ARCHITECTURE

I COVER THE WATERFRONT “The Park at the Center of the World: Five Visions for Governors Island,” an exhibit on view at the AIA New York Chapter and the Center for Architecture, concludes on Saturday. Five landscape architecture and architecture teams were selected to present their design visions for the soon-to-open spaces on Governors Island, the 172 acre island off the tip of Manhattan. Those blueprints are featured for projects including the two-mile Great Promenade and a new park. Through Saturday, Monday–Friday, 9 a.m.–8 p.m., Saturday, 11 a.m.–5p.m., Center for Architecture, Edgar A. Tafel Hall, 536LaGuardia Pl., between Bleecker and West 3rd streets, 212-683-0023, free.

GIVE PEACE A CHANCE “Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama,” an exhibit that explores His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s multiple roles and iconic status, is on view at the Rubin Museum of Art. Eighty contemporary artists from around the world contributed works that contemplate the Tibetan spiritual leader in a range of media. Jim Iserman’s thermal die-cut decals, including “Untitled” (2000), above, are among the emphatically abstract interpretations. Through, Monday, September 3, Monday and Thursday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday, 11 a.m.–7 p.m., Friday, 11 a.m.–10 p.m., Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Rubin Museum, 150 W. 17th St., between Sixth and Seventh avenues, 212-620-5000, $10 general, $7 seniors, students, artists, and museum neighbors, free for children and members.

ART

EVERY ROOM TELLS A STORY “Spaces to See, Stories to Tell” is the first solo exhibit in America for performance photographer and filmmaker Babette Mangolte. The show focuses on her aesthetic trajectories. Among the highlights are photographs of her loft in TriBeCa, film stills from her experimental shorts, and a view of Canal Street from her montage “Composite Buildings”(1978). Through Sunday, September, 2, Wednesday–Friday, 2–6 p.m., Broadway 1602 Gallery, 1182 Broadway, between 28th and 29th streets, 212-481-0362, free.

MOMMY DEAREST Among the highlights of the group exhibit “Epilogues,” on view at the Robert Mann Gallery, is Gail Albert Halaban’s “Untitled (Crib)” (2006), from her series “This Stage of Motherhood.” The images depict “infants and mothers — wealthy, ambitious moms — in upscale digs,” William Meyers wrote in the August 9 New York Sun. Through Friday, Monday–Friday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Robert Mann, 210 Eleventh Ave., between 24th and 25th streets, 212-989-7600, free.

DANCE

DANCING FEET The Battery Dance Company hosts the Downtown Dance Festival, its annual dance series designed to highlight the work of troupes from the city and abroad. This year, a roster of 19 companies is featured. Audience members, including children of all ages, are invited to participate in dance exercises at the close of each day’s performances. Among featured companies is the Alpha Omega Theatrical Dance Company, which dances on Friday and Sunday, and Battery Dance and Ashley Browne/Kinetic Project, on Saturday. Through Sunday; Friday, noon, Chase Plaza, Nassau Street, between Liberty and Pine streets; Saturday and Sunday, 1 p.m., Battery Park, lawn, adjacent to corner of State and Pearl streets, 212-219-3910, free. For complete information, go to batterydanceco.com.

FILM

A LIFE ON FILM Scotsman Bill Douglas made only four feature films before he died of cancer at age 54 in 1991. The plots for his films mainly feature stories culled from his childhood. Anthology Film Archives mounts a retrospective of Douglas’s films, including the trilogy of films comprised of “My Childhood” (1972), about his life (told through the 8-year-old character, Jamie) growing up in the mining town of Newcraighall, Scotland; “My Ain Folk” (1973), about Jamie’s adolescence, and “My Way Home” (1978), about the adulthood of Jamie, who moves in with his grandmother and is eventually conscripted into the Royal Air Force. “My Childhood” and “My Ain Folk” screen tonight. Tonight, 7 p.m., through Sunday, screening times vary, Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. at 2nd Street, 212-505-5181, $8 general, $6 students and seniors, $5 members.

STRIFE IMITATES ART The Korean Cultural Service NY presents a screening and discussion of Hong Sang-soo’s “Woman on the Beach” (2006). In it, a film director, played by Seung-woo kim, who is trying to complete a script stumbles into relationships with two women he meets at an off-season resort. His destructive behavior generate material for his new film. Filmmaker Hyun-Ock Im leads the discussion. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Korean Cultural Service NY, sixth floor, 460 Park Ave. at 57th Street, 212-759-9550, free.

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.