'Exchange': A Little Northern Exposure

Stepping into the Warehouse the other night, the overwhelming feeling I had was one of . . . confusion. It was as if I had entered some sort of exotic bazaar. Turns out I had.

On one wall was a mural featuring a tree growing out of someone's derriere. Opposite it, shelves and a central table were stocked with clear acrylic boxes containing all manner of stuff: used bars of soap, a wig, a pile of car air fresheners, a $20 bill. Sarada Conaway hawked her wares. "What would you pay," she asked coyly, "for a map that tells you where to find a woman who sells Sno-Cones from her back yard?"

Um, nothing?

Turns out the map, which Conaway later admitted is downloadable from her Web site -- free -- is the artist's contribution to "Point of Purchase," an art installation featuring small artworks, most of which were on sale for $20 each. (Yes, including the $20 bill; Jill Greenberg's soap sculpture, on the other hand, is not for sale.)

Such a marketplace may not be the best way of introducing D.C. audiences to the work of the Baltimore artists who participated in it, but it's a start. Part of a series of inter-city art exchanges called, appropriately enough, "Exchange: Baltimore @ DC," "Point of Purchase" is just the first floor of what turns out to be a surprisingly interesting roundup of Charm City artists who may not have had the chance to become household names here yet. The outgrowth of a dialogue among the Washington Project for the Arts/Corcoran, Baltimore's Creative Alliance at the Patterson, the D.C. Arts Center and Richmond's Gallery5, future shows in the series will bring D.C. artists to Baltimore, Richmond artists to D.C. and D.C. artists to Richmond this fall.

For now, upstairs at the Warehouse is where you'll find Denise Tassin's "Drawings Machines I-V," a series of mechanisms utilizing lead fishing weights suspended from temperamental toy motors to create sweet little dadaist drawings resulting from the friction between paper and dancing metal. Tassin is an artist that more of Washington should know about. In the past, she has made art from beef liver blood and, in a precursor to her current "Exchange" project, drawings made from -- or, I should say, by -- earthworms dipped in food coloring.

Laure Drogoul's "Olfactory Factory (Baltimore Scentorium)" was another hit. The interactive installation, featuring an array of odorous substances (including one labeled, poignantly enough, "Nostalgia"), opened the doors -- and, in some cases, the sinuses -- to a flood of Proustian memories.

Other noteworthy entries include:

· Hugh Pocock's "Endless Kiss," a conceptual sculpture, documented in photographs, consisting of a kiss (and a business card) passed from one participant to another.

· Chiara Giovando's "Come Jam With Me." On opening night, there was no shortage of singers and musicians willing to be recorded, live to vinyl, using a roomful of loaned instruments.

· Stewart Watson's "calfing 54*#." I have no idea what the title means, but the simple sculpture, made of amber-colored candy slowly melting under the lights, was arresting in its beauty.

At the opening, I spoke to the Creative Alliance's artistic director, Jed Dodds, who told me that the "Exchange" project was an unintended outgrowth of a public panel discussion his organization sponsored last fall to question and raise ideas about healing what some have noted is an arbitrary rift between Baltimore and Washington artists. [Full disclosure: I was one of the panelists.]

There's a sense, shared by many, that Baltimore and Washington are two very different art cities -- or at least ones insufficiently familiar to each other. This first installment of "Exchange" actually proves that point, and one other: We and our neighbors to the north don't have to be such strangers.

EXCHANGE: BALTIMORE @ DC Through Oct. 14 at the Warehouse, 1021 Seventh St. NW (Metro: Mount Vernon Square/Seventh St.-Convention Center). 202-639-1828. http://www.wpaconline.org. Open Fridays 6 to 9; Saturdays and Sundays noon to 6. Free.

Upcoming shows in the "Exchange" series include:

DC @ BALTIMORE Saturday-Oct. 21 at Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore. 410-276-1651.

RICHMOND @ DC Nov. 10-Dec. 10 at the D.C. Arts Center, 2438 18th St. NW. 202-462-7833.

DC @ RICHMOND Dec. 1-31 at Gallery5, 200 W. Marshall St., Richmond. 804-644-0005.