People watching

Jérôme Delgado from La Presse compared the work to a Benetton ad, but to me that's not an apt way to describe John Oswald's Instandstillnessence. The piece is made from hundreds of photographs of individuals in various states of undress. The stills are layered and arranged one on top of the other on the computer, then projected life-size onto the gallery wall where they appear and disappear one after another in an ever-changing crowd scene.

Right off the top, I can guarantee you that pubic hair does not grow on Benetton models. Nor would they captivate my attention so easily for 45 minutes.

Oswald's crowd is made up of the young, old, thin, fat and everything in between. The experience of watching the installation unfold was a cross between people-watching from a café window, and the stage-fright cure of imagining an audience in their underwear. The slowly evolving transformations are visually compelling in their subtlety and complexity, and the individuals retain their humanity, a decided contrast to the maggot-like mass of many a Spencer Tunick photograph.

The show is free at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts until Aug. 14. Also, stills from this and other interesting Oswald projects are at Pierre-François Ouellette gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W., #423) until May 7, www.pfoac.com. » Christine Redfern

Maisonneuve madness

The gang at Maisonneuve magazine aren't the types who'll settle for any old party. One day last fall, for example, they flooded a Restaurant La Belle Province with pilgrim readers who gathered in the name of a giant free-for-all poutine. Some say the cross turned brown that night... All this to say you'd be remiss to miss their third annual Not Just Art party on Thursday, April 21, 8 p.m., at the SAT (1195 St-Laurent).

Let's start with the hors d'oeuvres: Exotic fruit and chocolate served on nude models - "a way to liven up an otherwise static buffet," explains editor-in-chief Derek Webster, who insists the caterer won't be using curds 'n' gravy for this one. Other essential consumables are available at the bar: booze and oxygen, back by popular demand. There'll be a real mind reader, a fashion show featuring Jessie May, live music care of the High Dials, turntablism from DJ Mike Shannon, oh, and art - plenty of art from the likes of Susan Coolen, David Macleod, Olia Mishchenko, Davida Nemeroff and many talented more. And all this for five bucks! » Matthew Woodley

April showers

There's a funny little shack built out of wood in the lobby of Usine C (1345 Lalonde). It has a shower watering the roof, while inside, drawings hang on the walls and ambient sounds play. Titled Sunday Something, the installation is the latest offering from the Orange/Brown collective. This group of 10 artists from Montreal, Vancouver and Australia assembled in a local studio over many Sundays to draw each other and develop the hut from the ground up. Their incentive wasn't to present a group exhibition, but rather to create their fourth exhibition as a group. The participants are writers and artists from various disciplines, and the idea behind Orange/Brown is to make collaborative artworks that force them to grow artistically outside of their regular practices. It runs until May 7, info: 521-4493 or www.orangebrown.info. » Christine Redfern

Mass appeal

There's power in the image of movement multiplied. Take Joe, the landmark choreography by Jean-Pierre Perreault where a slew of figures cloaked from head to toe in sombre colours lent an intensity to the stage that couldn't have happened with a smaller group. That piece, explains choreographer Hélène Blackburn, started off as a work for students at the UQÀM dance department in the early '80s. "Generally, dance companies don't have the means to hire 20 dancers," she says. Last January, the same department invited her to create a work for 20 second-year dance students. What resulted was Étude #5 pour grand groupe (103 000 000), which runs at l'Agora de la danse (840 Cherrier) until April 16.

On the topic of mass gatherings, Blackburn also notes that the student strike during creation/rehearsal time had a definite influence on the production. "It's difficult to ignore the fact that the strike was happening," she says. "I think this is the most political group of students I've ever worked with." » Marites Carino

Is it Art?

CONCENTRATE: Are you, like, so ADD? Because the people behind Play Attention have a solution you'll probably find quite appealing: video games. Apparently based on NASA technology (sold!), Play Attention is a bicycle helmet with three sensors that somehow reads your brainwaves and translates them to your computer. Users complete video-game-like exercises controlled by the mind alone, all the while receiving continuous real-time feedback on their progress in focusing and finishing tasks. If you're questioning your focusing abilities, but not sure if you're in dire need of Play Attention, visit their Web site (www.playattention.com) - in trying to figure out what the hell they're talking about, you will develop a concentrating disorder. If you're already sure you need it, ask a friend with an attention span long enough to dial the numbers 1-800-788-6786 and order one up.

ArtsHole

CLIMATE CONTROL: Based on her observation that the weather is an obsessive topic of conversation in Quebec, Julie Andrée T.'s installation Weather Report is an assortment of low-tech devices that produce different climates, factoring in temperature, humidity, sound and sight - and you get to interact with it too. The show runs at Skol (372 Ste-Catherine W., #372) from April 15–May 14. • GOOD VIBES: An eccentric and a dreamer, Nikola Tesla pioneered many concepts relating to the impact of vibrating energies on people and the environment. They're drawn on and celebrated by curators Nina Czegledy and Louise Provencher in Resonance. The Electromagnetic Bodies Project, a multimedia exhibition featuring work from several artists that both complements and contradicts Tesla's ideas. It's at Occurrence (460 Ste-Catherine W., #307) from April 16–May 14.

ARTISTAT: Number of ordained poets who will be taking confessions and dishing out repentance advice through a hose at Yalla zine's Last Train 3-Legged Sofa Social, which also features yellings, readings, live music and cheap food & drinks, Saturday, April 16, 8 p.m., at Toc Toc (6091 Parc): 4

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