Blind Vision Through Nov. 11, San Jose Museum of Art presents Blind Vision: Video and the Limits of Perception. What are the physical and psychological limits of vision? At a time when new technologies and virtual imaging are enabling us to visualize real and imaginary spaces with greater precision, several artists are using video to explore the ambiguity at the heart of representation. This exhibition of videotapes and installations showcases the work of both Bay Area and international artists whose works explore the dynamic between perception, cognition, surveillance, and control. Artists in the exhibition include Peter Campus, Jonathan Fung, Marie Sester, Smith/Stewart, T. Kim, Trang Tran, and Bill Viola. For more information, please call 408-294-2977 or go to www.sjmuseum.org.

Hall of Pioneers Gallery The Hall of Pioneers Gallery at Oakland’s Lion’s Foundation contains 12 custom-made showcases, each featuring selected individuals with historical photographs and artifacts. The 12 distinguished leaders and personalities were chosen by a Chinatown historical committee, which was formed more than 20 years ago by the late Reverend Frank G. Mar. Regular gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, please contact Ann G. Yee at 510-530-4590.

Introductions South This summer the San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) collaborates with the San Francisco Art Dealers Association (SFADA) and three downtown galleries to present Introductions South. This exhibition includes a selection of works by artists featured in SFADA’s annual Introductions art walk and exhibitions, as well as work by artists represented by Art Object Gallery, d.p. Fong Galleries, and Frederick Spratt Gallery. Introductions South is a survey of the best new talent in the Bay Area and is on view at the ICA, 451 South First St., San Jose, through Sept. 22. For more information, please call 408-283-8155.

Modern Photography in Japan & Intimate Eyes Two very different, but equally important, exhibitions will show, through Sept. 30, at the Ansel Adams Center, 655 Mission St., San Francisco. The modern photography movements in both the United States and Japan reached peaks of dynamic creativity in the years prior to World War II. Modern Photograph in Japan: 1915 - 1940 and Intimate Eyes: The paintings and Photography of Consuelo Kanaga provide insights into the artistic expression that emerged on both sides of the Pacific during this period. For more information, please call 415-495-7000.

Nature on the Grid The Gallery at Montalvo presents Nature on the Grid, an exhibition of the work of Kyoung Ae Cho. Korean-born Cho’s large-scale “quilts” incorporate pine needles, hair and wood. Cho meticulously arranges these found natural materials using the geometry of a grid to reveal both the order and flux innate in natural forms. The exhibition runs through Sept. 17, at the Gallery, 15400 Montalvo Road, Saratoga. For more information, please call 408-961-5800.

SF International Art Exposition The fourth annual San Francisco International Art Exposition, presented by Thomas Blackman Associates, will be held, Sept. 21 - 24, in the Herbst and Festival Pavilions at Fort Mason Center, San Francisco. Hours are Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. - 7 p.m., and Sunday and Monday, 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. Tickets are $12 for general admission; $9 for students, seniors and groups; $25 for a three-day pass; $30 for a four-day pass; and free for children 10 and under. For more information, call 877.734.2399 or visit www.sfiae.com.

Shibori: Tradition and Innovation The Museum of Craft & Folk Art presents Shibori: Tradition and Innovation — East to West through to Nov. 25, an exhibition of Japanese traditional kimonos and recent fashion innovations in shibori. The exhibition, divided between the Museum’s two galleries, will show the subtle elegance of shibori from ancient Japan plus the dramatic new uses of shibori by artists working in contemporary art and fashion in the Americas. To compliment the exhibition, the Museum will also hold a symposium on shibori and a fashion show of contemporary shibori fashion on Sept. 12 at Fort Mason Center’s Cowell Theater. The public opening reception is from 5 - 7 p.m., Aug. 8. For more information on the exhibition and related events, please call 415-775-0991.

World of Bamboo Gallery Piazza is celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the U.S.-Japan Peace Treaty Exhibition with an exhibition World of Bamboo with Wakako and Yukio Shimizu from Japan, from Sept. 7 to Sept. 16. at Gallery Piazza Arts & Culture, Sausalito Piazza Building, 819 Bridgeway, Sausalito. The artists’ reception will be from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7. For more information, call 415-331-6711, or go to www.gallery-piazza.com.

