In 1949, the artists Clay Spohn and Mark Rothko threw a “costume carnival” with a provocative theme: “ The Unknown .” Over 1,600 revelers in weird, surrealist outfits flocked to dance the night away at the San Francisco Art Institute, buzzing with hope and possibility of a new, futuristic vision for the 1950s.

In the same playful spirit, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is hosting an art party called Waves of Knowing , curated by the experimental Oakland artist collective Smartbomb . On Thursday, Oct. 2, when SFMOMA is free to Bay Area residents from 4–8 p.m., Smartbomb takes over multiple floors of the museum with music, poetry, film screenings, free screen printing and more.

Since its inception over a decade ago, Smartbomb has grown from curating underground shows to collab

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