IN this show by the Chinese Art Centre’s current resident artist, you'll find a sparse selection of DVD/video pieces, including one piece equal to any art seen by this reviewer so far in the whole of 2005.

‘In Love’ (2001, 3mins 28secs; pictured) is a silent piece that speaks volumes. In two screens, side-by-side, Chang passes a raw onion, mouth-to-mouth, between herself and her parents. The onion causes tears, conjuring up emotion - but is it fake feeling?

These are her parents, and she's snogging them… what? Cleverly, the action's been reversed and sequences show father-daughter and daughter-mother, seemingly, French-kissing.

It makes for a bizarrely funny, oddly compelling and (for some) gracefully shocking piece.

Bra

‘Melons’ (1998, 3mins 44secs) is, awkwardly, an amusing confessional piece dealing with serious subject matter. Chang balances a plate on her head, a la deportment, slices through a melon secured in her bra, and eats its innards all while telling a tale to camera.

The back story is the death of an aunt from breast cancer while Chang was still a child - hence the confusion of doing too many things at once.

Sure, the melon has double meaning: a pun for breast, a symbol for cancer - and mother's milk. But it may all estrange rather than engage an audience - rather like the final piece ‘Garden’ (2005, 25 mins).

Either way, ‘In Love’ makes a visit here a must.

Patty Chang's exhibition is on at the Chinesse Arts Centre until Friday, December 23. Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm; Sun 11am - 5pm. Call 0161 832 7271 for more information.

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