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Crazy Horse Theater of Yugen presents a Native American and Japanese Noh theater production, Crazy Horse, on Sept. 14 and 15, outdoors in the Japantown Peace Plaza. The production is inspired by the Native American story of the hero of the Lakota Sioux in the 19th century, directed by Yuriko Doi, written by Erik Ehn, composed by Richard Emmert, with songs by Darrell Paskimin, and choreography by Hanay Gieogamah and Masashi Momura. For more information, please call 415-621-7978 or visit www.theatreofyugen.org.

Dance, The Spirit of Cambodia Cal Performances brings Dance, The Spirit of Cambodia to Berkeley for the United States’ tour first West Coast performances Saturday, Sept. 8 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 9 at 3 p.m. in Zellerbach Hall. A program of classical and folk dance and music from Cambodia, the project is a public celebration of more than a decade of documentation, preservation and cultural exchange fostered between the Royal University of Fine Arts and supporting organizations in the United States, conceived in part to rebuild Cambodia’s cultural infrastructure. Repertory for the Zellerbach Hall performances will include works from folk (village) and classical (court) traditions, as well as an extended excerpt from the centuries-old Reamker dance-drama, a tale of love and war that comes to life through dance, theater, and shadow puppetry. Free Sightlines pre-performance talks with Artistic Director Proeung Chhieng will take place immediately preceding performances on Saturday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. and on Sunday, Sept. 9 at 2 p.m. For more information, call Cal Performances at 510-642-9988, or visit the Cal Performances Web site at www.calperfs.berkeley.edu.

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In The Streets The 7th Annual In The Street theater festival is here again. This year’s 70-plus Bay Area artists include some of AsianWeek’s favorite artists, such as: Ledoh with Rev. Marcus Hawkins, the San Francisco Youth Taiko Dojo, STEAMROLLER, The Living Word Project and Shabazz (formerly known as the Ali Khan Band). The event kicks-off on Sept. 14, 5 - 11 p.m., free at the Afro-American Art and Culture Complex, 762 Fulton St., between Webster and Buchanan, San Francisco, and continues through Sept. 15 and 16 on the 500 block of Ellis St., between Leavenworth and Hyde, San Franciso. For complete line-up and schedule information, please call 415-255-5971.

Palo Alto Festival of the Arts On Aug. 25 and 26, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily, come enjoy over 300 quality artisans, two stages of entertainment, California microbrews and wines, gourmet foods and a kids craft corner at the Palo Alto Festival of the Arts. For more information, call the Palo Alto Chamber of Commerce at 650-324-3121 or go to www.mlaproductions.com.

Traditions and Transformations On Aug. 23 and 24, Oakland Asian Cultural Center’s Traditions and Transformations: A Summer Performance Festival will present a wide array of Asian and Asian Pacific Islander American performing arts, both traditional and contemporary. The festival will include performances by Francis Wong’s Gathering of Ancestors and the Somei Yoshino Taiko Ensemble at the outdoor courtyard of the Pacific Renaissance Plaza in downtown Oakland. Please call 510-208-6080 for more information and a complete schedule of events.

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Composers in Performance Meridian Music: Composers in Performance presents composer Pauline Oliveros. Returning for the fourth year in a row to Meridian Gallery, she is one of the most important musicians of our time. This time she will play solo and in a unique trio with artists Shoko Hikage and Toyoji Tomita on Friday, Sept. 7, at 8 p.m. Meridian Gallery is located at 545 Sutter (between Mason and Powell), San Francisco. Tickets are $10 general admission, $ 5 for students, impoverished artists. Reservations are not accepted. For more information, please call 415-398 7229, e-mail ryokan@value.net, or go to www.meridiangallery.org.

Pacific Overtures TheatreWorks presents a 25-year anniversary production of Stephen Sondheim’s unforgettable musical, Pacific Overtures. This musical masterpiece chronicles the Westernization of the island empire of Japan, the Floating Kingdom, left undisturbed for centuries. With haunting music and stunning visual theatricality, composer/lyricist Stephen Sondheim and author John Weidman combine elements of traditional Japanese theatre with the dazzle of Broadway at its most inventive. Pacific Overtures plays Aug. 29 through Sept. 23 at the Mountain View Center for the Performing Arts. For tickets ($22-$40), call 650-903-6000 or visit www.theatreworks.org.

