Venerable contemporary art institution, Southern Exposure hosts a big fundraiser tonight - its 7th Annual Monster Drawing Rally, where an impressively large number of local artists take turns drawing things on paper, which are then sold for a measley $50 with all proceeds benefiting Southern Exposure's exhibition and educational programs. Some draw monsters, some draw abstract patterns and shapes, though maybe one can be convinced to do caricatures of Bill and Hilary Clinton like the sidewalk guys on Fisherman's Wharf. Rally up at the Verdi Club (2424 Mariposa St between Hampshire and Potrero). (6 - 10:30pm)

During the dot-com boom, artists scrambling to avoid displacement and find affordable space to live and work often tossed around the idea of moving to Detroit, where legend had it one could buy a city block-length warehouse for next to nothing, a true bohemian paradise. Detroit is the subject of tonight's talk - part of New Langton Arts'(1246 Folsom St between 8th and 9th) new lecture series, Interrogating Ideas. Mirror-Travel in the Motor City is a conversation between Los Angeles-based artist Edgar Arceneaux (who had a 2005 show at the SFMoMA) and San Francisco-based writer Julian Myers. The artist and writer will put forward passages from their ongoing investigation of subterranean Detroit, including discussions of literally underground artwork and the “Submerge’d,” afro-futuristic worlds of Underground Resistance and Drexciya. The conversation will be followed by a reception with the special appearance of DJ Ian Zazueta spinning “Detroit sounds." (8pm)

Saturday afternoon at The Exploratorium (3601 Lyon St) it's the Listening Film Series: The Sound of Silence. In conjunction with Listen: Making Sense of Sound, the Listen Film Series explores the sound of silence with Hush (2004, 5 min.), by local filmmaker Mike Seely, documenting the struggle to find "natural quiet" in both urban and rural landscapes. Tama Tu (2005, 18 min.), by Taika Waititi, pays tribute to the legendary 28 Battalion, a group of young Maori soldiers who left New Zealand to fight in the Second World War. Set in the ruins of an Italian home, the film follows six soldiers as they wait for nightfall: forced into silence, they then laugh and amuse themselves as any boys would, before returning to the dark of war. (2pm)