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Perhaps you first view the figure, and the soles of shoes that dangle from a line above him, as jarring. But the more time you spend in the room, you start to notice details that give it depth. The seated being is wearing an Orioles hoodie—making it oddly familiar—and throughout the room are old photographs of African-American communities displayed on broken glass windows. Perhaps they’re reminding us that a way of life, and point in history, has been shattered.

New York artist Abigail DeVille has created an ambitious piece, transforming sound and light as well as everyday materials—trash bags, tarps, light bulbs, glass, a dry-cleaning rack—into installations throughout both floors of the building. But what makes this project so remarkable and dynamic is how it forces us to examine our sometimes messy relationship with history and the ways it defines us.

History seems to inhabit every facet of the work, starting with its setting—the stately, 19th-century Peale Museum, down the street from City Hall, which was the first building in the Western Hemisphere built specifically as a museum and, incredibly, was empty until now (luckily it has been maintained by a loyal board of directors). DeVille explores the Peale’s various roles in each room, and the first room pays homage to its use as one of the first Maryland schools for African-American children. The shoes, 600 pieces of slate, and perhaps even the figure, are meant to symbolize those schoolchildren.

The other two rooms on the first floor continue a literal representation and interpretation of the Peale’s history—taxidermy in one that harkens back to its time as a national (natural?) history museum; Old Glory painted on a tarp and large, yellowed sheets of parchment paper haphazardly covering the walls and the floor in the other relates to when it served as City Hall. (Could we be reading into DeVille’s take on history here, and perhaps a reminder that laws and documents are really just paper?)

The rooms on the second floor are more conceptual and transporting in nature, and it is here that DeVille is perhaps the most revelatory. Here, we begin to realize history’s cyclical nature.

Walk through a completely black room with strobe lights called “Black Whole” to find a room with a clattering dry-cleaning rack, which holds materials of various textures and sizes. The rack stops and starts sporadically, and a wall of TVs plays footage of marches from the Civil Rights Movement through last year’s demonstrations after the death of Freddie Gray. Interestingly, it’s difficult to distinguish the time period of the footage.

DeVille intended for the dry cleaning rack “to honor all those who marched,” as she states in the exhibit notes, and that context adds much depth. As they whirr by, the materials almost seem to resemble skin and body parts—as if to represent that the marchers had given everything, even their bodies, to the cause of civil rights.

If you feel overwhelmed, take respite in an adjoining room that serves as a theater, where a trash bag holes creates a constellation against the ceiling. It is here that The Contemporary holds Sunday afternoon performances by local musicians, singers, and poets. The room also has a regular soundtrack of soothing vocal tones, where performers have mimicked the cadence of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “Mountaintop” speech, which he gave the night before he was assassinated. Incidentally, this speech is where the title of the exhibit comes from.

Sitting in the room’s church pews, with the hymn-like soundtrack playing, it’s the perfect spot to reflect on the enormity of what you’ve experienced.

“Only When It’s Dark Enough Can You See The Stars” is on display through June 11. It’s open for viewing on Thursdays and Fridays from 12 to 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., 225 North Holliday St.

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EAT

April 22: The Gathering Season Kickoff

Baltimore Museum of Industry, 1415 Key Hwy. 5-10 p.m. $4.14-45.

If you didn’t get your fill at The Emporiyum last weekend, you can continue to keep your bikini body at bay with Baltimore’s seminal food truck rally The Gathering. Outside on the BMI waterfront, some 20 local food trucks will corral for the first time this season, toting culinary treats like Asian fusion bibimbap from The Green Bowl, crab-covered French fries from Gypsy Queen, gourmet grilled cheese from Grrche, and Baltimore’s favorite ice cream from Miss Twist. The parking lot will also feature beer, wine, art, crafts, and live music by funk and soul band Higher Hands. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the museum.

DRINK

April 23: WTMD’s Brews & Bands

1 Olympic Pl., Towson. 1-5 p.m. $30.
410-704-8938.

WTMD is full of great ideas: streaming Animal Collective at the BWI Airport, setting up concerts for Baltimore bands at the baggage claim, and offering the best way to spend your lunch break with its weekly showcase of awesome acts like Hozier, San Fermin, Sinkane, and Thao & The Get Down. Now, for the second year, they also bring us this fantastic festival for local music and beer. On Saturday, sample unlimited sips from more than 15 local breweries. Whether you prefers IPAs, wheats, saisons or stouts, WTMD has you covered with the likes of The Brewer’s Art’s Choptank’d, Monument City’s 51 Rye, Peabody Heights’s Old Oriole Park, and Union Craft’s Steady Eddie. All the while, soak up the sun and the sounds of local musicians like alt-rockers Among Wolves and local soul-man Brooks Long.

SEE

April 24: Only When It’s Dark EnoughCan You See the Stars, ft. :3ION, Tariq Toure, Sunny Cowell

Peale Museum, 225 N. Holliday St. 12-2
p.m. Free.