San Jose Taiko San Jose Taiko presents three heart pounding performances ranging in styles from Japanese drumming to eclectic world music in its Summer Series 2001, Aug. 24 and 25, at the San Jose Repertory Theater, 101 Paseo de San Antonio, San Jose. The series features performances by Zendeko Taiko, a premiere American youth cultural performance groups, and Professor Terry’s Circus Band Extraordinaire. For more information and ticket prices, call 408-293-9344 or go to www.taiko.org/summerseries/.

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Fly to Freedom Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) presents Fly to Freedom: The Art of the Golden Venture Refugees at the Smithsonian Institute, sponsored by the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program under the leadership of Dr. Franklin Odo. The exhibition runs through Sept. 30, and is housed in the Arts & Industries Building, 900 Jefferson Drive, S.W., Washington, D.C. The show consists of 25 selected works of folded-paper and papier-mâché art. Along with the paper sculptures, the traveling exhibit presents the background history of the Golden Venture story and the outcome of the refugees’ struggles. For further information, please call MoCA at 212-619-4785 or visit www.MoCA-nvc.org.

Not on the Menu Not on the Menu: From Asian/Pacific Islander Roots to American Reality is an exhibit by Corky Lee of private and public moments of Asian American daily life. The show runs through Nov.30 at the Museum of Chinese in the Americas, 70 Mulberry St., 2/F, New York City. For more information, call 212-619-4785.

On Gold Mountain: A Chinese American Experience On Gold Mountain: A Chinese American Experience, an exhibition organized by the Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles and based on the acclaimed book by Lisa See, continues through Sept. 30 in the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, 900 Jefferson Drive S.W, Wash., D.C. The exhibit is organized chronologically and thematically, beginning with the journey from China to America, continuing with Chinese labor in the 19th-century West, the adoption and repeal of the Exclusion Act, the evolution of Los Angeles’ Chinatown, up through the diverse face of Asian immigration in the last 30 years. For more information, please call 202-357-2700.

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DANCE

The Kathak Ensemble & Friends The Kathak Ensemble & Friends perform New York Delhi Mix on Friday, Nov. 30 at 8 p.m., at the TriBeCa Performing Arts Center, 199 Chambers St., New York City. Choreographed by the Ensemble’s Artistic Director, Janaki Patrik, with modern/tap choreographer Robin Tribble, this production follows a quartet of Indian dancers as they join four Americans in exploring the New York dance scene. From dawn to midnight to new dawn, the ensemble joins eight musicians in dancing and playing American gospel, bop, jazz and swing, and Indian folk, classical, sacred and Bollywood rhythms. Tickets are $20 general admission, and $l5 for seniors and students. For tickets, please call the Box Office at 212-346-8510.

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EVENTS

Worshipping the Ancestors Chinese opera, ghost story films, gallery talks, storytelling and activities for children complement Worshipping the Ancestors: Chinese Commemorative Portraits, an exhibition at the Smithsonian’s Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave., S.W., through Sept. 9. Highlights of the exhibition include intricately detailed and brightly colored life-size portraits, textiles, jewelry, furniture and other Chinese objects used in the ritual of ancestor worship created between 1451 and 1943. For more information, call 202-357-2700 or 202-357-1729 (TTY) or visit www.asia.si.edu.

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MUSIC

Ahn Trio Cheney Hall presents the Ahn Trio on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 8 p.m. The Ahn Trio performs over 100 concerts annually in such places as Lincoln Center, Carnegie’s Weill Hall, Chicago’s Ravinia, and Moscow’s Tchaikovsky Hall. Originally from South Korea, the Ahn Trio first gained public attention when they were featured in a Time Magazine cover story entitled “Asian American Whiz kids.” The Ahn Sisters have been creating a new wave of energy for classical music ever since. They are firmly committed to playing the new works of contemporary composers, as well as to exploring new ways to enjoy, understand and interpret the best-loved works of the ageless masters. Tickets to this extraordinary event are $20 and $25, available by phone at 860-647-9824 or at the Cheney Hall box office, open 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., Monday and Friday. Cheney Hall is located at 177 Hartford Road, Manchester, CT. For more information go to www.cheneyhall.org or ahntrio.com.