You tell me what Matthew Barney is up to in his five Cremaster flicks. Or let documentary filmmaker Matthew Wallin venture a guess in his canon-spanning doc I Die Daily: The Making of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle. Through Aug. 30, portions of Wallin’s film-in-progress and related audio materials will help you ponder the mysteries of the famous jock-turned-Yalie-turned-model-turned-artist-turned-impregnator-of-Björk. (Yes, Björk! If that isn’t avant-garde-caliber semen, I don’t know what is.) Granted, another film, Matthew Barney: No Restraint, got there first. But that doesn’t mean it’s better. Or more comprehensive. Wallin will be on hand at tonight’s reception to explain his 12-year-obsession with the obsessive artist, and why he left the prestigious Industrial Light & Magic effects house run by George Lucas for an even more prestigious but penurious gig working for Barney on the later Cremaster movies. (Good call avoiding those later Star Wars chapters.) Along with snippets of Barney interviews, expect to see square dancing, blimps, motorcycle sidecar racing, cheerleaders, creeping gonads, Freemasons, Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini, and Barney himself as various characters-in-process-of-sexual-differentiation, including Gary Gilmore. Oh, and lots and lots of Vaseline sculptures. 911 Media Arts Center, 402 Ninth Ave. N., 682-6552, www.911media.org. Free. Reception 6–10 p.m. BRIAN MILLER

Fri., July 18, 6 p.m., 2008