Spark sought out some performances that might surprise you — ones that are particularly innovative, unique or provocative. Gang Situ integrates Eastern and Western art styles in his opera, “The Grand Seducers,” which is based on Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” and 13th-century Chinese literature. Three political actors challenge capitalism and break down barriers between audience and performers with headRush. Matt Davignon introduces us to the world of Bay Area experimental music through Soundwave/Live Play, in an event where musicians improvise to never-before-seen film clips. Also, the all-male a cappella group, Conspiracy of Beards, performs only the songs of Leonard Cohen.

We live in an electronic world — turntables, microphones, digital displays, microchips. Some artists are driven by the possibilities of manipulating these things, and in this episode of Spark, we explore the way that they creatively unite art and electronics.

See how Walter Kitundu uses natural elements such as wind, fire and the ocean to power his innovative musical instruments.

Explore how Joe Mangrum juxtaposes natural found objects with pieces of technology in his large and intricate design sculptures.

Visit the classroom with Loren Chasse as he uses audio technology to teach his young students about sound art.

Finally, see what people are really talking with Ben Rubin’s Listening Post, which tracks electronic chats on suspended text screens.

For the arts to thrive they need a home — Spark examines the influence of home on institutions around the Bay Area. The San Francisco Conservatory of Music is moving to the Civic Center within sight of the great cultural institutions to which many of their students aspire. Since 1973, Oakland’s Creative Growth Art Center has been a nurturing ground for adults with mental, emotional and physical disabilities. Jared Choclatt brings “Hit it!” for a world premiere at San Francisco’s Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. And, get a tour of ODC‘s new building full of classrooms and rehearsal space furthering this institution’s commitment to fostering dance in the Bay Area.

Puppet shows aren’t just for kids as proven by the artists in this episode of Spark.

Pop artist and painter, Sandow Birk has adapted Dante’s Divine Comedy into a modern epic and filmed it in the tradition of “Toy Theatre,” a European style of puppetry from the 1700s.

Basil Twist is collaborating with Joe Goode and Paula Vogel to stage “The Long Christmas Ride Home” using traditional Japanese Bunraku puppets of his own creation.

Lunatique Fantastique’s Liebe Wetzel stages her latest work using found object puppets to address issues women face when confronting breast cancer. Also, visit the Asian Art Museum with puppet master Kathy Foley, and check out their extensive puppet collection.

Spark gets into the heads of artists who are deeply influenced by memories.

First, visit with painter Christopher Brown, who mines images of trains, birds, and buildings to create immediately familiar canvases that he seemingly never wants to finish.

Then meet photographer Binh Danh, who is known for his images of colonial Vietnamese printed on leaves. Now he is collaborating with Elizabeth Moy as they explore memory, history and war in and installation at Intersection for the Arts.

Also, see why Flo Oy Wong is driven by a need to explore family memories and identity. Her artistic path has resulted in a body of work that illustrates the rich yet painful history of Asian Americans.

Finally, get a peek at Deborah Slater‘s “Hotel of Memory,” which comments on the possibility of life without art.

Spark finds that every musician has a chosen instrument that takes them on their creative journey. Organ player Wil Blades has jammed with the famous and holds court in clubs and classrooms of the Bay Area. Barbara Bonney is a world famous lyric soprano, but she also teaches master classes to regular people. Since 1981, the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra has been dedicated to reproducing historically informed performances on original instruments. Then, meet Stephen Kent, a didgeridoo player from the UK.

Our natural world provides lots of artistic inspiration. Spark visits artists who work in respect of nature.

Photographer Roman Loranc has spent years documenting the Central Valley landscape with a loving eye.

Li Huayi from the first generation of Chinese Cultural Revolution artists, reinvigorates Chinese landscape painting with his modern abstract vision.

Bill Dan, also known as “The Rock Man of Crissy Field,” balances rocks for all to contemplate.

Then Gregory Gavin builds temporary creeks in public spaces called “Riveropolis.”

Spark follows contemporary experimental dance troupe Kunst-Stoff as they attempt to understand sightlessness in a new piece that keeps changing up to the last minute.

Then go on a drive with John Chiara, who takes photography to an interesting limit by using a large-scale camera that has to be towed to and from locations.

And go to the studio of legendary sound duo Matmos while they create a new work for the LA Museum of Natural History.

Finally, meet Ala Ebtekar, who explores identity by blending hip-hop imagery with Iranian images.

Spark leaves the studio with artists who foray into the public realm. Photographer Todd Hido gained a reputation from his eerie twilight images of quiet neighborhoods — find out where he’s lurking now. Kate Pocrass plots out “Mundane Journeys” in which unique observations of the city are realized as conceptual bus tours. Ann Chamberlain‘s work explores how public spaces and places express the identity, history and experience of the communities they serve. Then, go on a walk with Felipe Dulzaides to see his “Double-Take Billboard Project.”

Spark visits with artists who use humor and wit to engage, intrigue and expand the frontiers of creativity.

First, Keith Knight draws from experience as a cartoonist and finds time to hit the stage to front a hip hop band.

Then, electronic sculpture artist Andrew Kleindolph constructs machines that defy logic or function for the sake of building something that might not have existed otherwise.

And find improv group 3 For All “on a stage with no rules,” as they perform without scripts, format, or preconceptions.

And finally, rendezvous with Toychestra, an all-woman ensemble who jam out with a wide array of children’s toys and instruments.

With an eye on global influence, Spark meets artists who take creative cues from tradition, history and cultural intersections.

Follow two groups as they compete for a chance to perform in this year’s Ethnic Dance Festival.

Wanderlust photographer Lisa Kristine focuses on the world’s myriad indigenous populations.

Filipino American artist Michael Arcega uses history (and Manila paper) as source material to critique and comment.

San Francisco’s newest art and cultural institution, the Museum of the African Diaspora, enlightens viewers with exhibitions centered on the African American experience.

Spark meets artists who have made landscape their subject but with a contemporary twist.

First, encounter the small-scale, yet familiar, buildings of Tracey Snelling‘s process-driven sculptures.

And Paul Madonna hits the streets looking for cityscape inspiration of which to draw for his weekly San Francisco Chronicle comic, “All Over Coffee.”

Then, camp out with photographer Trevor Paglen as he surveys the desert’s hidden elements.

Finally, see San Francisco as you’ve never seen it before: as a jiggling kaleidoscope of Jell-O in sculptures molded by Liz Hickok.

Spark asks, “After a lifetime pursuing creativity, what do the years teach about art?” Modern dancer Anna Halprin, who is in her eighties, is still performing and honing her craft. Actor and director Peter Riegert appeared in the off-Broadway debut of the play of “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” 30 years ago; now catch up with him as he directs the 2006 A.C.T production. Meet artists displaced by Hurricane Katrina who find shelter at the Djerassi Resident Artist Program. And take a brief look inside the Dance Improv, a regular event hosted by Kara Davis.

In the 2006 season premiere, Spark plugs into the energy created when artists and institutions start anew.

First, visit the de Young Museum, which re-opened its doors in 2005, refreshed and revitalized with a new look and location.

Photographer Bill Owens stepped away from the camera for almost twenty years, catch up with him while he revisits the suburban landscape to document the ordinary and everyday.

Meet the teachers and students of ASCEND, a progressive primary school in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood, where academic merge with the arts.

Finally, hear from ballet dancer Aesha Ash, who is a Bay Area newcomer and recent addition to Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet.