Practitioners of walking meditation often move at a glacial pace, engaging each step the way a sitting meditator registers every breath. The exercise is usually performed in a quiet room, not the bustling D.C. sites depicted in “Abiding Nowhere,” the 10th installment in Tsai Ming-liang’s “Walker” series and the first shot in the Western Hemisphere. The film was commissioned by the National Museum of Asian Art to mark the 2023 centennial of its Freer Gallery of Art, where the 79-minute movie will screen on March 1.
Washington, D.C
Review | In the galleries: A filmmaker’s latest edition of souls on separate journeys
The red-robed man moving with exquisite deliberation through Georgetown, the Mall and Union Station is not an actual monk. He’s played by Lee Kang-sheng, Tsai’s longtime collaborator and on-screen alter ego. The Malaysian-Taiwanese director largely abandoned narrative filmmaking a decade ago, but has continued to make “Walkers,” inspired by Xuanzang, the 7th-century monk who journeyed to India to acquire Buddhist texts and bring them back to China.
Although “Abiding Nowhere” tells no story, it shares much with Tsai’s earlier fiction films. The director has always employed long takes and leisurely action, thus calling attention to the passing of time. The latest “Walker” alternates the monk’s steps with moments that feature a secondary character (Anong Houngheuangsy, a recent addition to Tsai’s repertory company); in one scene, the latter wears a T-shirt that reads “time to kill.”
In interviews, the director often compares himself to a painter and says that his style has been shaped by exhibiting his films in museums such as the National Museum of Asian Art (long a reliable supporter of his work). The Freer itself appears in “Abiding Nowhere,” but so do scruffier, lesser-known D.C. locations, many of them associated with the local art scene. In a sense, all these places are equal: backdrops for the detached motion of bodies and minutes. Tsai’s latest film is set in Washington, but also in a realm outside place and time.
Tsai Ming-liang: Abiding Nowhere At 7 p.m., March 1 at the Freer Gallery of Art, National Museum of Asian Art, 1050 Independence Ave. SW. asia.si.edu. 202-633-1000.
Many color-field abstractionists have rejected the notion that their pictures look like landscapes, but sometimes the resemblance is hard to deny. Most of the vivid canvases in Hemphill Artworks’ “Willem de Looper: Paintings 1972-1975” were made soon after the Dutch-born D.C. artist’s 1973 trip to the American Southwest. The large pictures sweep horizontally and are usually in the colors of stone, sand and clay. (There are also three heavily blue ones, at least one of which predates the excursion.) The paintings are not literal landscapes, but the inspiration is palpable.
De Looper (1932-2009) was among the second group of Washington colorists to achieve prominence, and he adopted some of the methods of his predecessors. Like Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland, he stained unprimed canvases with acrylic pigments, which had been developed at that time. But the long-unexhibited paintings in this group were not made by brushing or pouring. Instead, de Looper used rollers to sweep bands of color horizontally across the composition.
This technique yielded pictures that suggest a spectator’s movement through vast expanses of tans and browns, or layers of rock built up and worn down by millennia. The arrays of close-colored streaks can also suggest other things, such as unglazed pottery. Whatever the softly striped hues evoke, de Looper used watery washes of diluted paint to conjure something profoundly earthy. These paintings are gauzy and solid at the same time.
Willem de Looper: Paintings 1972-1975 Through March 2 at Hemphill Artworks, 434 K St. NW. hemphillfinearts.com. 202-234-5601.
One piece in “A Corcoran Homecoming: The Art of Carroll Sockwell” seems to encapsulate the life and the work of this acclaimed but conflicted artist. Made when Sockwell was 15, “Hands Off Me/Am I Bad?” is an oil-pastel drawing of a face that combines geometric and expressionist aspects and includes the picture’s title, roughly written in white.
The juxtaposition of spontaneous and calculated lines recurs in the art Sockwell made between the late 1950s and his 1992 suicide, at age 49. A native Washingtonian who grew up in Foggy Bottom — the neighborhood was then predominantly Black — Sockwell showed great artistic promise as a teenager, encouraged by an art therapist who worked with him while he was committed at St. Elizabeths Hospital.
