Los Angeles
Phantom Galleries L.A.
Peer into an unused furniture store in the City of Angels, and you might be haunted by an installation curated by Phantom Galleries L.A. But don’t blink; it might vanish. Disappearing and reappearing spaces are used to stage installations like Kim Abeles’ commemorative plates depicting well-known faces, including Ronald Reagan’s, “inked” out of city smog.
213-626-2854, phantomgalleriesla.com
Philadelphia
Dumpster Divers
In the 1960s, this boulevard bristled with counterculture; now art lovers are bringing South Street back to its bohemian past. A group called the Dumpster Divers turns trash into treasure with street signs, old licence plates and lampshades bursting across the space one day and mazes sculpted out of recycled Styrofoam the next.
732 South St., dumpsterdivers.org
New York
Exhibition 211
Dice are rolled and names are drawn from a hat to determine the space and order in which artists add to or destroy their predecessor’s work in this vacant Elizabeth Street storefront, which explains how paper airplanes became a carpet of multicoloured confetti. Sloppy seconds have never looked so good.
211 Elizabeth St., exhibition211.blogspot.com
Toronto
minnow & bass
When minnow & bass, a nomadic artist-run space, was housed in a defunct store on the edge of Kensington Market, artist Irene Loughlin stopped foot traffic by dancing in the gallery’s window on piles of dirt wearing a striking green dress. But its founder Faye Mullen really made the Kensington store home when she lived in the space for a week, watching passersby watch her.
minnowbass.blogspot.com
Outsider Art
Canadian festivals that go beyond the gallery.
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche Toronto
Night of October 3 to 4
Spend a sleepless night touring the city and unorthodox art spaces including the Toronto Eaton Centre, where Jeff Koons’ famous Rabbit will be suspended.
scotiabanknuitblanche.ca
Le Mois de la Photo à Montréal
September 10 to October 11
The luminous artworks include an oversized photographic print by Quebec’s Michael Flomen that captures firefly light.
moisdelaphoto.com
Vancouver International Biennale
Until June 2011
Alongside 30 new sculptures by international artists, five works from the 2005–2007 Biennale will be featured, including Echoes – a group of metal chairs inscribed with literary works – by Quebec’s Michel Goulet.
vancouverbiennale.com
