>>. touring england was a time when robert as mentors were being challenged by a quickly growing middle-class. for endeavour's crew of new artists began to assert themselves, offering new definitions of the athletics of arts and beauty. over 180 objects of avant-garde design and art from the victorian england has been collected inside the legion of honor snoot exhibition, it's the cold of the ec. -- the cult of beauty.

>> there was this group of artists that were not only revolutionaries in their artistic expression but also in their personal lives and their interest in democratizing art in introducing beauty into the growing middle-class. >> one of the inspirations for the victorian avant-garde was the industrial revolution. quality household goods were now being mass-produced. artists responded by either creating elaborate unique court or by embracing technology and trying to share a beautiful creations with as many people as possible. >> william morris was in a difficult position, because he wanted the middle-class to be able to acquire really beautifully made objects. but the piece is that he actually made, you know, took so much handcrafting that there were quite expensive. i think he would have been pleased to know that there are things like restoration

hardware anne craig and bare all that tried to make available to the middle-class -- and crate and barrel that tried to make these things available to the middle class. >> over 60 lenders contributed art and craft to the exhibition. one of the partners is london's victoria and albert museum, which has been collecting the finest examples of victorian craft since queen victoria herself attended the groundbreaking ceremony. the artist of the victorian avant-garde believe that every object could contain an expression of beauty. the attention given when creating a towering sculpture should be the same as when creating a simple cottage gate. they embraced arts for arts own sake. whether in the curl of a flower or a stray lot of unpin hair. surprisingly, sensuality returned to public view during the victorian era. albert moore and others were

inspired by ancient greek sculptures and found new uses in modern times. >> many of these paintings are large. when you get close to them, they seem to wrap you in this luscious colors. there's a great sensuality to the paintings, even though there's nothing sexual going on in the pictures. the artists just took delight in luxurious fabrics and colors and beautiful women. >> symphony in white is a life- size portrait of the immense stress of james wisler. it is featured prominently in the exhibition. harmony in gray and green was an of socially judged as a disagreeable presentation of a disagreeable young lady. the first public reaction of this series was so divisive that led to court proceedings. today, they hang in london's tate gallery.

walking to the exhibition, you might be distracted by objects that seem to modern war appeared to be at least art deco era. forward thinking victorian artists emerged the economical ambitions of 18th-century cottage's style furniture with the asymmetrical design elements of japanese art that was introduced to london in 1862. >> so you come out with these very beautiful and sleek design worms that the artist combined -- a design forms. very modern. our visitors are really surprised that so many of the works at a very modern feel to them. >> they believe that no object needed to be considered worthless or low class. each thing, existing in its own place, was the best thing for its place. and what first seems to be idle

showiness, shows the richness of today and yesterday. >> it is exciting to have a project you have worked on for so long coming in know, come to your own museum. and museum curators are among the luckiest professionals, because we get to share with tens of thousands of people the things that give us enjoy and the things that explain to our visitors the relationship between art and society. art is not just a frivolous, you know, sidebar. it is a very important expression of culture and morals. this particular moment, the artists were interested in community. >> san francisco is the exclusive american host for the cult of beauty exhibition. the legion of honor is website has more information about the

artists and tips for planning your visit. learn more at the website. thank you for watching >> you probably think you know all about the exploratorium. but have you ever been after dark? did you know there was a monthly party called after dark? science mixes with culture and adults mix with other adults. no kids allowed. every week there is a different theme. to tell us about the themes is melissa alexander. tell us about some of the previous themes we have had. >> we have had sex ploration, sugar, red, blue.

many things. >> what is the theme tonight? >> rock, paper, scissors. we are having a tournament tonight, but we have also used as a jumping off point to explore lots of different ideas. you can find out about rock, paper, scissors as a game as a reproductive strategy. you can interact with a piece of art created by lucky dragon. you can get your hair cut from a cool place called the public barber's salon. they use scissors only. you can find out about local geology, too. >> that sounds like fun. let's check it out. >> this is the most common rock on the surface of the earth. interesting thing is, most of this rock is covered over by the ocean. >> error congested a cool presentation on plate tectonics.

