Weekly Art Lens by Beth Shook

Marina Abramović, “The Kitchen VIII.” From the series “The Kitchen, Homage to Saint Therese.” Gijon, Spain, 2009. Courtesy of Marina Abramović and Sean Kelly Gallery.

James T. Demetrion Lecture: Marina Abramović at the Hirshhorn Museum: Although tonight’s talk by performance artist Marina Abramović sold out fast, the Hirshhorn will be live-streaming it on their website. Abramović, a pioneer of performance art most recently known for her controversial MoMA retrospective last year, will discuss the history and future of the medium, as well as the problems it poses to collectors and museums. To complement the lecture, the Hirshhorn has installed the artist’s 1977 work “Light/Dark” on the third level. April 5 at 7 p.m. Metro: L’Enfant Plaza or Smithsonian.

The Phillips Collection’s new blog: In case you missed it, the Phillips debuted their blog “The Experiment Station” last week, and so far, I’m blown away. There have already been over a dozen posts by contributors from departments across the museum, including behind-the-scenes looks at conservation and exhibition planning and an interview with an on-staff artist. The blog also boasts whimsical, Maira Kalmanesque illustrations by local artist Elizabeth Graeber. Considering that the Phillips is already the only D.C. museum with an iPhone app (the National Gallery has one in the works), other museums looking for a digital edge are going to have to step it up.

Continues after the jump.

Tom Wesselmann Draws at the Kreeger Museum: This Friday the Kreeger opens its latest exhibition, an extensive show of drawings by the late American pop artist Tom Wesselmann. Wesselmann, who passed away in 2004, is perhaps best known for his “Great American Nude” series exploring women’s role in consumer culture in the 1960s (and in which lips and nipples abound). According to the Kreeger’s website, many of these works are on tour for the first time. On view April 8 to July 30. Metrobus: D6.

Gabriel Metsu 1629-1667 at the National Gallery of Art: While the National Gallery’s Gauguin show has managed to rile people as much as it might have a century ago, one can only hope that the new Dutch genre painting exhibition downstairs is less polemical. The museum is displaying 35 paintings by Gabriel Metsu, a contemporary of Vermeer who painted painfully meticulous portraits and scenes of daily life and had a keen eye for textures. On view April 10 to July 24. Metro: Judiciary Square or Archives.

Short list: Adam Dwight & Dana Jeri Maier: Off in a Corner at Flashpoint; Sketch at Transformer; Music on…Photography: Melissa Auf der Maur at the National Geographic; William Newman: Ouroboros at the Adamson Gallery.