See Hear Do: Gettin' Social

We hold art on display to high standards — we’ve made the trek to see it, it’s taking up valuable space in a museum or gallery or public space, so it better be good, right? Core Contemporary’s second edition of its OOPS! exhibit explores the imperfect. What if an artist’s work didn’t go as planned?

Emerging artists get to show when and how it went awry, and maybe when their artistic practice became transitional. As co-curator and artist Bailey Anderson puts it, “Without technical failures, conceptual risks, failed relationships, or professional setbacks, there would be no point at all.”

Behold, a twofor in more ways than one: Swing by Maya Cinemas to watch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the long-awaited return of Michael Keaton’s iconic character, then stick around as the Piecing It Together Podcast crew discusses the films that may have inspired it (besides the original, of course). Joining host David Rosen are photographer Gina Mizzoni, film enthusiast J. Spaghetti, and film student Perry Markle. Clearly, the boring Neitherworld Waiting Room, this is not.

The podcast recording is free if you have a ticket to the 6 p.m. showing of the film.

The Strip goes all-in on Mexican Independence Day, featuring the country’s most celebrated acts — and other Spanish-language artists as well. But not all this year’s holiday-adjacent concerts fall into the Latin music mainstream, nor do they all take place on the Strip. Over at the Wynn, Encore Theater has booked the Buena Vista Social Orchestra, which features orchestra leader Jesus “Aguaje” Ramos and three other original members of the Grammy-winning Buena Vista Social Club from Cuba (also of the 1999 Wim Wenders movie). This is an exemplary alternative to the usual mid-weekend hit parade, giving Las Vegas a different cultural shot — and another excuse to dance in your seats.

Art for art's sake can allow us to escape to different worlds and places — that's why we love it so much. But art for a cause has a different appeal: It grounds us in reality, forcing the viewer to look beyond themself. That's what San Diego-based artist and educator Eloisa Guanlao's goal was for Darwin's Finches, her art exhibit currently at CSN. It's a sprawling showcase of dozens of stuffed replicas of Darwin's Galapagos finches alongside wooden camera replicas reminiscent of the ones Darwin himself would have used to photograph the birds. At this artist talk and reception, hear from Guanlao herself about the process of creating this multimedia collection, along with how her art practice is informed by "the unexamined expansion of technology and the unrestrained use of natural resources."

The exhibit runs through September 14.

There are many levels of inspiration, appropriation, and satire in Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, which is fitting for a play with The Simpsons at its center. The post-apocalypse production starts with a campfire discussion about episode two from season five, “Cape Feare.” Eventually, the same group performs the episode live as part of their pop culture-centric theater troupe; decades later, others perform a more severe version of the episode in a Simpsonsesque theater, where we see how the titular miser — and the relevance of electricity — figure into the production (and the production-within-the-production). If this all seems familiar, Troy Heard and Vegas Theatre Company staged the play in 2015. But even if you were there, Mr. Burns is a well-layered work that demands a revisit.

Shows start on September 11; times currently unavailable.