Call it an artistic makeover—the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art is changing over the entire museum in January, setting up five new exhibits over a period of four weeks. And this isn't simply a matter of hanging pictures. The ambitious schedule involves reconstruction of some walls, erecting a major video installation, and adding color film to the windows in the lobby. 

"It's the first time we've done this," exhibitions director Richard Klein said. "We used to change as much as half of the museum at one time. Now we're switching the entire set of exhibits."

The reason for the museum-wide exhibit changeover is that the Aldrich has gone from a trimester show schedule to a semester system. It's more economical to do it this way, but also quite a bit more dramatic.

And artist Chad Kleitsch will be there today at 2:30 p.m. to capitalize on that drama. He has been photographing museums, including the Aldrich, that are in the process of changing exhibitions and is leading a tour called "The Unseen Museum." Attendees will hear a conversation between Kleitsch and Klein as they discuss the artist's photographs of the Aldrich's exhibition show change process as well as those at The Museum of Modern Art, the Hessel Museum at Bard College, the Katonah Museum of Art and P.S. 1 MoMA.

Kleitsch's final exhibit, "White Box—Photographs of the Unseen Museum" is one of the five new shows that will be formally unveiled on January 31. (A private preview of the exhibits will be held on January 29, and all five of the new shows formally open on January 31, when there will be a special reception where patrons can meet the artists.)

Here are the other four shows in the works at the Aldrich:

Jo Yarrington: Ocular Visions

Exhibiting artist Jo Yarrington's "Ocular Visions" will be on display through June 6. Her work will use the east-west alignment of the windows in the museum's Leir Atrium and involves cutting-edge ophthalmologic technology which transforms the space into a gigantic human eye. Floor-to-ceiling red transparencies created by magnifying a tiny photograph of the inside of Yarrington's eye will result in an ethereal installation which is activated by changing light.

"I get to work with that changing light," Yarrington said. "It looks more like you're looking at something from outer space than from inner space."

According to Klein, the images look a bit like stained glass.

"In the daytime, it gives the lobby an orange-red glow," he said, "and in the evening, the light projects out through the museum and the windows look golden to the outside viewer."

Tom Molloy

The third exhibit, created by artist Tom Molloy, will continue through June 13. This is the first museum survey of his work to be presented outside of his native Ireland.

Molloy's art engages with global events, and some of the artist's best known works will be included, such as the cut dollar bill "Map" (2004). The exhibition will also include a drawing entitled "Sweep," depicting the cleanup after terrorist violence, with the artist's own blood dripping from behind the frame.

"Molloy operates on these potent icons with surgical precision, excising hidden motives and overlooked similarities that resonate through recent history. His work is simple yet deeply incisive, sly yet bluntly political, funny yet deadly serious," said Joseph Wolin, the show curator.

Jeanne Finley and John Muse: Sleeping Under Stars, Living Under Satellites

A fourth new exhibit on display through June 6 is a project created by Jeanne Finley and John Muse called "Sleeping Under Stars, Living Under Satellites." The exhibit examines the lives and travels of two legendary Ridgefield figures, Sarah Bishop and the Leatherman. The paths of these figures will be traced by the artists through the use of multi-channel video projection, sculptural elements, and geo-caching, which is an online, GPS-driven treasure hunt.

Finley and Muse, through the geo-caching circuits, follow the routes of Bishop, a recluse who lived in a cave on the side of West Mountain for more than 30 years after the Revolutionary War and a wandering hobo named the Leatherman who became beloved of folks in the area. In the gallery, there will be a replica of Sarah Bishop's cave.

Paying a Visit to Mary: 2008 Hall Curatorial Fellowship Exhibition

The final exhibit, "Paying a Visit to Mary" a mixed-media exhibition organized by Canadian curator Maxine Kopsa, will be on display until June 6. The title references a line in the 1979 French play "Tell Me," a work about how language questions how reality is perceived and interpreted.

"Paying a Visit to Mary" tells a story about the present human condition. The exhibition is a conversation among the numerous contemporary artists whose work is included in the show and the audience with whom their work engages.