Portraits and peculiarity

This photo of heart-melting tenor Luciano Pavarotti is the only non-human figure in Matthew Cope's recent body of work. The man, standing in all his glory in the Venetian Casino in Las Vegas, is part of the renowned collection of Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum.

Cope's eye for the unusual won him the Danny Taran Creative Photography Award this fall, a scholarship and mentorship program for emerging photographers. Though he's been taking pictures for a long time now since I was a kid, Cope mostly makes his living through writing for television.

The other photos, though of real people, are kind of borderline, as he puts it. The dry and funny collection includes a recent shot of Elvis (Cope seems convinced he's the real thing), Elizabeth Taylor, a pair of Mini Mes, and quirky couples form last summer's Divers/Cité parade. The collection is on display at Java U's Westmount spot (4914 Sherbrooke W.) until Dec. 14. » Matthew Woodley

Moving comedy

There's a new dance series in the city called Drôles de danses à Tangente and three female choreographers are in on the joke. The program spotlights contemporary dance pieces with smatterings of humour, irony and a liberal helping of the bizarre.

Choreographer Deborah Dunn is included in the festivities with her contribution, La Remplaçante, a story that she says, "reveals a relationship between a tired dancer on her way out and an young upstart who is taking her place."

Dunn took her inspiration from an Edgar Allan Poe story, William Wilson, ultimately coming up with a dance-theatre duet for herself and Maya Ofstrovsky. "The humour is dark, it's not slapstick," Dunn explains. "It's a very human humour, like laughing at ourselves and laughing to release tension." Also joining in on the fun are choreographers Karine Ledoyen and Lydia Wagerer, who present at Tangente (840 Cherrier) Nov. 6–8 at 8:30 p.m. and Nov. 9 at 4 p.m., 525-1500. » Marites Carino

Choose your own adventure

Conundrum Press launches two tasty pocketbook-size titles this Sunday, Nov. 9. Julia Tausch's Another Book About Another Broken Heart is a fast-paced novel that started its career as a one-woman theatrical monologue on the protagonist's desperate search for some control over her life. Joey Dubuc's Neither Either Nor Or includes kids' book-style illustrations by the author and invites readers to pick their own narrative path from 15 possible endings. "There are no right decisions," Dubuc explains. "They all lead to death or mild forms of failure - for the most part it's all misery, albeit hopefully poetic misery. And funny. I wanted it to be funny!" With music by the Sally Fields, 8 p.m. at Casa del Popolo (4873 St-Laurent), free. » Vincent Tinguely

Let there be light bulbs

Artists and composers of experimental music will be exploring the acoustic and visual potential of 64 1,000-watt light bulbs this month at the Musée d'art contemporain. The Bulbs Project was conceived and produced by Artificiel, a collective made up of Alexandre Burton, Jimmy Lakatos and Julien Roy. Each week the trio is joined by a different pair of local and international invited artists: Maxime Morin and Cristian Vogel (Nov. 9), AElab and Thomas Köner (Nov. 19) and Nancy Tobin and Monolake (Nov. 26).

There is no real stage for this project, rather each performer approaches the installation in their own manner. There's a bulb-free area to view the piece as a whole, and the audience is encouraged to immerse themselves inside the installation by standing or sitting amongst the grid of bulbs. Performances are every Wednesday in November at 9 p.m. The installation can be viewed until Nov. 30, from 2 p.m. on, during regular museum hours. Info: 847-6226. » Christine Redfern

Is it Art?

TICKLE ME TOYLESS: Every Christmas there's a bloody riot over getting kids that certain something that has long gone out of stock because every other kid wants one too. This year's reincarnation of the Beanie Babies or Tickle Me Elmo phenomenon… nothing. Seems the Toyland think-tank has been drawing blanks of late, and you could be the one to fix it. Creative Group Marketing of Stanford, Connecticut, has recently launched Toy Search America 2003, a mass summons for plaything proposals. The licensing/brokerage firm is accepting ideas for new toys, games or baby products until Dec. 31, and is waiving the normal submission fees that toy agents typically charge to review a new concept. Winning products will be featured at toy fairs in NYC next year. Aspiring inventors can call 1-800-678-8972.

ArtsHole

FREEDOM FOCUS: If you've ever come across "Arrêt" signs made into "Art" signs around town, chances are local artist Maclean was behind it. He joins Sara Graham and Otiose in looking at urban freedom in Civic Liberties at Articule (4001 Berri, #105) until Nov. 30. • FLICKS FOR FUN: Glitch Fest, the bilingual showcase of local short videos runs from Nov. 7–8 at the Kola Note (5240 Parc). The event features a slew of anything-goes amateur videos, so quality may vary, but it's all in the name of fun, $7. • PARKINSON'S PITCH-IN: A sale of artwork produced by people with Parkinson's disease and their caregivers takes place from Nov. 6–8 at the Art for Charity Gallery (5690 Rosemount, TMR). Proceeds go to the Parkinson Society.

ARTISTAT: Number of pieces in the Musée d'art de Joliette's (145 Wilfred-Corbeil, Joliette) ever-growing expo of 50 premier female Canadian artists, The School of Women, featuring works from the likes of Emily Carr, Betty Goodwin and Jana Sterbak, continuing until Feb., 2004: 8,000

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