Frosty artistry

>> Karaoke installations, foam furniture and other unusual pleasures await you

by GENEVIEVE PAIEMENT

From outdoor light sculptures to all-puppet chorus lines, this season is, without a doubt, chock-full of weird and wonderful artistic delights. First in line, with a vernissage tonight (Jan. 17, 6–8 p.m. with DJ Keisuke), is the Saidye Bronfman Centre’s Big in Japan: Gigajapon, a show featuring six young, contemporary Japanese artists. The exhibit probes Japan’s obsession with “childhood, excess and consumption,” according to curator Catherine Osborne. Treats to take in include Risa Sato’s tricycles with “sperm-like heads,” Takahiro Fujiwara’s giant jelly beans you can climb into, Hiroyuki Matsukage’s super-karaoke installation, and Tsuyoshi Ozawa’s portable, back-pack gallery. Until March 10, with a karaoke party Jan. 19, 8 p.m.–midnight.

In the big guns department, the Museum of Fine Art is hosting Herbert List, Romantic Wanderer, Jan. 23–April 28. The travelling retrospective traces this German photographic master’s career from classical ruins and portraits of gorgeous young men to photojournalism and shots of post-war Munich. Also, on a specifically wintry note, the MMFA and the Montreal High Lights Festival are presenting five light installations by international artists on the festival’s exterior site (around Place des Arts). Next door at the Musée d’art contemporain, Feb. 27–April 21, three homegrown painters (Lise Boisseau, Michel Daigneault and David Urban) share the spotlight in a show dedicated to contemporary painting.

Over at Oboro, that ever-quirky and innovative space, there are two multi-faceted installations to mull over till springtime. Dana Claxton’s Waterspeak (until Feb. 9) addresses environmental degradation using interviews and footage of waterfalls and rapids with a soundtrack of throatsinging, water sounds and a composition by Russell Wallace. Then comes One Gargantuan Optimistic Metaphor by Naomi London (Feb. 23–March 23). It’s a meditation on hope involving colourful upholstered foam forms upon which gallery-goers can fling themselves.

Animal instincts

For exhibits that combine social relevance, history and art, one need look no further than the Écomusée du fier monde. On Jan. 23, The Mechanical Garden: Barcelona, Montreal, an exhibit that compares the industrial neighbourhoods of Sants and Centre-Sud, opens at the museum and runs through Oct. 13.

Then of course there are the usual contemporary art suspects, with equally engaging fare on display. Like Espace Vidéographe, who show Chantal Gervais’ video installation Corps exilé, which explores the media’s objectification of the human body, Jan 19–Feb. 16. Or Skol, where Sonia Robertson’s meditation on animal spirits, Dialogue entre elle et moi à propos de l’esprit des animaux, and Francine Lalonde’s digitally-manipulated drawings, Inversions, Intromissions, Interférences are up until Feb. 9. Also at Skol, keep an eye out for Cartoon Logic’s bizarre Interior Night: Zip Pan to Jojo’s Boudoir and Gwenaël Bélanger’s take on ads in the metro, Cible de choix and Questions de goût (both Feb. 16–March 16).
And let’s not forget those naturally creative creatures, this city’s kiddies: Artapalooza is a performing arts festival especially for them. Featuring high-quality performing arts in the form of music, theatre and puppetry from as far away as Scotland, the fest runs Jan. 24–Feb. 10 at the Saidye Bronfman Centre.

More on the kids-of-all-ages tip, the Puppet Project people are presenting The Memory Tree, Feb. 6–9 and 13–16 at McGill’s Tuesday Night Café Theatre. Visually stunning handmade creatures, each a work of art in themselves, sing, dance and perform a surreal and heartwarming tale of adventure—not to be missed! :