San Diego weekend arts events: Text message art, a Fourth of July concert and dance for the morning after

Visual arts | Music | Theater | Dance | Youth| Nature and art| Live music

Visual art

‘Text Messages’ 
The work of three digital artists and coders is now on display at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Art Gallery, in an outdoor exhibit on the digital mesh building wrap. Maya Man’s “I’m Feeling Lucky (At a Glance)” is a series of astrological readings pulled from archived and indexed astrology texts — with phrases like “You are likely to expand hopes” alongside clip-art-style shapes and images. Winnie Soon’s “Unerasable Characters III” pulls censored words and phrases from China’s social media site, Weibo, extracted during the onset of COVID-19 between Dec. 1, 2019, and Feb. 27, 2020. Sasha Stiles’ “Cursive Binary” features generated text shown in binary’s quintessential lime green on a black backdrop, but in a hurried, varied and extremely human script — intended to explore the relationship between humans and machines.

7 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily. Through Sept. 27 | Mandeville Art Gallery, 9500 Gilman Dr., UC San Diego | Free | MORE INFO

‘The Space Between: Texture Studies by Denja Harris’
Fiber artist Denja Harris has her first solo museum exhibition on view at Oceanside Museum of Art. The works explore softness and the space between control and letting go. More than a dozen large-scale “soft sculpture” works are on display, including suspended, spiked plush chain-link, hanging wall works and rug tufting. Note: OMA is closed Friday, July 4.

11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. Through Oct. 12 | Oceanside Museum of Art, 704 Pier View Way, Oceanside | Free-$15 | MORE INFO

ICA NextGen 2025 Exhibition
Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) San Diego-Central just launched this year’s NextGen exhibit, celebrating and showcasing the work of a seven-artist cohort of emerging artists who recently graduated from visual arts programs in the region. This year’s selected artists are Maddie Butler, Coralys Carter, Nykelle DeVivo, Adele Gaburo, Emily Greenberg, Nanzi Muro and Maya Rosado. Note: ICA San Diego-Central is closed Friday, July 4.

Noon to 5 p.m. Thursday through Sunday. Through Feb. 1, 2026 | ICA Central, 1439 El Prado, Balboa Park | Free | MORE INFO

Music

Courtesy of the San Diego Symphony

‘4th of July: America in Song’
Vocalists Morgan James, Bryonha Marie and Nicholas Christopher join the San Diego Symphony Orchestra for a concert of American classics, from Gershwin to Dylan and Louis Armstrong to Dolly Parton. Stick around after the performance: The Rady Shell is basically a front-row seat to some Big Bay Boom fireworks displays beginning at 9 p.m.

7:30 p.m. Friday, July 4 | The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina Park Way, downtown | $54-$120 | MORE INFO

Rich Soublet II

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The Old Globe

Theater

‘The Janeiad’ 
Anna Ziegler’s new play, “The Janeiad,” imagines a world where, like Penelope and Odysseus, a 9/11 widow awaits her husband’s return 20 years later. It’s an exploration of how grief and myth can intertwine. Directed by Maggie Burrows, the play stars Nadine Malouf, Ryan Vasquez and Michaela Watkins.

Through July 13 | The Old Globe, 1863 Old Globe Way, Balboa Park | $44-$118 | MORE INFO

Dance

‘The Morning After, Consequential Dances’
Dancer Erica Buechner continues her series of indulgence-themed choreography, following 2017’s “Feast on This” and 2022’s “Sauced.” Eight local dancers will perform in this installment, which explores what happens the morning after feasting and drinking. While tickets are limited for each show (just 20 seats in the small space), pedestrian passersby can view the show through Art Produce’s floor-to-ceiling front windows.

6, 7 and 8 p.m. Saturday; and 6 and 7 p.m. Sunday, July 5-13 | Art Produce, 3139 University Ave., North Park | $25 for indoor seats, free outside | MORE INFO

Youth

Lambda Archives Intergenerational Exhibit
The Pauline Foster Teen Center at the San Diego Central Library opens a new collection of oral history projects created in collaboration between youth and elders in the local LGBTQ+ community, recording and sharing their stories. Note: The library is closed on Friday, July 4, and beginning this month, Sunday hours are suspended across all branches.

On view July 3-31. This weekend’s hours are 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursday and 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday | San Diego Central Library, 330 Park Blvd., downtown | Free | MORE INFO

Nature and art

Mission Trails Regional Park Photo Contest Exhibition
Approximately one-third of the United States is public land, nature preserves or parkland, so why not celebrate our nation’s independence by spending time exploring its protected wild spaces? And here in San Diego, we have plenty — including Mission Trails Regional Park. Geographically, it’s the largest city park in California and the sixth-largest in the country, according to the National Park Service. Currently on view at the Mission Trails Visitor Center is its annual photo contest. I was a judge this year, and I loved seeing how other San Diegans captured the wild and vast park. Selected photos, along with winners from each category, are printed and displayed at the visitor center, which will be open Friday. You can vote for your favorites — and maybe you’ll be inspired to hit the trails to snap some photos of your own.

9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily, through July 31 | Mission Trails Regional Park Visitor Center, 1 Father Junipero Serra Trail, San Carlos | Free | MORE INFO