Local disturbances

Good or bad, the weather (like art) is a great catalyst for conversation. Vancouver curator Cate Rimmer presents The Weather, an exhibition of climate-reflecting work by nine artists at the Saidye (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine).

Your opinion on weather-inspired art, like the weather itself, has a lot to do with where you're from though. Belgian Edith Dekyndt's exploding bottle might seem pretty unique from a European perspective, but not so much in Quebec, where we regularly see the effects of freezing liquid expanding - and often with much more dire and exciting results. Contrarily, on these dark days of winter her work "Public Sun", made of UV phosphorescent tubes, had an irresistible allure that it wouldn't have had in the other nine months of the year. I found the beautifully shot scenes and sounds of David Crompton and Andrew Herfst's "Fieldwork" riveting, rendering the included voiceovers of weather memories unnecessary. And trust Antonia Hirsch to give you a new twist on the everyday in "A Science of Language and Humidity", where she records the humidity expelled when we speak. Get in out of the cold until March 7, 739-2301. » Christine Redfern

Cutting cold cruelty

Nothing says cozy like two eyes peering through the tunnel of a faux-fur-trimmed hood on one of those parkas that everybody's wearing these days. What animal rights org Global Action Network wants people to know, though, is that many of those trims actually come from animals - whether the label says so or not. "The majority of them are real fur or have real fur blended in," explains GAN spokesperson Zipporah Weisberg. "Also, many people think that fur trim is made from leftovers, but 90 per cent of farmed foxes are killed for trim alone, and one animal dies for every piece of it."

To raise awareness of the ugly ways in which animals are trapped and farmed for fashion, GAN and the Fur-Free Alliance are teaming up again in the Design Against Fur Poster Competition. The contest is open to any student enrolled in a recognized design, fashion, art, marketing or advertising course with prizes of $1,000, $500 and $250 for the top three winners, who will automatically be entered into the international competition with a grand prize of 5, 000 euros and a trip to Paris for fashion week. Registration deadline: March 1, www.gan.ca or 939-5525 for more info. » Matthew Woodley

Third eye

This weekend is the last chance to catch Eric Simon's very catchy exhibition Old School/New School. Simon's paintings play on the historical role of portraiture and notions of privacy in the information age. Each series features 16 different points of view on a subject's head, creating a sweeping 3D feel with shades of surveillance camera and of all the institutions that are out to get us, such as banks and the government and maybe your own family. It runs at Galerie McClure (350 Victoria) until Jan. 31. » Matthew Woodley

Wilde scribes

The Lambda Foundation funds gay and lesbian studies scholarship programs in various Canadian universities, and every year it drums up support with the Wilde About Sappho literary tour. This year's stellar lineup includes Montrealer Will Aitken, author of Realia and the forthcoming thriller Glass Rain, which he'll be reading from this Tuesday.

"My agent calls it my Anne Frank and S&M book," Aitken quips. "It's about Anne Frank's influence on a kidnapper, the girl he kidnaps and the cop who tries to solve the case." Aitken is joined by Karen X. Tulchinsky, editor of the Hot and Bothered anthologies, Suki Lee and George Ilsley reading from their first collections, and one of the founders of contemporary gay writing in the States, Joy of Gay Sex editor Felice Picano. Feb. 3 at Dawson College Amphitheatre (3040 Sherbrooke W., Room 4C1), 6 p.m. reception, 7:30 p.m. readings, free (donations welcome). » Vincent Tinguely

Is it Art?

MAN'S BEST FRIEND FINALLY UNDERSTOOD: It's about time someone invented a machine to translate all those things dogs are thinking. Using advanced voiceprint technology, the Bow-Lingual Dog Translator turns regular barks into grammatically correct English sentences. A cordless mic on the canine's collar picks up the sounds, analyzes them and beams the signal to a handheld device that in turn displays one of 200 pre-programmed phrases. The translator also has a special "home alone" mode, which records up to 12 hours of barks and emotions while you're away so you can catch up after work. "We found that the phrases were easy to understand," writes the Oikawa family of Japan. "… The best thing so far has been when the emotion analysis read, 'I don't like that (@#*$!)'" $129.95 (U.S.), www.thedogtranslator.com.

ArtsHole

FRENETIC GENETICS: A part of the annual DNA (Définition non applicable) series, Freestyling sur des formes hip hop et + kicks off tonight featuring edgy urban dance from Sarah Febbraro, K8 Alsterlund, Sophia Gaspard and 4Temps. It's at the MAI (3680 Jeanne-Mance, #103) until Feb. 7, 8 p.m., $7-$14. • TIGHT MOVES: "Choreographer of the stars," Luther Brown, whose "recognizable style is evident in videos such as 'Just a Friend'" and who's worked with Choclair, Maestro and more, gives a three-day hip hop dance workshop, Burn da Floor 2, Feb. 5-6, 5:30-9:30 p.m. and Feb. 7, 2-6 p.m. at PerformArts International (7101 Parc, #409), 270-5585 to register.

ARTISTAT: Number of works in the MMFA's Tanagra: A City in Clay, an exhibition of statuettes, pottery and paintings from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE that were unearthed during the discovery of the city of Tanagra and of its tombs in the 19th century (runs until May 9): about 180

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