Art, celebration and free are three of The Real Story’s favorite words in the English language. They’re all used together in the description of the special event scheduled for this coming weekend: the San Francisco Museum of Modern art will host a free weekend celebration in honor of its 75th anniversary season. Festivities will begin on Saturday, January 16th and continue through the Martin Luther King holiday on Monday, January 18th, the actual day the SFMOMA was founded in 1935.

Here’s what’s in store:

Saturday programming will feature an encore presentation of Bill Fontana’s Sound Sculptures Through the Golden Gate originally shown at SFMOMA in 1987 for the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a special performance by Matmos on Saturday night.

Sunday will be devoted to families, with hands-on art projects and a family film program in the Wattis Theater.

On Monday, January 18, Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the day SFMOMA was founded 75 years ago, the museum is asking visitors to join in celebrating the spirit of service by bringing art supplies to be donated to local public schools. There will also be a presentation about SFMOMA’s outreach program to conserve art in the community.

On all three days, there will be programs in the 5th floor galleries designed by artist Allison Smith focused on craft in the history of the museum and the Bay Area, in addition to artist talks in the galleries.
SFMOMA will also launch a multimedia tour of the collection that will be available on visitors’ own handheld devices, such as cell phones and MP3 players, and as an application for iPhones.

Throughout the anniversary season, SFMOMA will present a series of exhibitions and programs under the heading 75 Years of Looking Forward illustrating the story of the artists, collectors, cultural mavericks, and San Francisco leaders who founded, built, and have animated the museum.

Art, celebration, free . . . how can you resist? Click sfmoma.org for details.