Take me to Haida Gwaii

There is no word for art in the Haida language, yet art surrounded the Haida people and was as elemental as air in their everyday existence. The current exhibition Haida Art: Mapping an Ancient Language at the McCord Museum is a real gem that should not be missed. A small show, it has the ability to transport you to another time and place through its visually rich language, where bears, beavers, frogs, ravens and people cavort.

The materials are varied and include many kinds of wood, abalone shell, painted basketry, sheep horns and stone. The results are a magical array of bowls, fishhooks, masks, spoons, rattles and chests. Stare in wonder at a whistle made from a seal bladder or a blue mask that symbolizes the changed colour of someone who narrowly missed drowning in cold water.

Guest curator and Haida artist Robert Davidson selected the 18th- and 19th-century pieces from the McCord’s collection. See it in conjunction with his exhibition, Robert Davidson: The Abstract Edge, which opens next week alongside a free symposium on Aboriginal contemporary art (Friday, May 26 from 12:30–4:30 p.m.). Info: 398-7100. —Christine Redfern

Dancing about press clippings

For the past 20 years, Micha Purucker has been clipping photos of people from daily newspapers without exactly knowing why. Having amassed over 4,000 shots by now, he’s finally found a use for them. The German choreographer selected 80 images to use as starting points for movement phrases for his new piece for eight dancers, XXL-re.enactment.

Media images—such as handshakes between world leaders, and people raising their hands to the sky after a catastrophe—are all “part of the global image pool,” says Purucker. In this work, he explains, he employs these captured moments “like Polaroids, where they come in and then disappear.”

Purucker, who started off studying art history, changed gears at 29, switching to the medium of dance The choreographer is particularly interested in non-verbal communication, and is known for bringing body-referred interests and dance themes into his productions. His piece runs until this Saturday, May 20, at 8 p.m. nightly at L’Agora de la Danse (840 Cherrier), $18–$25, 525-1500. —Marites Carino

Anarchy assault

It’s spring, when young people’s fancies naturally turn to... anarchy! At Montreal’s seventh annual Anarchist Book Fair, rad locals mingle with publishers from France, Germany and left-leaning Amerika. “We have really interesting people coming from out of town, like AK Press author Dan Berger, who wrote a book about the Weather Underground,” says bookfair collective member Benoit.

Related Anarchist Festival events include a talk by 86-year-old Spanish Civil War vet George Sossenko (May 18) and If I can’t dance... an anarchist cabaret featuring the crafted words of Paula & Ali, a scene from Red Emma, B.C. folk singer Joey Only, and Jeunesse Apatride (May 19), book fair (May 20) and workshops (May 21). For the full schedule, check out http://salonanarchiste.taktic.org. —Vincent Tinguely

Que bellissimo!

Put on some fine leather shoes, hop on a Vespa and head over to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for Il Modo Italiano: Italian Design and Avant-garde in the 20th Century. This big summer extravaganza contains 380 works that touch on the philosophical, economic and aesthetic discourses that have shaped Italian art and design from 1890 onwards. The exhibition showcases a wide variety of goods: ranging from artworks to household items to transportation. Some highlights are Renato Bertelli’s sculpture Head of Mussolini: Continuous Profile (1933), the miniature Full Aerodynamics of an Alfa Romeo (1913) and fantastical furniture like the Dondolo Rocking Chair (1969), I Feltri Armchair (1986), or the Org Table (2001). For a giggle, don’t miss the calculator that is bigger than today’s laptop computers, hidden amongst the Jetson-like televisions, typewriters and radios from the 1950s. The exhibition runs until Aug. 27. —Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

BABY GOT BACK: Krandel Lee Newton is in town and he wants a piece of your ass. The Dallas-based artist is the creator of The Original Butt Sketch®, a posterior-centric charcoal portrait he’s fine-tuned into a swift 2.5-minute execution—and done more than 200,000 times since his original brainstorm in 1985 when he traded in his mechanical engineering job for the artist’s life. Good move—according to the Wall Street Journal, Newton makes six figures per year reproducing rumps at conventions around the world, drawing the curves of such noted celebs as Jamie Foxx, Pat Sajak and Vanna White along the way. He’ll be at the Palais des Congrès, booth 101, for the Global Interactive Gaming Summit and Exhibition today, May 18, until 5 p.m.

ArtsHole

CARLITO’S WAY: After appearances at international contemporary art fairs in Shanghai and Strasbourg, as well as the opening performance of KA with the Cirque du Soleil in Vegas, Carlito Dalceggio brings his mystical world back to Montreal. His large-format paintings, inspired by films La corrida humaine and Le retour à l’origine, as well as an interactive installation, “Science et Intuition,” open today, May 18, 5:30 p.m. at Galerie SAS (372 Ste-Catherine W., #416), and remain there until Aug. 23. Hotel Gault (449 St-Hélène) also presents more of Dalciggio’s works, inspired by prominent scenes in art history until Aug. 23. • NERUDA FLEES: The Collectif Tel Quel recreates Chilean poet Pablo Neruda’s journey towards exile through an animated reading of his “El Fugitivo” in Fuite, a blend of theatre and performance art running May 18–20 and 26–27 at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance), $7–$15, 982-3386, www.m-a-i.qc.ca.

ARTISTAT: Number of Caribbean islands showcasing over 70 delicious dishes from 15 top Caribo-Montrealer chefs at A Taste of the Caribbean, this Sunday, May 21, 12:30–8 p.m., at Ville St-Laurent’s Centre de Loisirs (1375 Grenet): 17

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