IMAGINATIONMACHINE

Modified Arts is the venue where Courtenay Gillean Cholovich presents this quasi-scientific study, peppered with whimsy, employing multimedia, and engaging the audience in a search for identity and meaning (or, as the promotional materials say, exploring ” … the line between imagination and memory, and the artist’s purpose … to confront herself in a way she had never expected.”). She’s little and cute, and that might predispose you to be charmed and intrigued by a premise she admits is self-indulgent.

Meanwhile, the nearer you get to Cholovich, in a geographic sense (and this appearance will be the closest I’ve been aware of since I started catching her performances), the more her relentless energy becomes an attracting force that’s also a little scary and awe-inspiring — almost mythic. She’s working hard and she lets us see it, but her actions appear spontaneous, yet compulsory, like a maenad’s frenzy. Still adorable, though — it’s a blessing and a curse.

Fri., April 1, 9:15 p.m.; Sat., April 2, 10 p.m.; Thu., April 7, 7 p.m.; Sat., April 9, 5:30 p.m., 2011