Sound and Vision

Continuing its tradition of opening two shows on the same night, the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (3750 Washington Boulevard; 314-535-4660 or www.contemporarystl.org) opens a pair of very neatly fitted exhibits with a free public reception from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday, May 8. British artist Carey Young makes her solo debut with a selection of her “call center art works.” In Carey Young: Speech Acts, a series of comfortable, site-specific installations are built around a telephone. Viewers become participants once they pick up the phone and connect with a St. Louis-based customer-service center staffed by live operators. Chantal Akerman: Moving Through Time and Space complements the talky nature of Young’s work with a cross-section of films and installations that document the past two decades of the Belgian artist’s work. From the East: Bordering on Fiction (D’est: Au bord de la faction) is a quiet masterpiece of expansive vision, a filmed silent journey that begins in summery East Germany and traverses the countries formerly draped behind the Iron Curtain to end in midwinter Moscow. It’s 1995, but the people look to be garbed in ’60s fashions. Out of place, out of time, From the East reveals what is now an alien piece of history, hypnotic in its strangeness and fleeting, luminous beauty. Both shows remain on display through Sunday, August 2, and the Contemporary is open Wednesday through Sunday. Please note that Young will attend the opening reception.
Wednesdays-Sundays. Starts: May 8. Continues through Aug. 2, 2009