Photo by Kim Anno and Kyung Lee

More than two years have passed since the earthquake and tsunami devastated Fukushima prefecture in Japan, and only last week, The New York Times reported that the radioactive water used to cool the nuclear reactors in Fukushima is accumulating at an alarming rate. The independent writer of Fukushima Diary catalogues phenomena: mutated dandelions, unseasonal cirrocumulus clouds, absent azalea buds.

Jose Navarrete and Debby Kajiyama's Navarrete x Kajiyama Dance Theater, past honorees of Dance Magazine's 25 to Watch, present BAILOUT!, their newest activist interdisciplinary site-specific installation, May 10-12 in and around Dance Mission Theater. BAILOUT! tackles Japan's nuclear disaster from the perspective of our relationship with the oceans. The installation considers what recourse remains to those served by governments that would rather rescue financial institutions than address massive environmental consequences, as well as our complicity in the act of urban living.

Navarrete and Kajiyama have previously created work on genetic modification of crops and diminishing natural resources, as well as the city's transgender and ethnic communities.

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We like our gay bars like we like our women -- rough around the edges and with as little cover as possible. With its bordello-esque atmosphere and cheap drinks, it's no surprise that The Stud, one of the city's oldest gay bars, still reigns supreme.

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Josue Rivera

When Dia Dear takes the stage, things are about to become brutally uncomfortable and strangely beautiful. Her shaved head is typically plastered in white makeup and perhaps some sparse lipstick or some dark rings penciled around her eyes. Although she's often found performing at drag shows, it would be a stretch to define her performances as traditional drag -- some elements of her work, such as her lip-synching and her occasional high-heel wearing, are similar, but beyond those characteristics, she assumes her own style. Instead of dancing along to a Mariah Carey tune, you're much more likely to see her enacting something quieter by Radiohead or Antony and the Johnsons. Don't expect her to bust out a cancan, either. Her movements are slow, with Kabuki-like precision.

See also:

Art Beat: Dita Von Teese's Corset Maker on Sculpting the Body and Ethical Underwear

Art Beat: Graphic Novel Comes to Life in John Felix Arnold III's "Unstoppable Tomorrow"

Queer Performance Art Series The News Starts Strong at SOMArts

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Christopher Morgan

20. "My eyes are up here, guys."

We'll be honest, we didn't know what cosplay was until we googled it just now. For those in the dark who are, like us, no doubt carving blog posts out of stone tablets, cosplay, "short for 'costume play,' is a type of performance art in which participants wear costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea." We put together a slideshow of the best cosplay outfits of the entire year (Merry Christmas!), from comic book conventions, anime events, sci-fi shindigs, and more. Such representation helps to debunk the image of cosplay folks as pale, overweight men, shedding much-needed light on the outdated assumptions and stereotypes that plague our ... sorry, what? We couldn't hear you over all the boobs.

See also:

Our full slideshow, 100 Memorable Cosplay Images of 2012 

Talk on Internet Dating Is Like a Blind Date With Group Therapy

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Maggie Preston

Come out and show some love for the youngest and brightest up-and-coming artists and performers at the Second Annual San Francisco Youth Arts Summit. Youth leaders from prominent San Francisco advocacy groups have joined forces to showcase young artists' works which spans all realms of artistic expression.

See also:

Video of the Day: Laser Mazes, Giant Robots, and SMS-Driven Cops and Robbers

The Art of Macworld

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Mr. Nobody's Voodoo Swamp Shack

I can't tell you where it was, where it will be next time, or even how I found it -- the text message came with a stern warning not to reveal my source. I can tell you this: You won't find it wandering around on your own. Every so often, in a dark unwatched corner of the city, box trucks full of D.I.Y. art, puppets, and bizarrely themed entertainment pull up and fill a couple of blocks. The trucks are told to look normal on the outside, but around 9 p.m., a crowd materializes, the trucks open their back doors, and the Lost Horizon Night Market is revealed.

See also:

Renegade Mannequin Installation at the de Young Asks: What Is Art?

Local Circus Veterans' New Trick: Come to Shows that Never Happened

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Did you miss Flugtag aka "flying day," the great tradition of building human-powered flying machines and launching them off of a 30-foot ramp into McCovey Cove? Nonetheless, if you missed the genius, the innovation, and most importantly, the fashion, we're here to help.

Photos by Christopher Victorio for SF Weekly.

See also:

Video of the Day: Flugtag, Human-Powered Flying Machines

See the whole glorious slideshow

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Jason Kruppa

The most exciting and innovative circus in the Bay Area isn't coming from Cirque du Soleil, Ringling Bros., or any of the big schools. It's hiding out in an underground training location called The Royal Russian Kung Fu Circus Training Academy of Heaven Mountain by a few, and Sons of Cayuga, by everyone else. The pair responsible claim to have the highest skill level of any local circus in their shows (true), and disdain advertising, claiming that, "when you make mazes for people they try to find the end of the maze."

See also:

"Humor Abuse": A Son Remembers the Pickle Family Circus

The Hard Truth of Circus Life

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All photos by Gil Reigo Jr. for SF Weekly

Miss the Folsom Street Fair over the weekend but still have a hankering for leather and sexually wild BDSM action? Of course you do! Alas, you're at work, stuck at a cubicle with your boss's stare cutting right through you. Or perhaps its the IT guy -- who secretly hates everyone -- just waiting for you to slip up. Either way, enjoy these perfectly PG photos from  Folsom. If you're giving zero fucks about your boss or your IT guy, go on and enjoy the NSFW Folsom Street Fair slideshow.

See Also:
- 2012 Folsom Street Fair Photos
- 2011 Folsom Street Fair Photos
- 2010 Folsom Street Fair Photos
- 2009 Folsom Street Fair Photos
- 2008 Folsom Street Fair Photos

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On February 21, five women wearing masks and bright colors stormed the priests-only section of Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior and staged a punk prayer protest. Among candles and gilded altars, they danced, genuflected and called out to the Virgin Mary. Were they praying for husbands, health, a record deal? No. They were the members of Pussy Riot, an art-collective branch of the larger art-collective Voina ("war" in Russian) founded in 2006 to protest the existing Russian government and President Vladimir Putin through art. Voina has performed dozens of provocative and politically charged conceptual art performances. More than a dozen criminal cases have been brought against the group.

Zarina Zabrisky

On August 17, Pussy Riot perfomers Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, and Ekaterina Samucevich were charged with public hooliganism and sentenced to two years in prison. 

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