1

MONDAY

Normally, I’m opposed to the international Day Without Art. As I’ve written before, why help AIDS make the arts invisible, even if only for a day? But when the observance is being made by the Torpedo Factory, the arts incubator with arguably the highest shlock density on the planet, I say, “Right on!” The Torp promises to “drape a large piece of art in black in the center’s public area,” and each studio artist is expected to veil a single work. Why stop there? The arts have been harmed in the past, too; I see no reason to require an epidemic to be extant before it’s commemorated. How about the Black Death, the Venetian plague of 1575-6, or the Spanish Flu of 1918? C’mon, share the pain. From 2-4 p.m. at the Torpedo Factory Art Center, 105 N. Union St., Alexandria. FREE. (703) 549-5543. (Glenn Dixon)