The Space of Silence: There's a chilling exhibit running at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography entitled The Space of Silence. The show consists of three installations that examine the history of genocide in the twentieth century. We've certainly had enough shameful examples: The Nazi death camps, the killing fields of Cambodia and the Rwanda massacres. These events conjure up unfathomable atrocities, yet beg the question, why didn.t anyone do anything about them? Rather than examine the larger public implication in these matters, this exhibit chooses to look at the reaction of artists who were witness to the human crimes.

Some artists chose to remain mute, others became civil and social activists and others took their experiences and turned them into art.

"Jack Burman, Isaac Applebaum, and Alfredo Jaar question history in striking installations that both give evidence of the evils of our time and reflect upon art's power to depict the elimination of large groups of human beings. How do we write history? How can we prevent amnesia from doing its work? These three artists stage memory in a narrative form so that what remains not only escapes oblivion, but becomes etched in living memory."

Sounds like an unforgettable exhibit to me.

Fine Tuning: Get ready for some power yuks as our friends at The Air Farce look back at the year 2000. The Year of the Farce features headlines turned into big laugh lines, as well as a group of guest stars from the land of entertainment, politics and sports. The Farce will be taking the micky out of the recent federal election, as well as poking plenty of fun at the Sydney Olympics. Just throw another politician on the barbee will ya Shelagh? Royal Canadian Air Farce on CBC at 9 p.m. Friday night.

Then, here's an audio treat for while you're doing the post-holiday vacuuming on Saturday afternoon. Canada's Ben Heppner headlines the cast this week as the Metropolitan Opera presents Beethoven's Fidelio. Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, hosted by Howard Dyck, Saturday at 1:30 pm (2:30 AT; 3:00 NT) on CBC Radio Two.