PAINTINGS

CUTTING IT UP John Tremblay is known for straying from the traditional use of a four-cornered canvas: He slices his canvases, creating circular or polygonic shapes, sometimes poking holes in the center. Some works, such as “Dulse, Kelp” (2008), above, are made from two canvases joined together to create a painting that takes on a sculptural quality. Through Thursday, April 24, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Paula Cooper Gallery, 521 W. 21st St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-255-1105, free.

DESIGN

THE TWO ISAMUS “Design: Isamu Noguchi and Isamu Kenmochi” celebrates the collaboration between Noguchi, an industrial designer, and Japan’s influential Modernist designer, Kenmochi. The two men, who met in Japan in 1950, shared a mission to design a universally exceptional object. Through Sunday, May 25, Wednesday–Friday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m., Saturday–Sunday, 11 a.m.–6 p.m., Noguchi Museum, 9-01 33rd Road at Vernon Boulevard, Long Island City, Queens, 718-204-7088, $10 general, $5 seniors and students, free for children under 12.

FILMS

FIRST-DATE NIGHTMARES In Icelandic director Helena Stefánsdóttir’s “Anna” (2007), the title character extends an invitation for coffee to her object of affection, Adam, only to find moments before he’s to arrive that she is out of sugar. What to do? Presume he’ll take his java black? An excitable Anna makes a grocery store run, igniting her Tourette’s syndrome on the way. The trip leaves her so disheveled and drained she cancels the date and ponders her lonely existence. The clever 13-minute film is screened together with six others as part of Scandinavia House’s Nordic Shorts series. Tonight, 6:30 p.m., Scandinavia House, 58 Park Ave. at 38th Street, 212-879-9779, $8 general, $6 American-Scandinavian Foundation members.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE Cindy Kleine’s documentary “Phyllis and Harold” (2008) explores her parents’ 60-year marriage in a cinema-verité style that tracks the couple’s union beginning with their courtship in the 1930s. Ms. Kleine, a film and video artist, follows them through World War II to today, uncovering family secrets along the way and probing what keeps a relationship from unraveling in the face of great challenges. Tonight, 8 p.m., Walter Reade Theater, 70 Lincoln Center Plaza, between 64th and 65th streets, 212-875-5601, $11 general, $7 members and students.

GATHERINGS

TALKING HEADS The Minds That Move the World is a timely new series focused on the plurality of perspectives driving the current American political discourse. Over the course of three months, top political bloggers, pundits, campaign operatives, and national leaders, including President Clinton, will gather to debate and deliver insights about the November elections, the war in Iraq, and other issues. The first of four talks kicks off Monday with oft bow-tied MSNBC political correspondent Tucker Carlson, a Hillary Clinton campaign consultant, James Carville, and the creator of the popular Huffington Post Web log, Arianna Huffington. CNN anchor Anderson Cooper moderates the event, which is presented by Madison Square Garden Entertainment. Monday, 8 p.m., Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Ave., between 50th and 51st streets, 212-247-4777, $30–$250.

MUSIC

METROPOLITAN MELODY Pianist Ingrid Fliter gives her only New York recital as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Piano-Forte series. Although museumgoers will find that they can make out strains of the melliilous music from some of the first-floor galleries, the concerts — a trot from the majesty of the Temple of Dendur — have proven worth the price of admission. Ms. Fliter plays a program that includes the Schubert Impromptus, Op. 90, Nos. 1 and 2, and Chopin’s Nocturne in B major. Tonight, 8 p.m., Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium, Egyptian Wing, 1000 Fifth Ave. at 82nd Street, 212-570-3949, $45.

AFRO-BLUES The World Music Institute presents the New York concert debut of Niger-born musician Etran Finatawa. In a program titled “Sounds of the Desert,” Mr. Finatawa incorporates the music of Central African nomadic cultures of the Wodaabe — known for their face painting, percussive skill, and polyphonic songs — and the Kel Tamashek, who have developed a distinct blues tradition.

Friday, 8 p.m., Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, 212-545-7536, $32 general, $27 friends of the WMI, $15 students.

THEATER

CITY OF FIGHTS The Public Theater’s Public Lab series presents The Civilians’ “Paris Commune,” a play co-written and directed by Steven Cosson. The raucous cabaret-style musical re-creates the events that followed a workers’ revolt against the French government. The uprising led to the brief rule in 1871 by the Paris Commune. The council attempted to reinvent Parisian society during the two months it was in power. The cast includes Dan Lipton and Kate Buddeke. Tonight, 8 p.m., Friday, 7 and 10 p.m., Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m., Sunday, 3 p.m., Public Theater, Shiva Theater, 425 Lafayette St., between Astor Place and East 4th Street, 212-967-7555, $10.

SCULPTURE

CHRONICLES OF SIMONSSON Finnish artist Kim Simonsson drew from pop art, Japanese anime, and manga in creating his almost-life-size sculptures of children and wide-eyed animals. His latest exhibit, “Invisible World,” includes characters that express compassion for others or act fearlessly on their own, as in “Horizontal Spit III” (2007), above, in which a young girl in a pleated dress spits a glass arc of saliva. Opens today, reception tonight, 6–8 p.m., exhibit through Saturday, May 24, Tuesday–Saturday, 10 a.m.–6 p.m., Nancy Margolis Gallery, 523 W. 25th St., between Tenth and Eleventh avenues, 212-242-3013, free.

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