Project 4: While going over the objects on display in “Useless” (one of which is pictured), you’ll likely find yourself wondering, “What the hell are you supposed to do with this stuff?” The answer, of course, is absolutely nothing—-outside of questioning our culture’s obsession with efficiency and functionality. The exhibition “will feature products, prototypes and objects that are either made to deny function, have been deemed, due to error, un-useable, or represented as such.” It must take a lot of effort to come up with something that has absolutely no practical value whatsoever, but that’s all the more reason to give it a good look. The reception is at 6 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3; the exhibition is on view from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays and noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays, to Saturday, Sept. 8, at Project 4, 903 U St. NW. Free. (202) 232-4340.

Flashpoint: The artists contributing to “Earth on Stone on Earth Is Naturally So” are up to their necks in environmental discourse—literally. “[G]roups of environmental writers participated in human installations with the cooperation of Golden Gate National Park Service and New York City Parks Department, Prospect Park,” the Web site states. “Interred up to their necks in the earth of the respective public parks, the writers contemplated material constitution and their own vitality.” This exhibition, which features works inspired by those projects, also includes music and film installations that explore diurnal cycles. The reception is at 6 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 4; the exhibition is on view from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, to Friday, Aug. 31, at Flashpoint, 916 G St. NW. Free. (202) 315-1305.

Honfleur Gallery: Consumerism is the gift that keeps on taking in Katie Cercone’s “Girl Machine,” which “looks at The Birthday Party as a female coming-of-age ritual laying the foundation for the confusing commingling of themes in American consumer society.” The reception is at 7 p.m .Saturday, Aug. 4; the exhibition is on view from noon to 6 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays, to Saturday, Aug. 25, at Honfleur Gallery, 1241 Good Hope Road SE. Free. (202) 889-5000.