7

SATURDAY

In Canadian video artist Allyson Clay’s 2000 piece La La City, a camera is stationed in the middle of a revolving restaurant in Vancouver, the artist’s hometown, as a killer view of the city slooooowly passes through the restaurant’s windows. The Numark Gallery, in conjunction with the Canadian Embassy, is running the 90-minute film in a 24/7 loop, projected onto the gallery’s 20-foot-wide back wall. After business hours, the gallery’s shade will be lifted so that curious and/or stoned passers-by might get lost in the spatial survey—until it pauses briefly at the midpoint and runs in reverse. “You’ve been lulled into this pace,” says gallery owner Cheryl Numark, “so when the movement stops [and reverses], your mind doesn’t believe it at first.” If you find me standing in the street after 45 minutes of this glacial rotation, you can be pretty sure my mind’s not calling any shots. The exhibition opens today at 11 a.m. and can be seen from the street after the gallery closes at 6 p.m. (to Aug. 25) at the Numark Gallery, 625 E St. NW. Free. (202) 628-3810. (Anne Marson)