BY CAROLINE SCHMIDT Friday April first we can celebrate the birthday of Milan Kundera, Otto von Bismarck, Method Man and Edgar Wallace. We can shed a tear for Marvin Gaye, who died, a day before his birthday. Here are our top five places to do this, in no particular order. If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to be romantically involved with Charles M. Shulz (okay, I hadn’t, until I heard about this show) look no farther. Space 1026‘s April event This is a Love Letter is a collection of nearly one hundred letters written by Shulz over the course of two years to native Philadelphian and at-the-time-partner Tracey Claudius. Opening Reception: Friday April 1st, 7-10PM. Space1026 is located at 1026 Arch St, 2nd floor.
This month the Locks Gallery presents Standing on the Edge: 20th Century Sculpture. The show “explores the sensation of vertigo and the fragile balance of an individual when facing war, the forces of Nature, or nostalgia,” and includes works by Louise Bourgeois, Isamu Noguchi, Bryan Hunt, Alexander Calder, Roberto Matta, and Auguste Rodin, among others. I subtitle this show Sculpture vs. the 20th century. Opening Reception: Friday April 1st, 5:30-7:30PM. Locks Gallery is located at 600 Washington Square South. 
Use Your Head!, the bike helmet art show featuring twenty uniquely adorned Bern bicycle helmets designed by Philadelphian artists, opens tonight with a silent auction at the Vox Populi building on the second floor.
Kick in the Eye is a group show of recent painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, photography and video that engages with fractured ways of looking and being seen, and the processes and politics of identification. It opens this Friday at Vox Populi. The show is being run in conjunction with two evenings of film screenings at the International House. Curated by Andrew Suggs. Opening Reception: Friday April 1st, 6-11PM. Live performance by Lovett/Codagnone at 9PM. Vox Populi is located at 319 N 11th street, third floor.
Soft Smoke Rises in Gay Rings Above the Roof, a group installation that uses Gaston Bachelard’s Poetics of Space as a jumping off point, is opening this Friday at Bodega. Comprising handmade sculptures and household items, the show proposes to explore the casual intersection of art and life. Opening Reception: Friday April 1st, 6-10PM. Bodega is located at 253 N. 3rd St.