Art with antlers

My favourite Quebec artists are finally back in Montreal with a solo exhibition of art offerings at Art Mûr (5826 St-Hubert). Make it to their opening tonight, Jan. 12, between 5–8 p.m. and you will not be disappointed. The BGL trio (Jasmin Bilodeau, Sébastien Giguère and Nicolas Laverdière) are known for their thought-provoking and very humorous works. Interestingly, they describe their installations as “plays, in which the audience sees itself within the story rather than as spectators on the outside looking in.” You may remember BGL from their installation In the Shelter of the Trees four years ago at the Musée d’art contemporain. In that show, the spectator entered the work through the closet of a sterile office, which then led the viewer into an imaginary labyrinthine world constructed from hundreds of cardboard boxes. I popped by Art Mûr while they were setting up this new exhibition. With a real (though dead) moose set up like a turnstile, I can guarantee you have never entered an exhibition the way you’re forced to enter this one. Don’t miss it—this is work that needs to be experienced. Exhibition runs until Feb. 18, info: 933-0711. — Christine Redfern

TV treasure trove

Not only does MuchMusic/MusiquePlus/CityTV/Bravo founder Moses Znaimer own a lot of TV stations, he also owns a lot of TVs. In 2004, the Montreal native-turned Toronto media mogul donated 94 sets to the Cinémathèque québécoise—this week, an exhibition of over 30 opened on the first floor of their building (335 de Maisonneuve E.), where it will stay for the next three years.

Though they’re no strangers to attention to begin with, Do Not Adjust Your Set! finally recognizes TVs for their bodies and not just what’s inside. The show features sets from the ’20s to the ’80s, skipping over generic black boxes to showcase sets that shone for their decorative qualities and often boasted bonus features. The 1957 Kuba Komet, for example, has a black-and-white TV, four-speed phonograph, a radio and eight built-in hi-fi speakers—and looks cool. Why what else, besides a bag of chips, and perhaps a beer, could the heart desire? — Matthew Woodley

Cross-continental poetics

The wild and woolly Canadian experimental poetry scene is on a cross-continental tear, flogging Shift & Switch, a brand new anthology featuring everything a neo-dadaist could ever dream of. While it favours a good chunk of wordplay from the western provinces, the collection corrals avant-garde poets from across the land. In describing the anthology’s contents, co-editor Angela Rawlings says, “There is some surrealist work included, working in an experimental ‘tradition.’ Also, constraint-based work, aleatory or random writing practices, visual poetry, sound poetry, found poetry, digital poetics...” The 10-city tour stops at Café Esperanza (5490 St-Laurent) this Saturday, Jan. 14, at 8 p.m., with readings by Rawlings herself, Jon Paul Fiorentino, Matthew Hollett, Max Middle, Rob Read and Mark Truscott, free. — Vincent  Tinguely

His own private 9/11

“I woke up to the sound of a plane hitting a building...” In September 2001, Andrew Farrar was living with three other people in a tiny apartment in SoHo. “When we looked out,” says the Montreal-born actor-playwright, “two buildings framed a portrait of the World Trade Center. That’s how close we were.”

Back in Montreal with his company, Untimely Ripped Entertainment, Farrar is producing Tecumseh as a Doorstop, a play that takes place over several hours of that fateful day. “To me,” the question was, okay this horrible thing happened: what are we going to do so that things get better instead of worse?” says the author of Fringe and Off-Broadway hit Killing Jar Jar. “Unfortunately, I would say that things have gotten worse.”

The play, featuring four actors in a claustrophobic space, he describes as “dark, but funny.” It runs Jan. 18–Feb. 5 at Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine W.), $10–$12, 908-9090, for tix and showtimes. — Amy Barratt

Is it Art?

SHE SMELLED SWEETLY: Pretty much everyone knows the Rolling Stones played the Bell Centre on Jan. 10. Many are also aware that an exhibition of recent paintings by their bassist, the venerable Ronnie Wood, kicked off that same day, and runs till Jan. 15 at the Musée Juste Pour Rire (2111 St-Laurent). Lower down on the Stones press pecking order, though, is that said bassist’s wife, Jo Wood, was in town with the band earlier this week to promote her new luxury organic skincare line, Jo Wood Organics. Well you missed her this time, but her reputable products are available in finer cosmetics sections, and through her Web site, www.jowoodorganics.com.

ArtsHole

AY, ROBOTS: Oboro (4001 Berri) welcomes a few robots to its space this week, when Nicholas Stedman’s Machines for Social Circumstances exhibition kicks off on Jan. 14. The show includes a robotic blanket that interacts with the audience, a series of three-legged machines roaming the gallery, as well as technical drawings and prototypes of works not yet actualized. It runs through Feb. 18. • NOMADS CHEZ NOUS: Opposing the notion that Quebec’s francophone artists are “essentially a deeply rooted community that turns its back on the rest of the continent so as to preserve its culture,” the U of M explores nomadism in Quebec art, largely through the university’s rare books collection. Du Quêteux au Migrant is at the Centre d’Exposition (2940 Côte-Ste-Catherine) until Feb. 19.

ARTISTAT: Number of actresses taking the stage in Louise Dupré’s Tout Comme Elle, a probe into mother-daughter relationships, directed by Brigitte Haentjens, at Usine C (1345 Lalonde) from Jan. 17–28: 50

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