After its foodless food truck performance from last fall, The Contemporary, a nomadic arts organization based in Baltimore, is back with a brand-new, groundbreaking exhibit. Launched last Saturday and on display through June 11, New York-based artist Abigail DeVille has transformed the historic former Peale Museum into an experimental installation that examines the unruly nature of history. During its stint downtown, it will also shine a light on local performers, poets, storytellers, and musicians through its “Sunday Salons” series. Starting this weekend, you can see specials guests like accomplished local writer and public speaker Tariq Touré, futuristic R&B artist :3ION (pronounced Elon and reviewed in our upcoming June issue), and singer-songwriter Sunny Cowell. In the coming weeks, expect the likes of spoken word artist Kondwani Fidel, multidisciplinary artist/taxidermy enthusiast Robert Marbury, and legendary artist Joyce J. Scott

HEAR

April 23:

Nudie Suits, Joy Postell, Amythsx, etc.

E.M.P. Collective, 307 W. Baltimore St. 8 p.m. $5.

Last fall, local duo Nudie Suits released its first EP, Summer Fun, which seemed to capture the unspoken, ordinary, human corners of that warm-weather season: the sluggish humidity of a hot afternoon (“Gotta Be”), the ethereal skies of full-moon night (“Mom song”), the raw rebellion of cigarette-fueled teenage joyrides (“Laura Flynn”), and the fleeting rush of a July romance (“House Cat”). In reality, vocalist Ali Clendaniel (also of Annex Theater) and violinist/composer Ruby Fulton were inspired by the cult classic Twin Peaks, as well as art rock, repetition, opera, and outer space. Whatever the influence, the experimental Peabody grads produce dreamy loops that reach into the crevices of your highs and lows, ranging in rhythm and tempo through stirring synth, dramatic vocals, and captivating compositional beats. Offbeat yet beautiful, these five tracks will weave their way into your summer playlists, but catch them this Saturday at EMP Collective alongside an all-female lineup, including spellbinding soul singer Joy Postell, art-folk-rock songwriter Hystermajesty, and up-and-coming DJ Amythsx.

DO

April 24: Federal Hill Spring Block Party

Cross Street Market, 1065 S. Cross St. 12-7 p.m. $5.

When temperatures begin to break 70 on a regular basis, it’s time to start making the weekends last as long as you possibly can. This Sunday, put off your to-do list, push away the Monday-morning-scaries, and take advantage of spring. For a full afternoon of activities, head to Federal Hill, where a neighborhood block party will be popping off, full of Maryland eats, beer in the street, and live music from Baltimore favorites like the Great American Canyon Band and Caleb Stine & The Brakemen. Grab snacks, sips, and sunshine and prepare for months of summer fun.

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But this vehicle lacked delicious aromas and the hustle and bustle of a clattering kitchen. Instead, servers in futuristic, white lab coats greeted customers, and asked which of three items they would like to try—cod, peanut butter, or chocolate milk. Then they handed over white, plastic trays and told visitors to head to a row of tables.

This isn’t a place to get a bite, but an opportunity to take part in a science-fiction-esque performance. This is GhostFood, the latest project from The Contemporary, a nomadic arts organization. Developed by New York artist Miriam Simun, it’s meant to examine the effect of climate change on biodiversity by showing how it could change what we eat.

The free performance, featuring students in the Program in Museums and Society at Johns Hopkins University, and the food truck—which appropriately has “GhostFood” in block letters across the top—will rove around the city during October and November. Additional stops are scheduled at Hopkins’ Homewood campus and Lexington Market.

When I stepped up to the table on Thursday, one of the students shared some background. Each of the products might disappear with the impact of climate change. She continued that the food items aren’t really what they seem—the cod and peanut butter are soy-based substitutes, and the milk contains no chocolate.

Then, she asked me to put a contraption resembling earphones around my ears, but let the top part dangle over my nose. When she told me to breathe in, a smell similar to chocolate filled my nostrils. “Keep breathing,” she told me, as I began to drink the milk.

When I finished, she told me that inside the nose piece was a tiny strip coated with a chemical compound. She asked me what I thought, and I told her that it had been an odd experience that made my senses feel detached.

But then a strange thing happened—the taste of a chocolate bar, one of my favorite treats, filled my mouth. “Maybe it’s your memory,” my guide said, and I realized she might be right.

Around me, others participants were carrying on conversations with their student guides. “It’s crazy to think of a world without these things in it,” one person said.

I had to admit I agreed. And as I walked home, I could still taste chocolate.

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But once inside, it all becomes clear. Video projections flash high up on a long, white wall, while in the corner a neon blue hand makes a motion that resembles swiping a touch screen.

Sounds envelope you – a whoosh like someone spray painting, the wind playing with leaves, the murmur of voices.

An art installation is the temporary tenant of the former KAGRO building in Station North. It’s the first project of nomadic museum The Contemporary since it reopened in 2013.

California artist Victoria Fu’s piece
Bubble Over Green examines our habits with digital devices and touchscreens, experimenting with layers of video, sound and light. Its presence in the KAGRO building encourages anyone to stop in, and that was exactly The Contemporary’s aim.

“We wanted something gestural, fun and accessible to the public,” program manager Ginevra Shay says during a tour Thursday night. Visitors can view the piece Wednesday through Sunday evenings until April 3.

When the sun sets, the piece really comes alive. Outside lights and traffic noise begin to meld with the installation, and its most dominant part, the video projections entitled Velvet Peel 1, captivates the viewer’s attention.

On the wall, it appears the camera lens is fractured into tiny bits of glass. But then you realize you’re looking at bubble wrap, and marvel at how Fu has transformed it.

Much like what her piece has done to the long-empty building it calls home.

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