tell us about what we just saw. >> we wrapped up a section of a lesson on a plate tectonics, here at the exploratory and -- exploritorium. >> are you excited to see people here having fun and learning about science? >> the people that come here are some selected to begin with, they actually enjoy science. i teach teachers to have fun with their kids. the general public is a great audience, too. they're interested in science. >> we have a blast every time. they have different names. >> they have a bar and a cafe. everything i need. we are excited for the speaker. >> it is nice to be in the exploratorium when there are not

a lot of kids around. >> before tonight, i never knew there were major league rules to rock, paper, scissors. i am getting ready to enter into a competition. sarah's here to give me some tips. what do i need to do to win it? >> this is a game of chance, to a degree. one of the best ways to bring it home is a degree of intimidation, maybe some eye contact, maybe some muscle. it is a no contact sport. sheer i contact is a good way to maybe intimidate to see if you can set them off, see if they throw something they did not mean to. >> i am going to see what happens. >> i got kicked out in the first round. [applause] >> given up for sunni. the rock, paper, scissors

champion. >> what are you going to do now? >> i have been having so much fun. i got my tattoo. before we go, i want to thank melissa alexander for having us here tonight. how did you know san francisco needed a night like tonight? >> thank you for coming. everybody loves the exploratorium. we are reluctant to push the kids out of the way in the day, so i knew we needed to create one evening a month just for the rest of us to have a good time, the adults. >> absolutely. where can we find out what is coming up after dark? >> that is easy, exploratorium .edu/afterdark. >> thank you. thanks for watching

>> a lot a ton with the community and we say to ourselves, there is this one and this one. we all compartmentalize them, we have our own agenda. our agenda is to create great work. if you are interested in that, you are part of our community. >> hello and welcome to brava theater. >> we are trying to figure out a way to make a space where theater and presentation of live work is something that you think of the same way that you think of going to the movies. of course, it has been complex in terms of economics, as it is for everyone now. artistically, we have done over 35 projects in four seasons, from producing dance, theater, presenting music, having a full- scale education program, and

having more than 50,000 visitors in the building almost every year. a lot of our emerging artists to generate their first projects here, which is great. then we continue to try to support figuring out where those works can go. we have been blessed to have that work produced in new york, going on to the edinburgh festival, the warsaw theater festival. to me, those are great things when you can watch artists who think there is nowhere else that might be interested in you being a woman of color and telling your story and then getting excited about it. that is our biggest accomplishment. having artists have become better artists. what is. sheri coming back to brava, here you have this establish, amazing writer who has won a clue -- slew of awards.

now she gets to director and work. even though she is this amazing, established writer, the truth is, she is being nurtured as a director and is being given some space to direct. >> the play is described as ceremony and -- where ceremony and theater me. in the indigenous tradition, when you turn 52, it is like the completion of an important era. the importance of the ceremony is to say, you are 52. whenever you have been caring for the first 52 years, it is time to let it go. really, here, they have given me carte blanche to do this. i think it is nice for me, in the sense of coming back 25 years later and seeing personally my own evolution as an artist and thinker.

the whole effort to put the chicano or indigenous woman's experience on center stage is, in itself, for euro-american theaters, a radical position. because of the state of theater, it is a hard roll to hold up in institution. it is a hard road. i am looking at where we are 25 years later in the bay area, looking at how hard it is for us to strive to keep our theater is going, etc. i like to think that i'm not struggling quite as hard, personally, but what i mean by that, the intention, the commitment. particularly, to produce works that would not be produced in other places, and also to really nurture women of color artists. i think that is something that has not shifted for me in those 25 years, and it is good to see that brava remains committed to

that kind of work. ♪ >> when people talk about the reflection of the community, we can only go from what we have on our staff. we have a south asian managing director, south african artistic director, latino community out rich person. aside from the staff, the other people, artists that we work with being a reflection of us, yes, the community is changing, but brava has always tried to be ahead of that trend. when i came in, i tried to make it about the work that shows the eclectic mission district, as well as serving the mission. those are the types of things that i feel build one brava is all