Forget the gas-masked, aerosol-armed icon of hip hop art, there’ll be none of that in this show - should its title mislead you. "This is more of a conceptual approach," explains Franklin Sirmans. The prominent New York art writer and curator is in town for the opening of Mass Appeal: The Art Object and Hip Hop Culture, showing at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance, #103) until April 12.

Sirmans has rounded up 12, mostly emerging, artists from four continents to comment in some fashion on the all-pervasive culture that is hip hop. "My interests lie in a certain nostalgia," he says, alluding to the early ’80s formative years when street art made its way into the gallery space. "But the street is less my concern. I’m more against the overt consumption and commercialization. You know, why are we so impressed by big hoop earrings and cars?"

A few concepts to sample: Edgar Arceneaux mixes emcee word play with marketing imagery, Iona Brown’s blackfaced geishas mark hip hop’s global mass appeal, Louis Gispert’s cheerleader images satirize over-the-top hip hop style.

Just as academe got bashed for appropriating jazz, this show will face criticism for its heady approach. But, as Sirmans puts it, "These artists are on the cutting edge of trends. I’m just against the new bling bling." : » Matthew Woodley

Reality shows on TV, and now reality art in the museum. Gillian Wearing, the 1997 Turner Prize-winning British artist, says she’s "always trying to find ways of discovering new things about people." A video and photo compilation of her non-fiction findings, Mass Observation, is on display at the Musée d’art contemporain until April 20.

But in her video "Broad Street," Wearing films people doing not-so-new things like going out with high expectations for an evening of clubbing and ending up too drunk and disillusioned. Or in "Drunk," her video "collaboration" with homeless alcoholics, the only new things I saw were the nice white walls of her studio where she shot it all.

On the bright side, there are some humorous remarks in the photographic series "Signs that say what you want them to say and not Signs that say what someone else wants you to say," in which Wearing photographed strangers holding a piece of paper on which they wrote whatever was on their mind. Unfortunately, this was the only light moment in an otherwise disappointing show. Looks like the heady days of young British art are suffering a hangover. : » Christine Redfern

March 8 is International Women’s Day and they’ll be marking the occasion at Tangente (840 Cherrier). Every year the dance space puts women in the spotlight in an event called SaGeste, which features solos created and performed exclusively by female choreographers.

This year, local choreographer Chantal Lamirande presents «sens(…)», a captivating work with the voice and heavy breathing playing prominent parts. If you missed Nathalie Blanchet’s curiously titled work, Je veux tout faire ou le poids des choses, when it first made its appearance at Tangente, you’ve got a second chance this weekend. And Italian Rebecca Murgi sings and dances in her solo piece, Io sono shake. SaGeste runs from March 6–8, 525-1500 to reserve. : » Marites Carino

Do channel changers, electric coffee pots and your trusty computer represent your main interaction with machines? Are you frequenting the same establishments week after week for entertainment and libations? Break these habits for the next four Fridays as Interstices presents a more aesthetic and poetic relationship with technology during happy hour in 4 x 5 à 7 at DARE-DARE (460 Ste-Catherine W, #505).

Each week from 5–7 p.m., different artists will be on hand with their experimental prototypes of audio and visual installations that can only be complete with help from your body. All the work plays with interactivity between the spectator and the machine - some react to how much you sweat, others to your movement, gestures or position in space. Test works-in-progress by Lynn Hughes & Simon Laroche (until March 8), Adad Hannah & Manon de Pauw (March 12–15), beewoo (March 19–22) and Alexandre Castonguay & Mathieu Bouchard (March 21). Info: www.interstices.ca or 878-1088. : » Christine Redfern

Every dog deserves its day: British freelance writer and designer Jerome Turner has a hobby on the side: he collects pictures of dogs in cars. Most aren’t particularly arty photos or special cars or anything; they’re, well, dogs in cars. Turner started out by snapping the shots himself and now invites others who share his rabidity for confined canines to send in their own captures, the accumulated 99 of which are posted on his Web site, http://mysite.freeserve.com/jezturner/dogsincars.

"Maybe it’s time somebody took five minutes to explain it to them before they’re bundled into the boot of a Land Rover like a Mafia hit," he writes. "Who knows, if we’re not careful and they spend too much time in their metal prisons, they might just learn to drive." : » Matthew Woodley

Minorities visible: The NFB invites emerging minority filmmakers to enter their Reel Diversity Competition, in which five winners will each receive a $200,000 grant to make a 40-minute documentary. The application deadline is April 4, www.nfb.ca/reeldiversity, or 1-800-267-7710 for more info. • Not guilty: The wordsters who bring you Extreme Innocence are back for another round this Sunday, March 9, 8 p.m., at the Comedy Zone (1740 René-Lévesque W.), $10. :

Artistat: Number of projects (visual arts, theatre, dance, music, film, multimedia, electroacoustics and more) in Concordia’s third annual Art Matters festival, showcasing up-and-comers en masse at venues around town (http://artmatters.concordia.ca for schedule): 61 :

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