with the Adobe Creative Jam in Pauley Ballroom. Held by the Berkeley Student Technology Fund and the ASUC Student Union, Creative Jam will provide students with free demos of Adobe XD products, a live design challenge, innovative guest speakers and a whole array of prizes. Register online to partake in the app development challenge at 4:00 p.m. or stop in about 8:00 p.m. to listen to speakers and vote on the winning team. Whether you are enhancing your own creativity or drawing inspiration from your fellow peers, Creative Jam provides a platform to utilize the most popular products for furthering artistic visions.

Up your creativity even further with the Student Kitchen Coalition’s Pop-Up Kitchen #1 on Wednesday. Partnering with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299, the UC system’s largest labor union, the pop-up kitchen aims to fight food waste by utilizing food products that would have been discarded or wasted. The pop-up kitchen will be offering free meals, although donations are welcomed and encouraged, to the first people who arrive on Sproul Plaza between 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. Maybe reach into the back of your fridge instead of buying new produce and come up with something creative and waste-reducing at the same time.

Following Wednesday’s food ventures, head to Luka’s Oakland Taproom & Lounge on Thursday evening for some salsa creativity. Ahí Nama, which translates to “That’s it/There is nothing I need more,” is a new weekly dance social that is sure to evoke expressive movement and lively dancing. If your creativity has not turned to dance yet, there are lessons that begin at 8:00 p.m. before the night of intense rhythm and heightened energy.

If you’re not too tired from Thursday night’s salsa sequences, head to BAMPFA again to draw on the creativity of Agnès Varda in the late artist’s commemorative documentary series, titled “Agnès Varda: An Irresistible Force.” Varda is the epitome of a creative, from her two-tone hair to the quirky manner in which she spoke, to, of course, the incredible pieces she created. Stop by the Art Lab afterward to try out your own Varda-inspired cut-outs and collages. Apply your stimulated artistic senses!

After Friday’s individual creative enlightenment, draw inspiration from your peers Saturday at the production of “Our Monologues — Phases of Healing: Many Moons.” Gaining traction in previous years as “The Vagina Monologues,” this performance at UC Berkeley seeks to inspire intersectional action and celebrate the campus’s creative voices. The production highlights historically marginalized individuals’ work, and if this year’s compilation of poetry and spoken word is anything like last year’s, the night will be filled with raw emotion, genuine talent and a reverberating call to action.

Finishing off the week on Sunday, put all of the week’s inspiration into action and create. Whether you turn to GarageBand and mix together two of your favorite songs, head to the kitchen and try out a new recipe or simply sketch on the side of your homework, tap into your creative side and produce. No matter what the finalized product becomes, stir up the senses in the left side of your brain and tap into your creative potential.   

At a glance:

Feb. 24: “In Search of My Robot: Emergent Media, Racialized Gender, and Creativity,” 6:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. BAMPFA, Berkeley

Feb. 25: Adobe Creative Jam, 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Pauley Ballroom, UC Berkeley

Feb. 26: Pop-Up Kitchen #1, 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m., Sproul Plaza, UC Berkeley

Feb. 27: Ahí Nama – Salsa Rueda Class & Dance Social, 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., Luka’s Oakland Taproom & Lounge, Oakland

Feb. 28: “Agnès Varda: An Irresistible Force,” 7:00 p.m., BAMPFA, Berkeley

Feb. 29: “Our Monologues — Phases of Healing: Many Moons,” 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Wheeler Hall, UC Berkeley

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Contact Francesca Hodges at [email protected].
LAST UPDATED

FEBRUARY 24, 2020


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