5 Things To Do This Weekend, From M.C. Escher To 'Black Panther'

This week’s picks are all pretty different, at least at first glance. They span the gamut from pop culture to the avant-garde. But all share a taste for pushing boundaries and imagining a new, sometimes impossible, world.

‘Black Panther’ | Released Thursday, Feb. 25 | Most Movie Theaters

Superhero movies may be a dime a dozen these days, but “Black Panther” is truly one for the history books. Anchored by soon-to-be megawatt stars Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan, the film features a nearly all-black cast — a first for Marvel Studios — and a futuristic hip-hop soundtrack produced by Kendrick Lamar. “Black Panther” is at once a tip of the hat to a beloved, but underappreciated, Marvel character and a long-overdue mainstream celebration of the black experience. (Read Ethan Gilsdorf's review.)

‘Torrey Pines’ | Through Saturday, Feb. 17 | Emerson Paramount Center's Jackie Liebergott Black Box, Boston

“Torrey Pines” is Seattle artist Clyde Petersen’s coming-of-age tale brought to life — well, to stop-motion animation. The film is based on Petersen’s own childhood, when his mother, a paranoid schizophrenic, whisked away the pre-teen on a surreal, precarious cross-country trip. It was a momentous time for Petersen, too, who was just beginning to come into his transgender identity. With playful hand-cut animation and a live soundtrack performed by Petersen’s band Your Heart Breaks, “Torrey Pines” is really something to marvel at. (Read critic Kilian Melloy's review.)

'M.C. Escher: Infinite Dimensions' | Through May 28 | Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 

I was a big fan of M.C. Escher when I was a kid, enamored with the Dutch artist’s reality-bending images and zany sensibility. As it turns out, those were precisely the qualities that lead many in the art world to dismiss Escher’s work as not serious. A new exhibit at the MFA aims to engender an appreciation for the artist’s one-of-a-kind fusion of brains and whimsy. (Listen to Andrea Shea's feature.)

Bent Knee | Friday, Feb. 16 | Massasoit Elks Lodge, Cambridge

If you haven’t had a chance to check out Boston’s art-rock phenomenon Bent Knee, now’s the time. Not many artists today are as ambitious, technically capable or compelling onstage. The group is supported by local electropop outfit Bearstronaut and Providence experimenters Roz and the Rice Cakes in a concert to benefit the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center.

'Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute To Barkley L. Hendricks' | Through March 3 | MassArt, Boston

The artist Barkley L. Hendricks’ sudden death last April sparked an outpouring on social media — and inspiration for the curator Darci Hanna, whose exhibit, “Legacy of the Cool: A Tribute To Barkley L. Hendricks” opened last month. The show features 25 artists of color working across all mediums in a display of appreciation for the influential African-American painter, whose vivid portraits of black life left an enduring mark on the world. (Read Pamela Reynolds' closer look at the exhibit.)