Charles Dickens once said that "home is a name, a word," but for the students at P.S.1, the concept of "home" can also be expressed in images. For the past month, more than a dozen students from the charter school have been working with digital storytellers Daniel Weinshenker, Hugh Graham and Tim Roessier to create documentaries about home as part of a workshop at the non-profit PlatteForum arts center and gallery.
"We asked the students what makes home their home," says Weinshenker. Their reflections in lights, text and video will be revealed tonight when Mile High Stories opens with a reception from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at PlatteForum, 1610 Little Raven Street.
The exhibit is interactive, with a freestanding recording booth for visitors to tape their own stories about the city. "People can talk about the bench they sat on when they threw their wedding ring over the bridge," Weinshenker says. "It's about capturing the stories of Denver from the people who own them."
Those narratives will be collected, edited and combined with photographs, then presented at www.milehighstories.com, in the first phase of a larger project of Weinshenker's to archive the stories and legends of Denver.
Mile High Stories runs through March 25; gallery hours are noon to 4 p.m. Tuesdays through Sundays. For information, call 303-893-0791 or visit www.platteforum.org. -- Crystal Preston-Watson
Hang the DJ
It's a duel to the death between Sid Pink and Magic Cyclops.
FRI, 3/18
"Get out of the rut and into the cage," yawps provocateur extraordinaire Sid Pink.
The self-proclaimed "host with the most boast" is talking about Versus: Dueling DJs to the Death Cage Match, which goes down tonight at the hi-dive, 7 South Broadway. Pink will face off against the equally bizarro Magic Cyclops in a DJ dance party that he describes as a "glitterati grapple/fisticuffed man show" -- or something like that. "I would definitely put man in quotations," instructs the Pink one. "Neither one of us is particularly masculine."
Cooped up in a cage surrounding the stage, the turntablists will square off in timed bouts. The rounds will shorten as the evening progresses, forcing the competition into an all-out bloody-beats brawl as the DJs spar song for song and, predicts Pink, "the smack-talking gets more vile."
Because the snarling of shiny polyester, cheap rhinestones and Hulk Hogan headbands should never be witnessed by the sober, the host promises free shots throughout the evening. The smackdown starts at 9 p.m.; admission is $5. Call 720-570-4500 or visit www.hi-dive.com for more dirt. -- Kity Ironton
Double Exposures
FRI, 3/18
The goal of photorealism isn't perfection; it's about telling the story through scrupulously rendered imagery on canvas. That's surely the case in Contemporary Realism, a new exhibit at William Havu Gallery, 1040 Cherokee Street. The trick is to catch the underlying themes in the works displayed, including Rick Dula's old factories, Aaron Brown's slightly surreal modern scenes and Jeff Aeling's soaring prairie skyscapes. On the mezzanine, Americana, a small related show of works by gallery artists, invites viewers to take a pastoral drive through old-time America. Both shows open tonight with a reception from 6 to 9 p.m. and continue through May 7. For more information, call 303-893-2360 or visit www.williamhavugallery.com. -- Susan Froyd
Amish Artistry
The DAM makes a blanket statement.
SAT, 3/19
I'm thankful that I'm not Amish. My mother, however, probably should have been. She spins and weaves and makes homemade jam; she'd probably churn butter if we'd let her. But even though I know I'll never sew as straight as her or can vegetables as well, I still share her fascination with the domestic and fiber arts. So today we'll be at the Denver Art Museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway, to ooh and aah over the beautiful works of art being displayed in Amish Quilts: Kaleidoscope of Color -- From the Collection of Faith and Stephen Brown. Today's opening coincides, appropriately, with National Quilting Day, and the DAM is offering $1 off the show's $9 adult admission for those who bring in a photo of their favorite quilt. Mine will be the simple block blanket I made for my brother when he was born. Amish Quilts runs through June 19; for information and tickets, call 720-865-5000 or visit www.denverartmuseum.org. -- Amy Haimerl
