ART

ART FAIRS GALORE This weekend, the city plays host to numerous art fairs. The two biggest, the Art Dealers Association of America’s Art Show (Through Monday, Thursday–Saturday, noon–8 p.m., Sunday and Monday, noon–6 p.m., Seventh Regiment Armory, Park Avenue at 67th Street, 212-940-8590, $20 per day) and the Armory Show–International Fair of New Art (Friday through Monday, Friday–Sunday, noon–8 p.m., Monday, noon–5 p.m., Pier 94, Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street, 212-246-5450, $20 general, $10 students, $40 for four-day pass), are coinciding for the first time. Nipping on the heels of these two shows are the Fountain Art Fair (Through Monday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., 660 Twelfth Ave. at 49th Street, 917-650-3760, free), the Scope International Contemporary Art Fair (Through Monday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Lincoln Center, Damrosch Park, the Scope Pavilion, 62nd Street and Tenth Avenue, 212-268-1522, $10 general, $100 for tomorrow’s VIP reception), the Pulse New York Art Fair (Through Sunday, Friday and Saturday, noon–8 p.m., Sunday, noon–5 p.m., 69th Regiment Armory, Lexington Avenue at 26th Street, 212-255-2327, $15 general, $10 students and seniors), and the Red Dot Fair (Friday through Monday, Friday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., opening reception, 6–8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, 11 a.m.–8 p.m., Monday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Park South Hotel, 122 E. 28th St., between Lexington and Park avenues, 917-273-8621, $8 general, $75 for opening reception).

NO. 5 IS ALIVE The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents “Closed Circuit: Video and New Media at the Metropolitan,” its first group show of contemporary art made by uncontemporary means. The works are drawn from the museum’s department of photography, and featured artists include Darren Almond, Lutz Bacher, Jim Campbell, Omer Fast, Ann Hamilton, David Hammons, Maria Marshall, and Wolfgang Staehle. Today through Sunday, April 29, Friday and Saturday, 9:30 a.m.–9 p.m., Sunday and Tuesday–Thursday, 9:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., closed Monday, Met Museum, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-535-7710, $20 general admission suggested, $15 seniors, $10 students.

BOOKS

FROM THE HANDS OF A WRITER The annual Greenwich Village Antiquarian Book Fair was founded in 1979 as a fund-raising benefit for Public School 3, an alternative elementary school serving 500 city students. Now, 70 East Coast dealers offer their rare and collectible wares, including maps, prints, paper memorabilia, in addition to books.

Friday through Sunday, Friday, 6–10 p.m., Saturday, noon–6 p.m., Sunday, noon–5 p.m., P.S. 3, 490 Hudson St., between Christopher and Grove streets, 212-925-3910, $12 on Friday for three-day pass, $6 on Saturday for two-day pass, $4 on Sunday.

FESTIVALS

MEN IN COSTUMES The New York Comic Convention celebrates the best of comic and science fiction television, literature, and cinema. This year’s convention honors the creator of “Spider-Man,” Stan Lee, with lectures and author signings. Featured speakers include the host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert; author Stephen King; an actress on the NBC program “Heroes,” Hayden Panettiere, and filmmaker Wes Craven. Friday through Sunday, Friday, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. for trade registrants, 4–9 p.m. for the public, Saturday, 10 a.m.–8 p.m., Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Jacob Javits Center, Eleventh Ave., between 34th and 39th streets, 888-605-6059, $30–$40. For complete information, go to nycomiccon.com.

FILM

DARK VISIONS The repertory film program at the BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcinématek, presents weekend screenings of a trilogy of movies by the Hungarian director Béla Tarr. Mr. Tarr collaborated with novelist László Krasznahorkai on three movies, “Damnation” (1988), “Sátántangó” (1994), and “Werckmeister Harmonies” (2000). The series begins with “Damnation,” which follows a man who has an affair with a married nightclub singer after his wife’s suicide. The man then plots to separate the singer from her husband through a criminal plot. Friday through Sunday, times vary, BAM Rose Cinemas, 30 Lafayette Ave., between St. Felix Street and Ashland Place, 718-636-4100, $10 general, $7 students, seniors, and members. For complete information, go to bam.org.

MUSIC

ARE YOU GOING MY WAY? The Contemporary Music Division of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Miller Theater of Columbia University present a production of Olga Neuwirth’s “Lost Highway,” based on the David Lynch film of the same name, about a saxophonist who is suspected of his wife’s murder and transforms into a young mechanic to lead a new life. The director of the musical opera is Timothy Weiss. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m., Columbia University, Miller Theater, 116th Street and Broadway, 212-854-7799, $35.

PAINTINGS

SOUTH AMERICAN INSPIRATION Pia Fries’s “Loschaug” is a single work made up of 12 panel paintings. The pieces are inspired by Ms. Fries’s preoccupation with the artist and naturalist Maria Sibylla Merian, who traveled to the then-Dutch colony of Surinam in the 17th century. Merian’s watercolor paintings, collected in “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium,” depicted her observations of symbiotic relationships between plants and insects of the South American interior. Selections from Ms. Fries’s exhibit include “Palimsest Surinam III” (2005), above. Through Saturday, March 3, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., CRG Gallery, 535 W. 22nd St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-229-2766, free.

READINGS

HOW BIZZARE “Absurdistan” (Random House) by Gary Shteyngart follows a Russian exiled to his homeland while he pines for America and his South Bronx lover. While trying to obtain a fake Belgian passport in the oil-rich nation of Absurdistan, he is installed as a government minister and fights for his life. Mr. Shteyngart reads from and discusses his novel with members of the Writers Studio. Friday, 7 p.m., Housing Works Used Book Cafe, 126 Crosby St., between Prince and Houston streets, 212-334-3324, free, donations of used books suggested.

BLUE, BLUE, ELECTRIC BLUE “Architecture of the Air: The Sound and Light Environments of Christopher Janney” (Sideshow Media) features pictures and analyses of the work of Mr. Janney, who considers himself both a musician and an architect. His works, called “Urban Musical Instruments,” include “Touch My Building” (1998), a bank garage in North Carolina that features colored glass panels and neon fins that trigger sound and light. Mr. Janney celebrates the launch of his book in a conversation with the lead singer of the Talking Heads, David Byrne, and an architect from the renovation firm Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, Elizabeth Diller. Friday, 5 p.m., American Institute of Architecture, Center for Architecture, 536 La-Guardia Place, between Bleecker and 3rd streets, 212-683-0023, free.

THEATER

RHYTHM IS GOING TO GET YOU

The rhythm dance Mayumana company presents “BE,” a theatrical event that combines elements from various art disciplines based on music, movement, acting, dance and rhythm. The company was founded by Eylon Nuphar and Boaz Berman in Tel Aviv in 1996, and featured actors include Vicente de Andres, Michael Feigenbaum, and Aka Jean Claude Thiemele. The Hebrew word “Mayumana” means “skill.” Through an open run, Tuesday–Friday, 8 p.m., Saturday, 7 and 10 p.m., Sunday, 3 and 7 p.m., Union Square Theater, 100 E. 17th St. at Park Avenue South, 212-505-0700, $20-$60.

To submit an event for consideration for the Calendar, please wire the particulars to calendar@nysun.com, placing the date of the event in the subject line.