Sun. March 25

 Multi-media is the way of the present, at least it would seem that way at the new Institute of Contemporary Art. Actually, multi-media was often the wave of the past at the old ICA. Quite simply put, multi-media presentations get your senses working overtime (to quote an XTC song) and that's a good thing. Consider the ICA's world premiere of "This Place Is a Desert" a live cineman performance inspired by the films of Michelangelo Antonioni. This piece was conceived and directe by theater/opera director and MIT Theatre prof Jay Scheib, in collaboration with media artist Leah Gelpe. What to expect: You'll view portraits of love gone bad in fragments - through windows, reflected in mirrors and through partially drawn curtains, with the action projected live onto a screen above the architecture of the stage. A cinematographer will move through the set to provide a study of four lovers in conflict. Scheib: "The goal of situating these partial-view room is, on one hand, a practical consideration - we use cameras to see up close, to see around corners, and to mediate our experience of Reality amplifying an erotics of the partial view." Whew. That's a big gulp. Scheib calls it a "motion-portrait ... a tool for understanding Reality - and this reality, thanks to technology, is always partially seen and particallly screened." A commentary on youtube culture? Maybe. It sounds heady, provocative, sexy and confronational. Scheib collaborates with Gelpe, who did the smashing video design for "Brittanicaus" at the ART recently. We don't know how this actually plays out or what emotions will be stoked, but we are extremely curious. "This Place Is a Desert" winds up Sunday March 25 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $20.

100 Northern Ave., 617-478-3103, icaboston.org