They deliver

Just name the place: a favourite metro station, park bench, café, bar, bank machine lobby, chicken shack, alley, your kitchen... You call, they come with art.

Soon to be in Montreal - stop five of 14 on their Halifax to Dawson City, Yukon, cross-country tour - the McCleave Gallery is a showroom on wheels, an ever-growing collection of emerging artists' works packed into an ever-growing collection of old suitcases under the care of kilometre-logging curators Michael McCormack and Adair Rounthwaite.

The gallery was born of an idea for an alternative exhibition space and the garbage-pilfering habits of McCormack's older brother, who saved a trashed suitcase bearing the name "McCleave" from an almost-certain death. "It came from an accidental donor and found an accidental audience," says the younger Mac. "The gallery works that way too because there's always the possibility that people will stop us on the street and ask what's inside."

What's inside on the Montreal leg is art from the PRAXIS collective of Ste-Thérèse and the quirky microorganism drawings of Kit Malo, each in their own suitcase, which the curators will be carrying around the streets during business hours while on the prowl for more accidents. To track them down more efficiently, visit www.mccleavegallery.ca, call (902) 880-0039, check out the opening March 31, 7 p.m., at the Bread Factory (617 St-Rémi, #304), or catch their slideshow/talk the same day at noon at the VAV Gallery (1395 René-Lévesque W., #303). » Matthew Woodley

Sack attack

The humble brown paper bag has had its fair share of functions, from eco-friendly grocery toting to concealing the identities of dubious comedians. You can add one more use to the list, and that's as a canvas for the creativity of the assorted artists contributing to the Paper Bag show at Madame Edgar (6370 St-Hubert), which marks the fourth installment in the gallery/design firm's online Paper Jam series. Close to 30 artists have brought a bag to life for the show, including noted locals like Seripop and Roadsworth, Australia's Jeremyville, France's funky Super Deux and vinyl-toy icons Derrick "Madreal" Hodgson (from Toronto) and Juxtapoz regular Gary Baseman. The vernissage is tonight, Thursday, March 24, starting at 5:30 p.m. » Rupert Bottenberg

Listen up

Two Hungarian musicologists watch a silent movie of composer Béla Bartók shot in 1942. They try to reconstruct the sound missing from the original footage by watching the movement of Bartok's hands, arms, eyes and head. Eventually, they come to realize the impossibility of their task, admitting at one point that they just don't know what he's playing.

This engaging film by Peter Sulyi is part of the eclectic mix of work brought together by curator Nicole Gingras for the exhibition Tracking the Traces at Concordia's Ellen Gallery (1400 de Maisonneuve W.). The exhibition is an oblique exploration of sound elements both heard and imagined. Consider it a follow-up to the highly applauded evening of live performances by three of the artists a couple of weeks ago, which included Martin Tétreault's inspired turntable mix of Ringo Starr's drum solos alongside drummer Pierre Tanguay. The exhibition continues until April 9, info: 848-2424, ext. 4750. »

AIDS and art

This coming week, an interdisciplinary art event co-curated by Tagny Duff, Erin Silver and Brett Tabor explores and challenges various representations of HIV/AIDS and illness.

[sic] opens next Tuesday, March 29, at 6 p.m., with a lecture and performance by transsexual artist and sex worker Mirha Soleil Ross in the Bourget Building (1230 de la Montagne). This will be followed by a 90-minute action and endurance performance by Torontonian Ed Johnston (weather permitting) in the VA Courtyard (1395 René-Lévesque W.). The accompanying exhibition at the VAV Gallery shows work ranging from video installation and performance to handmade zines by students and faculty involved in Concordia's year-long interdisciplinary course, HIV/AIDS Social, Cultural and Scientific Aspects of Pandemic. A panel discussion, organized by Christian Dare, will look at representations of AIDS in contemporary art, Thursday in the Hall building (1400 de Maisonneuve W., #431). The exhibition runs until April 9. See the complete schedule at http://aids.concordia.ca/exhibit. » Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

THE UGLIEST AUTOMOBILE: Now is the era of the pop culture superlative search: American Idol, Greatest Briton, Loneliest Housewife, Horniest Small Person, Saskatchewan's most transcendent rock song of the '80s, etc. Currently taking place south of the border is the Ugliest Car in America Contest. The battle is a publicity manoeuvre from DonateCarUSA.com, a company that encourages people to donate their old cars, which they benevolently pass on the rides to charity, rather than endure headaches like confusing paperwork, price haggling and profit. Participants in the contest need only send photos to contest@

donatecarusa.com to enter in the running for the Gold Pinto Award, "something to pass on to their grandchildren," note organizers. Thus-far disappointing frontrunners can be seen at www.donatecarusa.com/ugliest-car-contest-entries.php.

ArtsHole

KEY MOVES: The music of French composer and pianist Frédéric François Chopin gets a dance treatment by Compagnie Marie Chouinard in Les 24 préludes de Chopin, running at Place des Arts from March 31–April 2. • MATERIAL CULTURE: Twenty select students from Concordia's fibres program show off their textile creations - spanning themes of work, play, beauty, global economics, literacy and, of course, "textuality" - under the umbrella of the group exhibition Stuff, which is at Espace 306 (372 Ste-Catherine W., #306) until March 27.

ARTISTAT: Amount recently granted by the province to the ongoing revitalization of Montreal's Arts and Entertainment District, the area between Berri, City Councillors, Sherbrooke and René-Lévesque, officially designated as Le Quartier des spectacles in 2001: $270,000

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