If this summer’s cooler climate has you daydreaming about steamier settings, look no further than “Heat,” opening at the storied photography gallery SF Camerawork just a stone’s throw from Civic Center Bart.

Also used as a code word for cops, “Heat” is an explicit nod to mounting tensions around police violence as well as an open call for artists to interpret the social, political, and climatic conditions arising from rapidly changing environments. Potent action shots of political rallies and grieving families will be showcased alongside breathtaking landscapes and wry, contemplative stills of everyday life.

Hosting for the first time with Berkeley-based online photography magazine LensCulture and local art startup Daylighted, SF Camerawork director Heather Snider calls the joint venture “an experimental collaboration that seeks to bridge art and technology.” While “Heat” is part of the gallery’s long-running Annual Juried Exhibition series, usually selected from artists in the Western U.S., the global reach of LensCulture and digital monitors provided by Daylighted have expanded both the exhibit’s scale and scope. Up from only nine finalists last year, more than 20 artists were chosen from around the world to exhibit their works on both gallery walls and scrolling through interactive screens.

“Our mission is to support emerging artists and new ideas, and technology allows us to move forward with our goals,” says Snider. Virtual heat, anyone?

See "Heat" from July 23-August 22 at SF Camerawork, 1101 Market St, sfcamerawork.org