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Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT

Here we have an exhibition whose time has come, even if that time was four decades ago. Celebrating the art and activism of Vancouver's 1970s, the multifaceted GLUT includes a reconfigured version of the Women's Bookstore (opened in 1973), complete with 100 books from the era. Thirteen female artists, writers, theorists and researchers will occupy the installation and annotate the collection for visitors to discover.

To April 8, at Vancouver's Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.

Bieber: Steps to Stardom

They can take the boy out of the small town, but they can't take the egg-throwing instincts out of the boy. An international pop star and irrepressible scamp, Justin Bieber has stayed true to his roots, alternating hits with unsophisticated high jinks. A new hometown-museum exhibition pays tribute to the honest, humble beginnings of a street-singer-turned-superstar and vulnerable, misunderstood young man.

Opening Feb. 18, at the Stratford Perth Museum in Stratford, Ont.

Giant Hand

The introductory track on Old Cosmos, an album from the indie-rock artist who calls himself Giant Hand, is The World Hates You – an unhappy existential opinion. The Toronto-based singer-songwriter's folky music is dark, morose and occasionally defiant, offered in a troubled, trembling voice. "Please don't forget me," he sings later on the album. Arresting his listeners softly and uneasily, Giant Hand can't be dismissed quickly.

Feb. 20, at Toronto's Burdock Music Hall, with dates to follow in Peterborough, Ont., Hamilton, Ottawa and Montreal.

Chutzpah!

Chutzpah, which is to say shameless, audacious or impudent – which is to say Mary Walsh. The Canadian comedic legend is just one of the headliners of an annual international Jewish performing-arts festival which this year sees the arrival of the acclaimed Israeli company Roy Assaf Dance, the world premiere of Salomé: Woman of Valor (a multidisciplinary show from poet Adeena Karasick and the Klezmatics' Frank London) and the unveiling of new material from humorist Jonathan Goldstein. To March 15, at various Vancouver venues.

Alex Janvier

He collects lifetime-achievement awards like the rest of us collect parking tickets. Recent recognition from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Tribal Chiefs Institute and Cold Lake First Nations is well-deserved for Alex Janvier, an artist whose colourful works reference Indigenous culture and history, including his own residential-school experience. A touring retrospective organized by the National Gallery of Canada features more than 100 paintings and drawings by the Albertan master. To May 21, at Fredericton's Beaverbrook Art Gallery; June 14 to Sept. 9, Calgary's Glenbow Museum.

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