About two years ago, armed with a camera and a single question, Guillaume Simoneau and Caroline Annandale set out on an international quest. The query, which they asked hundreds of people across North America, in India, Nepal, Germany and a sprinkling of other stops, was: “What do you hope for?”

“We got a lot of different answers, many religious,” Simoneau says about the aptly titled exhibition, Hope, which opens this Wednesday, Nov. 27. Their travelogue takes shape in some 40 photos of respondents with accompanying text in what Simoneau calls “an essay,” noting that they weren’t looking for some grandiose summation of the state of humanity.

The pair interviewed people from all walks of life, making some interesting stops along the way: a heavily restricted mental hospital in Montana (Annandale’s mother works there) and a Nepalese jail among them. “People in the prison were so neat,” explains Simoneau. “Nobody said, ‘I want to be out of here soon.’ It was all stuff about saving Tibet, or wanting to see their mother before she dies.”

I asked Simoneau what he hopes for, “That people’s level of consciousness keeps growing,” he answered after a long pause, still searching too after a long trip. Hope runs until Dec. 8 at Galérie TM (460 Ste-Catherine W., #300) : » Matthew Woodley

Good things happen in twos, and this week in the world of dance, a couple of shows kick off with the spotlight on pairs.

At Theâtre La Chapelle (3700 St-Dominique), choreographer Louise Bédard teams up with Sophie Corriveau in her most recent creation, Elles, running until Nov. 30. The duet, filled with female energy, was inspired by the work of Italian photographer Tina Modotti, known for her ’20s-era Mexican photographs. Bédard started work on the project in Mexico in 1998 and Elles is the final result. Call 843-7738 to reserve your very own pair of tickets.

The other on-stage twosome runs at l’Agora de la danse (840 Cherrier) until Nov. 23. Four choreographers from Quebec and France were asked to create a duo for a man and woman in Puzzle danse. They came up with mostly darker themes, ranging from the different kinds of loss experienced in the break-up of a couple to a battle between two people. For info, call 525-1500. : » Marites Carino

Transplanted Swiss photographer Thomas Kneubühler looks deep into conduit culture in his show Zones. Through a digital camera—chosen for convenience and capability to shoot in a narrow space, he asserts—Kneubühler captures the “highly artificial territory” of airport land, intrigued by the “non-place between different time zones and nations.”

Kneubühler began taking photos during flights in 2000 and has continued through the changes brought on by 9/11. “When I leave the airport after a flight, I always feel that I’m not there yet—I feel displaced but as if I haven’t truly arrived.” At Observatoire 4 (372 Ste-Catherine W., #426) until Dec. 14. : » Matthew Woodley

This Sunday’s gala edition of Words and Music at the Casa serves as the official launch of the latest book by 2001 Best of Montreal wunderkind Corey Frost. Featuring cover art by talented comic artiste Marc Bell (of Theatre Absurdo fame), My Own Devices is a series of typically postmodern, subtly absurd and yet deeply serious not-quite-travel stories. Frost’s fictional character, “Corey Frost,” struggles with devices (literary and otherwise) in exotic locales like New York City, Macau, Montreal and (simultaneously!) Japan and Sumatra. According to Frost, “You can take this book with you when you go on a train or a bus or an airplane and it will keep you entertained. I should warn you though, it’s not all fun and games, although only a couple of people actually die.”

There’s more! Vancouver-based performance poet Hilary Peach, author of 2000’s In the Land of the Naked Heart, brings her dynamic marriage of language poetry and physical theatre to the stage. Mia Brooks performs from her forthcoming CD, Throw the Captain Overboard; the fast-rising “English professor rock” band Puggy Hammer interprets David McGimpsey’s pop culture-inflected poetry (plus the theme from Maude); Norm Dionne provides a downbeat set of folk; and the ever-elusive Jake Brown, widely reported to have blown town in September, resurrects himself (not unlike the Montreal spoken word scene itself, time and again) as “Lazarus” in this, the guaranteed, really last performance before he leaves Montreal forever. Nov. 24, 8:30 p.m., at La Sala Rossa, (4848 St-Laurent), $5, $15 with book. : » Vincent Tinguely

Full disclosure: New on the board game block, Top Secret is an ice-breaker of an activity, one that delves into players’ personal lives by encouraging them to let loose their hidden side. The game was created by Montrealer Daniel Jasmin and uses cards with statements ranging from the somewhat scandalous to the Catholic schoolgirlesque. Before, only booze would bring one to such base confessions as, “I hate pyjamas; I prefer to sleep naked,” or “Sometimes I have the feeling that my heart is going to stop beating, and I find this very frightening.” It’s the perfect prelude to a round of spin the bottle, and available at various hobby shops and bookstores for $21.99, 382-0133 for details. :

Female feature: The fifth edition of Le mois de la performance kicks off this weekend. Hosted by La Centrale (Galerie Powerhouse), the month-long event has visual art, installations and performance from a handful of women, see www.lacentrale.org for schedule. • Charity circus: Grand prix Lux prizewinning photographer Martin Beaulieu has a dozen pictures on display highlighting the international benevolence of the Cardinal Léger organization. Little Flower: or The Triumph of Human Dignity is on display in the corridor of Place des Arts until Dec. 2, free. :

Artistat: Number of countries represented in CINARS (International Exchange for the Performing Arts), featuring dance, music, theatre and more, at venues around town until Nov. 23 (www.cinars.org for info): 45 :

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