Beyond my work on aging and longevity, art, culture, and travel are enduring sources of curiosity and discovery. Here I write about performances, museums, places, and experiences that move me, challenge my perspective, and expand how I see the world.
Art can interrupt the familiar. A performance asks us to enter another person’s emotional world; a work in a museum can bring history into the present; a new place can make assumptions visible simply by showing us another way of living.
Travel creates a similar opening. Moving through unfamiliar landscapes, cultures, and traditions strengthens curiosity and invites a more generous view of other people. These experiences become part of how we understand beauty, belonging, and what makes a life feel expansive.
Paying attention is not passive. It is a way of remaining awake to the world and allowing it to keep changing us.
A selection of essays on visual art, performance, and the cultural experiences that reward a closer look.
San Francisco Ballet’s Nutcracker marks twenty years of Helgi Tomasson’s production and eighty years since America’s first full-length staging. Its San Francisco setting, detailed costumes, and enduring music sustain a treasured holiday tradition.
The de Young’s Irving Penn retrospective spans celebrated portraits, global studies, fashion, still life, and discarded objects. Across seven decades, Penn’s controlled studios, natural light, and attentive observation made photography a sustained act of connection.
Discover the complete collection of essays, reviews, and cultural dispatches.
Browse all Arts & Culture writing →Browse Duanni’s essays and reviews across visual art, performance, travel, and culture.
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At the de Young’s Fashioning San Francisco exhibition, augmented-reality mirrors let visitors virtually wear historic couture. The technology connects museum objects to contemporary bodies through an immediate, playful encounter with fashion.
Six older women artists found friendship and creative purpose through the Mountain View Senior Center. Their varied styles, shared critiques, and steadfast Wednesday practice reveal a sisterhood sustained through art.
At Verona’s ancient Roman Arena, Aida, Nabucco, and La Bohème move between monumental spectacle and intimate human feeling. Beneath the stars, opera makes stories of love, power, freedom, and loss feel enduring.
San Francisco Opera’s The Barber of Seville pairs Rossini’s wit with an engaging cast and a playful vision of Seville. Its disguises, misunderstandings, and musical energy culminate in an unexpected celebration of shared joy.
The Legion of Honor’s expansive Etruscan exhibition restores a sophisticated civilization to its place in history. Nearly 200 objects illuminate achievements in art, engineering, religion, urban planning, and social life that later shaped Rome.
Mere Mortals returns to SF Ballet as a sensory fusion of mythology, technology, and contemporary movement. Pandora’s story becomes a timely meditation on artificial intelligence, human curiosity, and creation moving beyond its creator.
“Writing about art and place is, for me, another way of practicing attention.”Read the story behind the writing →
Field notes on performance, place, and attention.