The show includes Sockwell’s collage portrait of one of his patrons, Walter Hopps, who was the Corcoran Gallery’s director from 1967 to 1972. More typical, however, are purely abstract works. All the pieces are on board and paper, sometimes shaped, and feature tones that are mostly dark or muted. “Mirror Composition” is an expanse of black graphite and oil pastel, separated into blocks by silvery lines and framed under glass to reflect the viewer’s face. Gazing into this void is a suitably ambiguous experience. Sockwell assuredly conjured his own uncertainty.
A Corcoran Homecoming: The Art of Carroll Sockwell Through March 9 at Luther W. Brady Art Gallery, Corcoran Flagg Building, 500 17th St. NW. bradygallery.gwu.edu. 202-994-1525.
Brentwood Arts Exchange’s “Chosen Family,” curated by Lauren Davidson, presents work by seven African American artists who constitute three sets of friends: Omari Jesse, Bria Edwards and Olivia Bruce; Wesley Clark and Rodney “Buck!” Herring; Austin “Auz” Miles and Angelique Scott. The standout, as he usually is in group shows that include him, is Clark.
The artist’s two entries are part painting, part sculpture. Screws and nails intrude on planes of thickly applied, partly cracked pigment, set off by wooden shingles or a band of weathered steel. The works evoke making and unmaking simultaneously.
Where Clark’s abstractions have an industrial vibe, most of the other work is at least partly representational, often portraying domestic scenes or private moments. What many of the artists share with Clark is an interest in metamorphosis. In Bruce’s drippy triptych, a nude woman takes on aspects of the water around her. In Miles’s portrait of a woman, the face appears solid but the rest is fluid. In Edwards’s scene of a couple in a kitchen, metal objects rendered in silver leaf add a sculptural quality. The figures and their environments are ordinary, but endowed with an intriguing mutability.
Chosen Family Through March 9 at Brentwood Arts Exchange, 3901 Rhode Island Ave., Brentwood. pgparks.com. 301-277-2863.
Washington, D.C
Storm Team4 forecast, Enjoy a pleasant start to the week with temperatures in the 70s
4 things to know about the weather:
- “May” not “March” for now
- Next rain late Wednesday, Thursday
- Back to average by Friday
- Much colder next Week
The warmer weather we’ve waited months for will be with us for only three more days before the March Lion starts to roar again.
Monday and Tuesday will be the best days of the week by far. Sunny skies and temperatures running 20-25° above average. Plan for highs reaching the low 70s Monday and near 80° on Tuesday.
A series of cold fronts later in the week will send temperatures back to average 54° by the end of the week and then well below average for most of next week.
Clouds will return by Wednesday morning and rain chances will arrive no later than sunset. Wednesday will still be close to 80° and have our first taste of humidity in a while. Rain is likely from Wednesday evening through noon on Thursday as our first cold front arrives.
Thursday’s highs, likely near 70°, will occur before sunrise but gusty northwest winds will have temperatures falling steadily throughout the day. Expect temperatures in the 50s, rain for the morning commute and 40s with rain ending for the ride home.
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
Warm streak won’t last long
The good news is that Friday and the upcoming weekend look dry. Highs will be back in the mid-50s for Friday and Saturday but Sunday should get back into the mid-60s.
Another cold front will arrive early next week leading to temperatures running 10-15° below average. It’s also not entirely out of the question that there could be a wet snowflake or two on St. Patrick’s Day.
The return of the cold air next week will keep the cherry trees at bay so the odds of peak bloom occurring in March, like it has the last five to six years in a row, are looking slim at best.
QuickCast
MONDAY:
Mostly Sunny
Nice And Warm
Light Breeze
Wind: Southwest 5-10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 68° to 74°
MONDAY NIGHT:
Clear Skies
Remaining Mild
Patchy Areas Of Fog
Wind: Variable 5 mph
Chance Of Rain: 0%
LOWS: 46° to 52°
TUESDAY:
Mostly Sunny
Near Record Warmth
Light Breeze
Wind: Southwest 5-10 mph
Chance of Rain: 0%
HIGHS: 76° to 82°
WEDNESDAY:
Breezy, Warm And Humid
Increasing Clouds
Showers By Evening
Wind: Southwest 10-25mph
Chance of Rain: 40%
HIGHS: 75° to 80°
THURSDAY:
Cloudy, Windy, Much Colder
Rain Likely Before 2pm
Falling Temperatures
Wind: Northwest 20-35 mph
Chance of Rain: 80%
HIGHS: 65° to 45°
Sunrise: 7:29 Sunset: 7:09
Average High: 54° Average Low: 37°
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
4 things to know about the weather:
- Feeling more like spring and summer over the next 72 hours.
