On the Walls: the week in fine arts

Étienne Trembley-Tardif’s Bookworms.

McGill Art History prof Christine Ross is being honoured for her work in a ceremony this afternoon. She’ll be awarded the Artexte Prize for Research in Contemporary Art and deliver a lecture on her newest book, The Past is the Present; It’s the Future Too: The Temporal Turn in Contemporary Art. Artexte (2 Ste-Catherine E.), 5:30 p.m., free

Concordia’s FOFA gallery houses an ongoing exhibit examining the relationships between activism, urban space and memory. Called Contested Site: Archives and the City, the group exhibit is currently up, though the gallery is hosting a vernissage and for the show and launching its accompanying publication this week. On through Nov. 16, FOFA (1455 de Maisonneuve, EV 1-715), vernissage Nov. 1, 7-9 p.m.The Montreal Science Centre is hosting a new multimedia exhibit, Muzik: From Sound to Emotion. The interactive display teaches participants about the different elements that make up music — emotion, rhythm, harmonies and so on — then lets ‘em make music of their own. Montreal Science Centre (2 de la Commune W.), Nov. 2-March 10, $8.50-$11.50

Étienne Trembley-Tardif’s new show Bookworms will be displayed this week, featuring “bookscapes” bored into with a 16-inch drill bit. On through Dec. 8, Arprim (372 Ste-Catherine W. [Belgo Building], #426), vernissage Nov. 2, 6 p.m.

Two side-by-side exhibits by photographer Nicolas Ruel: Gaultier collects Ruel’s lush, trippy fashion-spread porn, photographing the designs of Jean Paul Gaultier. The ambitious 42 Cities project, meanwhile, includes eight-second time-release images of the world’s great cities, rendered ghost-like and quasi-familiar by Ruel’s technique. Galerie de Bellefeuille (1367 Greene), Nov. 3-13, artist talk and opening Nov. 3, 2-4:30 p.m., free

Laroche Joncas welcomes a new show by New York artist Yadir Quintana, whose series Femmes creates portraits of women that bear traces of the sitters’ physical presence. Nov. 1-Dec. 8, Laroche Joncas (372 Ste-Catherine W. (Belgo Building), #410), vernissage Nov. 3, 4-6 p.m.

Just down the hall, New York artist Barbara Rosenthal is presenting a photographic series entitled Trapped Figures Tiny Houses. On display through Nov. 13, Visual Voice Gallery (372 Ste-Catherine W. [Belgo Building], #421), vernissage Nov. 3, 3-6 p.m.

This week is your last chance to catch Amentia at the PHI Centre. Jean-François Mayrand’s interactive new-media art installation
 completely immerses the viewer for a unique sensory and visual experience. On through Nov. 4, PHI Centre (407 St-Pierre) ■