Update

Catch these events in August and September

edited by Jen DeRose -- Interior Design, 7/1/2006 12:00:00 AM

1. Aleksandra Mir's solo show lands at the Kunsthaus Zürich. The large-scale cartoonish drawings in "Switzerland and Other Islands" depict the country's history of neutrality, along with tourist destinations and politically volatile areas. Airplanes #5 (Air Pacific-Fiji), in ink on paper, is particularly apt for the jet-setting young artist, a Polish-born Swedish citizen who just moved to Italy from the U.S., where she studied cultural anthropology. August 18–October 8; 41-44-253-84-84; kunsthaus.ch.

2. Is Simmons Hall at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology keg-stand user-friendly? We may never know. But student feedback on the "porosity" of the award-winning dormitory, built by Steven Holl Architects, is part of "Inside the Sponge" at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. The show pairs photographs and videos taken by residents with SHA's models and digital renderings of the precast-concrete structure, where rooms have nine operable windows. August 10– November 12; 514-939-7026; cca.qc.ca.

3. What goes on outside the city goes under the microscope in "Suburban Escape: The Art of California Sprawl" at the San Jose Museum of Art. To produce this digital C-print on acrylic, End of Horizon From EyeWire Images: Main Street America E008417, Fandra Chang manipulated stock photography to express repetition. Some 20 artists join her in sharing their interpretations of residential development through photographs and paintings. September 23–March 5; 408-271-6840; sjmusart.org.

4. "High Times, Hard Times: New York Painting 1967-75" revisits work by 37 artists who broke away from the easel, trading canvases for human bodies and entire room surfaces. In 1973, for example, feminist pioneer Harmony Hammond laid her Floorpiece V in cloth and acrylic directly on a gallery floor. The show premieres at the Weatherspoon Art Museum in Greensboro, North Carolina, before coming home to the Big Apple. August 6–October 15; 336-334-5770; weatherspoon.uncg.edu.

5. Paco Rabanne's chain-mail dress and John Galliano's camouflage evening gown may be military-inspired, but they're far from uniform. Revealing the influence of armor on clothing, 80 garments, including Issey Miyake's 1983 bustier, march into New York's Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology for "Love and War, the Weaponized Woman." September 9–December 16; 212-217-5800; fitnyc.edu/museum.

Update August

"Portraits on the Edge: Part 2"

August 3–September 3

Gallery Boreas, Pittsfield, Massachusetts; 917-743-6548; galleryboreas.com.

"A Field of Vision: Agnes Martin's Paintings From the 1980's"

August 3–March 5

Dia: Beacon, New York; 845-440-0100; diaart.org.

"Neil M. Denari Architects"

August 4–September 17

Southern California Institute of Architecture, Los Angeles; 213-613-2200; sciarc.edu.

"Marking Boundaries"

August 9–September 9

Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco; 415-278-9850; bquayartgallery.com.

"Javier Téllez"

August 11–October 1

Aspen Art Museum, Colorado; 970-925-8050; aspenartmuseum.org.

"To Know the Dark: American Artists' Visions of Night"

August 21–January 14

Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven; 203-432-0600; artgallery.yale.edu.

"No Reservations: Native American History and Culture in Contemporary Art"

August 23–February 25

Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut; 203-438-4519; aldrichart.org.

"Crazy Quilt: Virgil Marti's Selected Works"

August 25–November 17

Design Center at Philadelphia University; 215-951-2860; philau.edu/designcenter.

"Crafting a Collection"

August 26–February 11

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; 713-639-7300; mfah.org.

Update September

Singapore Biennial

September 4–November 12

Adelphi; 65-6837-9270; singaporebiennale.org.

"Kehinde Wiley"

September 8–October 14

Rhona Hoffman Gallery, Chicago; 312-455-1990; rhoffmangallery.com.

"The Loop: Designs for a Vertical City"

September 8–November 25

ArchiTech Gallery, Chicago; 312-475-1290; architechgallery.com.

"John Armleder, About Nothing. Works on Paper 1964-2004"

September 8–December 17

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia; 215-898-5911; icaphila.org.

"Enigma Variations: Philip Guston and Giorgio de Chirico"

September 9–November 25

Santa Monica Museum of Art, California; 310-586-6488; smmoa.org.

"Wunderground: Providence, 1995 to the Present"

September 15–January 7

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence; 401-454-6500; risdmuseum.org.

"Anish Kapoor: Sky Mirror"

September 19–October 27

Rockefeller Center, New York; 212-980-4575; publicartfund.org.

100% Design

September 21-24

Earls Court Two, London; 44-20-8910-7724; 100percentdesign.co.uk.

"Beauty Surrounds Us"

September 23–June 1

National Museum of the American Indian, New York; 212-514-3888; americanindian.si.edu.

IIDEX/NeoCon Canada

September 28-29

Direct Energy Centre, Exhibition Place, Toronto; 416-944-3350; iidexneocon.com.

Los Angeles Asian & Tribal Art Show

September 29–October 1

Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, California; 310-455-2886; caskeylees.com.