THURSDAY

Imagine Gaithersburg’s Kentlands, but bigger—stacked on itself, connected by tunnels and the like so that residents need never go outside, and stretched out a mile-and-a-half wide over two miles. Conceptual artist Jonah Freeman has done just that, sketching what life might be like inside such a self-sufficient behemoth of a complex. The result is The Franklin Abraham, an art film comparable in scope to Matthew Barney’s gargantuan Cremaster cycle. From the anarchist in the basement to the wealthy industrialists living in the clouds, Freeman’s flick not-so-subtly explores class conflict in the sprawling development, which comes complete with its own government. At least there aren’t any surprise twists that would out-shock the shock value of a dystopian apartment building: In keeping with the conceptual theme, the details that garner much of Freeman’s attention are the more mundane items that color the world of the Franklin Abraham (the name of the building as well as that of the enclosed city), such as a real-life exhibition of “brand-name products” that stock the fictitious monstrosity. Interested parties will have the opportunity to ask the artist/ filmmaker why he, unlike Barney, could find room for neither Agnostic Front nor Murphy’s Law in his township when Freeman introduces and discusses the film after a 7:30 p.m. screening Thursday, March 3, at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s Ring Auditorium, 7th Street and Independence Avenue SW. Free. (202) 357-2700. (Mike Kanin)