Creature discomforts

THE FUTURE WILL BE TECHNOLOGIZED: Modern Animalia

That we’ve gotten ourselves rather into a pickle with our carbon-spewing, ocean-pillaging, clear-cutting, gene-modifying habits leaves no doubt. The big question mark is the future, something an international team of visionary artists have teamed up to explore under a project tagged Modern Animalia. The show is a Darwinist zoo of the future, a world now hundreds of years away populated by the offspring of an ecosystem gone awry.

“It’s a coming together of our collective concern,” explains participating artist Oily Chi, concepteur of a creature he calls Mister Jiggly. “Jiggly is a research into transparency and electricity—maybe man, animal and plant life brought into one creature. I haven’t thought about scale much, like if he’s more of a pet size or big enough to eat people. Hopefully not.”

The exhibition, which also includes art from Coco Khan, Eric Heroux, Aya Kakeda, Jon Burgerman, Toly Kouroumalis, Tyson Bodnarchuck and more, opens at Headquarters Gallery & Boutique (1649 Amherst) this Saturday, April 7, 6–11 p.m., and continues until the 30th

by MATTHEW WOODLEY

Drunkards in the
dance house

ON THE BOTTLE: Because We Can

Because We Can “is a piece about drinking,” says choreographer Sasha Kleinplatz. “It’s not a work that’s passing judgement on drinking. But we’re trying to explore the physicality of what it’s like to be drunk.”

After “extensive background research,” Kleinplatz and co-creator Andrew Tay came up with a physical vocabulary that includes off-centre, leaning, tilting and falling movements for three dancers, surrounded in a set of 61 empty wine bottles. (They seem to have a thing for glass receptacles: Four years ago, the pair created a piece around the game spin the bottle.)

“You’re less guarded when you’re drunk, and for us, it was a good approach because with contemporary dance we can be really self-conscious,” Kleinplatz continues, “but this is a good way to break that.”

The duo is the opening act in an intimate Split Stage evening at Tangente (840 Cherrier). Following them is choreographer Katie Ward’s Hawks and Doves, a creation that examines power dynamics and conflict through the antics of a fictional rock group. Catch it until April 8, $16, (514) 525-1500.

by MARITES CARINO

Lookin’ wood

With Oeuvres Portables, local artist Guillaume Lachapelle makes ready-to-wear wood sculptures that you can try on yourself as part of his current exhibition at Art Mûr (5826 St-Hubert).

Using recycled pieces of wood, Lachapelle combines different elements and details in a manner that makes us feel as though each wooden creation is an antique, designed for a very specific function. Is it a tool? A musical instrument? A container? It’s only upon closer inspection that the folly and humour inherent in each work becomes apparent. Whether worn like a knapsack, slung on your shoulder, clipped to your belt or swinging like a purse, what these sculptures are really good at is starting a conversation. Foolish and fashionable, yet comfortable to wear, they’ll attract more attention hanging from your body than any rag from Holt Renfrew ever would. Prêt-à-porter runs to April 21, info: (514) 933-0711.

by CHRISTINE REDFERN

Footwork fusion

In searching for a title for an evening of dance, choreographer Reena Almoneda Chang came across the Sanskrit word that stuck, “antachara,” which means “walking about the frontiers.”

“Although the definition is more geographical, I found it very appropriate in terms of the approach we are taking collectively towards our different dance styles,” she explains. The program unites a collection of short solos, duos and a trio that represents the diverse forms of Asian and Afro-Asian aesthetics by Chang and her collaborators Manijeh Ali and Ulka Simone Mohanty, who come from backgrounds in classical Indian dance.

“There’s a strong interest in the traditional and experimenting with the contemporary sensibility,” says Chang, who describes her work as fusion-based Afro-contemporary. “In a nutshell, that’s what brings us together.” Antachara plays until April 7, 8 p.m. nightly at the Centre Culturel Calixa-Lavallée (3819 Calixa-Lavallée), $15, (514) 883-4358.

by MARITES CARINO

Is it art?

CHEW ON THIS: Commuter or not, you’d be well advised to duck down into the Berri-UQÀM metro station today, Thursday, April 5, to witness the sticky situation Montreal artist Dan Buller has concocted over the past three days. As of press time, exactly 41,184 pieces of gum are destined for high-arthood on the Angrignon platform in an original 20-by-12-foot work of the artist’s creation. The project is sanctioned by www.makeartpop.ca, which, a quick visit will reveal, is a Mentos gum campaign that has one artist in Vancouver and one in Toronto also popping a public stunt. Make of that what you will, but do keep in mind that Buller, aka DSTRBO, a member of the Heavyweight Collective, has left this burg with a lot of nice things to look at.

Arts hole

CRACKING CODE: Hogtown-based choreography darling Christopher House brings his Toronto Dance Theatre to town this weekend to perform their newest oeuvre, Timecode Break. The piece puts six men and six women interpreters against a giant screen, playing with notions of time, virtual reality and our relationship with images. It’s at the Centre Pierre-Péladeau from April 12–14, 8 p.m., $35, (514) 987-6919. • THEY ARE THE CHAMPIONS: Set to music by artists from Mozart to U2 to Queen, the 36-dancer-strong Béjart Ballet Lausanne’s show, L’amour-La danse, kicks off its North American tour April 14–15, 8 p.m., at Place des Arts.

Artistat

Number of independent architectural magazines from the ’60s and ’70s, characterized by their radical (for the time) use of graphics and images and cutting-edge critical content, on display in the CCA’s Clip/Stamp/Fold, running until Sept. 9: 70