Global visions

One thing that stands out in the developing world photos displayed in the thick of consumer-land on McGill-College is that they're not trying to sell you anything, something Louise Larivière is quite adamant about. "They ask you to think, but don't ask for pity," she says. "We deplore that practice."

Larivière is president of Reporters Communication, the non-profit org behind the downtown Faiseurs de Paix/Protecting Peace exhibition, as well as a similar one at the foot of Atwater on the Lachine Canal and at Galerie BloWup (800 Place Victoria). Documentary shots from six photographers' travels in several different countries where the livin' ain't always so easy capture regular moments in the lives of their people - children in an Afghani school mingling with American soldiers, an African boy with some goats, Bolivianos eating ice cream. "It's the daily routine of people we've forgotten about," says Larivière, who herself spent 12 days last year embedded with Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan.

Reporters Communication was looking to host another show aboard, or at least next to one of Canada's biggest frigates, the HMCS Montreal, when she sails into the Old Port on Sept. 5. Unfortunately, something got frigged up and it won't be taking place. The very engaging photos in the other three spots, though, remain on display until Oct. 9. » Matthew Woodley

24-hour arty people

This weekend, Montreal's newest hipster upstart art collective YPF (Young People's Foundation) put the labour back into Labour Day. From noon on Sept. 5 'til noon Sept. 6, YPF invite the public to Days Are Numbered, an art party/performance at Galerie Accidentelle Lemon Lime (3697 St-Laurent). By creating works on 7-by-7-inch boards every 24 minutes - without a break - for 24 hours, all 14 YPF members aim to challenge their physical and mental limits while at the same time bringing a not-oft-seen transparency to the artistic process. According to YPF member Dessa Harhay, the entertainment industry's current trend toward voyeurism was also an inspiration. "The intent is to invert the private creative act of art-making and turn it into a performative spectacle in the same way the reality television has inverted the private and domestic spheres into mass-media spectacles," she says. YPF's Eric Shinn adds, "It's like a sleepover at a sweatshop."

The creative results of their subsequent mental and physical deterioration will be on display alongside video documentation of the event at the vernissage the following Saturday, Sept. 11, at 7 p.m. » Raf Katigbak

Evil damned

This Friday, Toronto indie scribe Jim Munroe hits town with tour-mates Joe Meno, Todd Dills and Susan Bustos on the latest Perpetual Motion Roadshow tour. In fact, Munroe first conceived of the Roadshow on his last tour with Dills and Meno. "It went smoothly enough that I thought, hey, other people could get good use out of this route too," he explains. He's promoting his latest self-published novel concerning a demonic roommate, An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil, while Punk Planet columnist Joe Meno will read from Hairstyles of the Damned. "Meno performs the work with humour and these unexpected twists of pathos that get me every time," Munroe beams. Munroe presents Time Management for Anarchists Sept. 3, 2 p.m., at the Concordia Co-op Bookstore (1455 de Maisonneuve). The Roadshow hits Pharmacie Esperanza (5490 St-Laurent) same day at 8 p.m., pay what you can. » Vincent Tinguely

Crazy, man, crazy

If it's krazy you're looking for, then it's krazy you'll get at the fifth annual Krazyfest going down next Friday, Sept 10, at La Sala Rossa (4848 St-Laurent). Organized by local film collective Circle K Productions, expect the lunacy to include such notable musical guests as Uncle Daddy, Tabula Rasa, and Bang Bang Lulu, to name just a few. But if that ain't wacky enough for you, well, get this for nuts: those Circle K kooks will not only be screening their very finest cinematic offerings, but actually allowing some of their buds onstage to indulge themselves in a little performance art. Whew, somebody get out the straitjackets!

The Circle K collective, an interesting assortment of creative individuals hailing from the bowels of Verdun, all friends since childhood, say their mandate is "to provide an open, uncensored format with which to promote [them]selves and any other emerging local filmmakers who have something to say - be it social, political, or just plain absurd." An insanely cheap four bucks gets you in. » Chris Barry

Is it Art?

SLEEP TIGHT: Does it seem near impossible to get a decent 40 winks in these freaky times of ours? Well wake up to the Quantum Sleeper (patent pending). Part bed, part survival cocoon, part entertainment complex, the unit offers protection against such threats as bio-chemical attacks, natural disasters and kidnappers in an independently ventilated, bulletproof safe haven, complete with toilet system and back-up battery. While the world goes to shit (or merely while you outwait a pesky kidnapper), you can chill out with the latest releases on an optional built-in DVD player, perhaps with a cold beverage out of the also-optional fridge. Maybe it's a hoax - for now - but the world's full of mad cows and Michael Jackson's been sleeping in a microwave since Thriller, so really, is this so out of the question? www.qsleeper.com for more.

ArtsHole

BINARY MODE: A month-long showcase on digital art research, Art&D features 13 artists from Montreal, the U.S. and Europe, along with a slew of accompanying interviews, at the city's primo digital domain, the SAT (1195 St-Laurent). Multiple entry "passports" are $5 and the exhibition runs until Oct. 2. • SILVER SCENE: The Olympics are kaput, but the metal fever continues at Galerie 1637 (1637 Sherbrooke W.) with Klara Pokrzyko's silver sculptures doing a jewellery-in-reverse thing, wearing the body in a sense, as they're imprinted with the artist's fingerprints, hair and footprints. Part of a group show, her Evidence can be found until Sept. 14.

ARTISTAT: Number of photographers paired up with an artistically likeminded choreographer in Movements focalisés, a photographic ode to contemporary dance opening Thursday, Sept. 2, 5:30 p.m., at Galerie [sas] (372 Ste-Catherine W., #416) and continuing until Sept. 25: 11

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