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Some of the more recent products of painter Tiit Raid’s obsession, or “inspirational visual relationship,” with the pond outside his Wisconsin home can be seen this month at Thomas Barry Fine Arts (March 1–April 5) … A similar devotion is evident in photographer John Ratzloff’s work with the Anishinabe at the White Earth reservation (Bockley Gallery, through March 8) … The notes at Midway Contemporary Art’s front desk will only unravel part of the mystery of German artist David Lieske’s impressively crafted cabinet-like sculptures and neon word signs, but it’s worth asking to get filled in on the rest of the story (through April 5) … Last year, staffers from the Highpoint Center for Printmaking combed through hundreds of portfolios to put together the invitational Printers’ Picks exhibit (through March 5) … In River to Infinity-The Vanishing Points, Andrea Stanislav comments on Manifest Destiny, among other topics, via video images of mirrored obelisks in Utah’s Great Salt Flats (Minneapolis Institute of Arts, through March 16) … And the TAWU (The Art Within Us) organization embraces the cold with Soul on Ice, featuring work by some hundred African-American and immigrant artists on view at the Soap Factory—which is, mind you, unheated (through March 23).

Last year MCP inaugurated this annual exhibition “exploring linked portfolios of work” by a few selected photographers. We’re not sure how that makes it different from a small group show—the four photographers in this year’s ICY show share an affinity for psychology—but it may have something to do with the presentation of the work, which is geared toward exploiting the nature of the medium. British-born Minneapolitan Barbara Cummard, for instance, has created a twenty-foot mural, while the Toronto-based Frank Rodick and Londoner EJ Major arrange their images into what Rodick calls “polyptychs” or grid patterns; and New York-based Bastienne Schmidt strews images from “ShadowHome,” her series on her native Germany, across two walls.

Minnesota Center For Photography,165 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-824-5500.

When Estonia fell under Soviet rule in 1940, art became heavily censored. That was the case with “major” art forms like painting and writing, at least, but the apparatchiks largely ignored printmaking. In retrospect this seems ironic, given how the medium is suited to mass production and has a history as a tool of dissent. That’s exactly the point of this exhibition; culled from a collection at Rutgers University, its forty-one works from 1922–91 range from the surreal folk art of Jüri Arrak to the geometrical abstractions of Leonhard Lapin and Raul Meel—clear evidence of how artists in this medium persisted and even thrived under the radar of state-sanctioned Socialist Realism. The exhibit’s highlight and its clearest critique of force-fed Russian culture are Vello Vinn’s scathing, Ernst-like photomontages. The show runs simultaneously with (and is fittingly located a floor beneath ) an exhibit of Russian Impressionism.

Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-821-9045.

Printmaking has a history as a medium that renowned painters and sculptors turn to when they want to experiment; locally, our own Highpoint Center for Printmaking and the erstwhile Vermillion Editions have hosted artists from around the world as they explored etching, monotyping, and lithography. This show is curated by Leslie Wayne, a New York painter whose work is currently on exhibit at the Jack Shainman Gallery in New York; she brings together a motley assortment of noteworthy figures whose work in printmaking we’re excited to see, in particular Polly Apfelbaum, Louise Bourgeois, Nicola López (who just had a show locally at Franklin Art Works), Thomas Nozkowski, Martin Puryear, and James Siena. Fans of the medium will want to attend a roundtable discussion on opening night at 6 p.m., just before the reception.

College of Visual Arts Gallery, 173 Western Ave., St. Paul; 651-290-9379.

Typically, the word “tectonic” refers either to the construction or deformation of our planet’s foundational materials. For lars jerlach and helen stringfellow, it’s a little more specific: As tectonic industries, a collaborative partnership, their artistic goal is to build around collective mainstream memory—then tear down the modern desire for instant gratification. How does that translate to visual art? At the core of their new exhibition is a sixteen-monitor video installation displaying a remake of The Birds, the Hitchcock classic, through a series of talking heads delivering monotone, often grave line readings from the script. More than just the art of artificial exchange, jerlach and stringfellow give us an eerie, intricate investigation into our shared cultural landscapes. Also on view: contemporary color photographs shot in Ukraine by Karolina Karlic.

Franklin Art Works, 1021 E. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-872-7494.

[Note from editor: At the request of the artists, their names and the title of the exhibit have been left un-capitalized.]

At the turn of the last century, Georges Méliès was literally a stage conjuror, and his eye for the magical led to the creation of some of the most startling silent films ever made. Méliès: First Wizard of Cinema (DVD release, March 11) is a thirteen-hour collection of 173—count ’em, 173!—shorts … Watchmen (wide release, March 6), perhaps the most overrated graphic novel ever made, bullies its way into theaters at the hands of Zack Snyder, who gave us the odious 300 … One of the least heralded comedies ever, and an inspiration for Mario Puzo’s Godfather, Alberto Lattuada’s 1962 Mafioso (DVD release, March 18) is being given Criterion’s white-glove treatment … Stewart O’Nan’s melancholy novel Snow Angels (Lagoon Cinema, March 21) is a story of murder, infidelity, and trying to make it as a teenager in a sullen town. Director David Gordon Green (George Washington) is the perfect choice to capture O’Nan’s honest observations of blue-collar life.

Word has it that controversial director Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher, Caché) simply remade his original 1997 shockfest shot by shot. But who cares? The original Funny Games is hands-down one of the most disturbing films ever made; and if this one has Naomi Watts in the lead we’re, well, game. With the story of a bourgeois family who, while vacationing at their lake home, are attacked by a pair of young men clad in what appear to be Wimbledon tennis outfits, Haneke managed not only to raise the tension, ever so slowly, to unbearable levels; he also made us, the audience, feel culpable. The ’97 version is a masterpiece and possibly the worst date movie ever. The remake promises to be equally unsettling.

Lagoon Cinema, 612-825-6006.

Here’s an interesting show for you and the kids: Arranged, a tale of two Brooklyn teachers—Rochel, an Orthodox Jew, and Nasira, a Syrian Muslim—both of whom are in the process of being set up in arranged marriages. Somehow they manage to become close friends. By setting the film in a public grade school and forcing these two characters to endure the unquenchable curiosity of their young charges, the directors, Diane Crespo and Stefan Schaefer, have created a film that invites dialogue without battering you over the head. This sweet little movie is full of fascinating characters and plenty of fine moments, especially those illuminating the painfully awkward steps toward meeting the men with whom these women will spend the rest of their lives. Watch to see that an arranged marriage has many of the same pitfalls as today’s conventional courtships. This screening is part of the Sabes Foundation Minneapolis Jewish Film Festival.

Sabes Jewish Community Center, 4330 S. Cedar Lake Road, St. Louis Park; 952-381-3400.