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The recent relationship between the Anacostia River and art hasn’t been great, but a new exhibition at Anacostia’s Vivid Solutions Gallery, “Confluence: Considering the Anacostia,” offers the star-crossed waterway a chance for a fresh start. Piper Grosswendt (the gallery’s associate director) and local photographer Bruce McNeil put out a call for photographers and asked them to respond to the river and its surroundings. The exhibit, timed to coincide with the inaugural Anacostia River Festival, features work by McNeil and three other artists—Becky Harlan, who focuses on people who use the river; David Allen Harris, who specializes in landscapes; and Krista Schlyer, who trains her lens on wildlife. McNeil, for his part, documents the journey the river takes from its origins in Sandy Spring, Md., to its confluence with the Potomac River. Read more >>> The exhibition is on view Tuesdays through Fridays noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., to May 1, at Vivid Solutions Gallery, 1231 Good Hope Road SE. Free. (202) 365-8392. vividsolutionsgallery.com. (Louis Jacobson)
EAT THIS
It may not feel like the first day of spring, but Pizza Vinoteca is celebrating anyway with $3.20 gelato floats today. The restaurant offers five options all made with their own sodas. Find a classic root beer float with vanilla gelato, or try a cherry cola float with cherry gelato. Add a shot of rum or bourbon to any float for $4. The deal goes from 11 a.m. until midnight. Read more about Pizza Vinoteca on Young & Hungry. Pizza Vinoteca, 800 N. Glebe Road, Arlington. (703) 567-1056. pizzavinoteca.com.(Jessica Sidman)
OH AND ALSO
Friday: UrbanArias premieres its new opera, Blue Viola, the story of a junk dealer who steals a famous musician’s instrument, at Artisphere. 8 p.m. at 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $28.
Friday: Musician João Gil and actor Diogo Infante collaborate at the Kennedy Center’s Terrace Theater on Ode Maritima, a theatrical adaptation of Fernando Pessoa‘s poem. 7:30 p.m. at 2700 F St. NW. $30.
Friday: Story League presents its second Masters Championship, in which the best storytellers from New York and D.C. compete for a $500 grand prize. 9 p.m. at 1811 14th St. NW. $20.
Saturday: The Auto-Tuned vocals of Côte d’Ivoire’s Serge Beynaud are the first sign that his dance music takes a more contemporary approach to the traditional West African grooves of yesteryear. Beynaud’s 2014 release Talehi features tunes with frenetic rhythms and guest rappers, as well as ones with slower, sappier melodies. His croons over saccharine guitar strumming, drawn from the French-Caribbean zouk style, may have helped enhance his heartthrob status, but funky, syncopated tracks like last year’s single “Okeninkpin” are his chefs d’oeuvre. Read more >>> Serge Beynaud performs with Zota at 10 p.m. at Station One, 8131 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. $30–$40. (202) 903-1411. thefirestation1.com. (Steve Kiviat)
Saturday: The Bethesda Film Festival returns to Imagination Stage with screenings of five short documentaries about local subjects. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m. at 4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda. $10.
Saturday: Photographer Colin Winterbottom displays images of the post-earthquake restoration of the Washington Monument and National Cathedral in his first exhibition at the National Building Museum, “Scaling Washington.” 10 a.m. at 401 F St. NW. $5–$8.
Sunday: Before Google Maps sent personalized routes to our phones, people used actual maps to get around. Although those paper documents were fine for traversing continents with notable physical features and landmarks, they weren’t nearly as effective for crossing vast, featureless oceans, especially when navigators had to keep piloting the ship after dark. The risk was so great that in 1714, the British government created the Longitude Act, which offered a reward for anyone who could find a way to determine longitude at sea. Now, an exhibit at the Folger Shakespeare Library, created by the staff at Greenwich, England’s National Maritime Museum, presents the different solutions they came up with through more than five decades of study and experimentation. Read more >>> The exhibition is on view Mondays through Saturdays 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sundays noon to 5 p.m. at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol St. SE. Free. (202) 544-4600. folger.edu. (Tim Regan)
Sunday: Author Kazuo Ishiguro discusses his latest novel, The Buried Giant, at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue with author and All Things Considered book reviewer Alan Cheuse. 5 p.m. at 600 I St. NW. $17–$40.
Sunday: Seattle-based choreographer Zoe Schofield and video artist Juniper Shuey present their new dance piece BeginAgain at DancePlace. 7 p.m. at 3225 8th St. NE. $15–$30.
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