Circus of spontaneity

Action abounds this weekend in the Old Port’s King Edward Quay. “Instrument machines” will dance to their own music, the students of the Lyrical Atelier of the Opera house of Montreal will sing works on voyaging, French electro musician Hector Zazou will score Nanook of the North and a puppet show about the sea will play out over banjo melodies. These are just a few of the performances that make up Escales Improbables.

“We want people to be surprised and take a break from the flow of routine,” says coordinator Delphine Bally. Going with that, there will be no scheduling—acts can burst into action at any time from noon–7 p.m., anywhere in the Science Centre, which has been refashioned for the occasion by Montreal scenographer Jean Bard. And if the 40 artists from around the world, working in music, theatre, dance, film and every other imaginable medium, are just too overwhelming, rest assured, there is an onsite “musical napping room.” The event runs from Sept. 24–25, $15 per day, free for kids under 14. » Chloé Roubert

Fall dance finds

It’s not as grandiose as Montreal’s now defunct Festival International de Nouvelle Danse, but the autumnal, contemporary dance happening Transatlantique Montréal 2005 is still on the scene. With the fest now entering its third edition, artistic director Rafik Sabbagh is gunning to bring dance to new spaces outside of the downtown core. As a result, you’ll find most of the action taking place in the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve ’hood.

Until Saturday, dance permeates the east end with shows by choreographers from New York, Barcelona and Paris. As for home-grown talent, look out for creative duo Suzanne Miller and Allan Paivio and a special showing called New Faces, which features locally based movement creators such as Frédérick Gravel, Quevynn C. Gueule, Jean-Sébastien Lourdais, Estelle Lavoie, Karine Hamel, and Julie de Lorimier.

For the Sept. 24 closing, Spanish choreographer Sol Picó confronts fear and danger in Bésame el Cactus at the Collège de Maisonneuve (2700 Bourbonnière). Visit www.transatlantiquemontreal.com for details, or call 872-2200. » Marites Carino

Nocturnal edition

Over the next three nights, stop by and see Champ Libre’s free City of the Invisible in the garden of the Bibliothèque National (Ontario and Berri). There, you’ll encounter a luminous installation by Montreal architectural firm In Situ and 15 international art videos that reflect upon art and architecture. The videos range in length from two to 31 minutes and will be projected directly onto the building’s glass façade. Highlights include Thomas Köner’s award-winning Banlieue du Vide, Julio Soto’s Invisible City, Gordon Matta Clark’s City Slivers and François Girard’s Le jardin des ombres, about Quebecois architect Ernest Cormier. For more info, visit www.champlibre.com. » Christine Redfern

Activist flick fun

One of the more interesting of this city’s approximately two billion film collectives goes by the handle of Volatile Works, and after this Saturday, Sept. 24, the entire world is going to know it. Okay, maybe not the entire world, but for sure all of their friends will—or at least those who haven’t already been exposed to Allan Brown’s award-winning short “Donkey Harvest,” or novice director Chris MacKinnon’s weird and wonderful “Out On Yer Birthday,” a touching yet unwittingly outrageous account of a young Maritime homo’s experience coming out to his alkie mother.

Starring almost-too-good-to-be-true neophyte actress Holly Hislop, you’ll just have to trust me when I say Mackinnon’s near child-like vision is a very unique beast indeed. “Volatile Works might be a little different than many film collectives,” says spokesperson/filmmaker Tamara Vukov. “Sure, we do activist-y stuff, but at the same time we don’t always take ourselves so seriously—our films are fun too, you know.” Volatile Shorts screens this Saturday, Sept. 24, 8 p.m., at Café Toc Toc (6091 Parc), suggested donation $5. For more info, go to www.volatileworks.org. » Chris Barry

Is it Art?

URBAN ELEPHANTS: Is it outsider art? A comment on pet abandonment? A nod to the Hindu god Ganesha? Mmm, maybe not. But whatever their purpose or message, wee elephants have begun popping up around the Plateau and Mile End. The crude but charming creations, about the size of a small dog, are made with silver duct tape and copper piping and chained to lampposts. A couple have been spotted on St-Laurent and one (pictured above) on Duluth E. over the past week and a half, though the latter elephant has since been stomped and decapitated. Maybe one day the anonymous craftsman will come forward to claim his fame. Maybe he’ll wish really hard and all the elephants will come to life. Mmm, maybe not.

ArtsHole

BREAK-UPS AND OUTER SPACE: Martin Beauregard symbolizes the pain of breaking up through a performance in which he prepares for an outer space sporting stunt in “Bunny in Space,” and appears as a video game character who lives only as long as a brief bicycle ride in “Game Over.” His absurdity-of-life metaphors are part of the online programming at Skol (372 Ste-Catherine W.), and can be seen at www.skol.qc.ca/martin_beauregard.htm until next June. Meanwhile, at the gallery, Catherine Bodmer’s large-scale photos can be seen in her Lacs exhibition, coinciding with Le Mois de la Photo, and continuing until Oct. 1. • AH, LA FRANCE: Drink a glass of wine, read a poem and head out to the MMFA’s new show Landscape in Provence: From Classicism to Modernism (1750–1920), opening today, Sept. 22 and running through Jan. 8, 2006.

ARTISTAT: Number of symbolic tickets slipped under the windshields of gas-guzzling SUVs, parked running vehicles and remotely started cars across Montreal since Aug. 15 as part of the Action Terroriste Socialement Acceptable’s Attentat #10 intervention: 10,000

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