- Monday and Tuesday will feature plenty of sunshine.
- Almost humid and definitely warm with strong storms possible on Wednesday.
- Rain with falling temperatures and windchill in the low 40s on Thursday.
Happy daylight saving! Today was this year’s first sunset after 7 p.m. — 7:08 p.m. to be exact.
For the rest of the evening, expect clear skies, although there could be an isolated shower, especially south and east of the D.C. area.
Monday will be a beautiful day with temperatures in the upper 60s and lower 70s with plenty of sunshine.
Tuesday will get to around 80°. That could break a record of 79° sit back in 2016. Expect sunshine and dry conditions
By Wednesday, there is a possibility for severe storms in the afternoon and evening, but temperatures will once again approach 80°. Heavy rain and winds are the main thing to watch out for.
A pretty strong cold front will push through the area Thursday morning. That will bring some steady moderate rain to our area on Thursday. Temperatures will only be in the 50s, but the average high temperature for this time of year is also in the 50s, so this is actually closer to normal.
Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to check the weather radar on the go.
QuickCast
SUNDAY NIGHT
Mostly clear skies
Temps: 60s and 50s
MONDAY
Sunny
HIGHS: Lower 70s
TUESDAY
Partly Sunny
HIGHS: Near 80°
WEDNESDAY
Afternoon and evening storms
HIGHS: Near 80°
THURSDAY
HIGHS: Near 50°
Stay with Storm Team4 for the latest forecast. Download the NBC Washington app on iOS and Android to get severe weather alerts on your phone.
Four years ago, high school senior Aaron O’Brien wouldn’t believe he’d be studying chemistry now. Thanks to the Upward Bound program, that’s not hard to believe anymore.
“Before I came into the program, whew I don’t know who that man was,” O’Brien said.
Through free tutoring, test prep and college visits weekly, Upward Bound has helped millions of students like O’Brien, who attends McKinley Tech High School, pursue higher education.
The program is coordinated by colleges like George Washington University.
“The program has really expanded my vision for the future,” O’Brien said.
He joined Upward Bound as a freshman in high school.
“I never imagined I would be in these spaces and be able to network with so many different people,” he said.
“Upward Bound is basically a family,” said Layla Leiva, a senior at DC International School.
“A lot of us are first generation or low income. My parents do not know what the common app is, or standardized testing, and being able to have students that I can relate to meant the world for me,” she said.
Upward Bound falls under a series of federal TRIO programs funded by the Department of Education. Several programs in the series help veterans, students with disabilities, limited English and those facing foster care and homelessness.
Amid the Trump administration’s overhaul of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (D.E.I.), however, TRIO program funding was slashed because words related to the inclusionary policies were mentioned in its grant applications.
Last fall, a group that advocates for TRIO sued the Department for over $40 million in slashed grants.
Last June, Secretary of Education Linda McMahon testified at a Senate budget hearing, saying that TRIO didn’t give her apartment enough oversight.
“I just think that we aren’t able to see the effectiveness across the board that we would normally look to see with our federal spending,” McMahon said at the hearing.
When funding froze, George Washington University paused most of its programing and cut nearly all its staff.
“It was a staff of just me, I was still working with my seniors,” said George Washington’s Upward Bound director, Darrell Thornton.
After growing up in a similar program, Thornton says he wanted to give back.
“I knew I wanted to be that educator that made a difference,” he said.
Earlier this year, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration’s cuts, restoring funding for the program.
“It kind of felt like I was cut off from my family for a little bit. When we got back, it was like thank God,” Kevin Williams, a junior at Ron Brown Preparatory College High School said.
The university was also able to bring its staff back.
“I’m so relieved to find out this program finally has funding and that this program will continue to support students in the way that it did for me,” Leiva said.
News4 reached out to the Department of Education, but have not heard back.
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