The Interim 2005 In Retro exhibition is set to open on Friday evening and a kickoff party will take people into the early hours.

The show will feature works from photographers Meredith Andrews and James Cooper; window designer Will Collieson; and Frogs, Dogs and Mermaids exhibitionists Helen Evans, Lindsey George and Michelle Lindo.

Johanna Flath's paintings, which were inspired by old Bermuda slides will be on show, as will Jon Legere's works that were based around teeth and jellyfish or moon jelly fish to be precise.

Bards Alan Smith, Laurel Monkman and Geraldine Kempe will be back in top poetic form, and Daniel Benson and J-P Rouja will have their video installation and computer generated imagery.

Continuing to think outside the box, Matthew Clifford will show some of his digital images. Femme fatales Alicia Tyson, Caroline Troncossi, Kendra Ezekiel and Sue Rebello will continue with feminine themes from their recent show.

But the excitement does not end there; along with the art work, there will be party sounds in the gallery and into the gardens.

It will feature the Calistenics Sound System, Dirkstan Freedom Fighters, Jon Legere a.k.a The Concestor.

Gallery coordinator Kendra Ezekiel said the retrospective was a way of highlighting the Interim's growing presence on the Bermuda's art scene.

"We are celebrating the beginning of our second year by looking back on our first," she said.

"We believe the first year was fairly successful and we are quite pleased to offer another year of exhibitions in the present location.

"We had a lot of fun, had a few setbacks, but were flexible in our approach throughout the first year. The business of art is not an easy one especially when the intent is to encourage innovation as opposed to commercialism.

"The artists who exhibited last year were integral in forming the reputation of the space as a truly contemporary, edgy, alternative spot for finding art on the Island."

In particular Meredith Andrews and James Cooper went out on a limb for the Gallery when they agreed to put together the first show in less than a month, she said.

"Jon Legere, was also a great help in the early stages of publicising," Ms Ezekiel said.

"He is responsible for our logo and many of our invite designs. Although this was not our set goal, the Interim has attracted a younger generation of artists and audience.

"They seemed to have adopted it, perhaps because it is providing them with something that they're not experiencing elsewhere. This is not to say that what is being shown cannot be appreciated by all ages, and the Kaleidoscope students, parents and grandparents can attest to this.

"I see the space as ultimately helping to nurture the future of art on the Island. Many may say that not all of the work was successful, but no one can deny that they were presented with something unexpected. Each artist gave us something that pushed the box a bit further."

Music has been a unique part of the theme and atmosphere of the Interim's openings, said Ms Ezekiel.

"I wanted to highlight this art form as well," she said.

The Interim party is going to feature a variety of music, but the mandate is that the tunes are danceable, said DJ iPod of Calisthenics Sound System.

"This means everything from old funk and soul to old school reggae to my speciality, which is current house music," he said.

"I believe that currently in Bermuda, the only crew spinning what can be considered cutting edge non-commercial house and dance music is the Calisthenics Sound System, which is myself, DJ iPod and DJ Gamadon."

DJ iPod said his passion for House music began when he was off the Island studying during the mid-nineties in Toronto.

"During those years I had the opportunity to see the dance music scene at its peak when there would be several underground parties every weekend that had between 1,000 to 3,000 people," he said.

"These would go into the early hours of the morning and many people from all walks of life would come together to join in this all-night celebration of music.

"Those experiences became my inspiration to become a DJ and start throwing parties back here. I wanted to bring together anybody on the Island that liked to dance ? which is a broad spectrum of people ? to have a good time, and to hopefully create some social capital in this way as well.

"At first, the reaction of people to a whole night of house music wasn't good, as people in Bermuda are used to a more diverse selection of tunes, so I've begun to add different guest DJ's to the line up that can play different types of music."

In addition to DJ iPod and Gamadon, there are the Dirkistan Freedom Fighters, who are affiliated with the Chewstick crew and have played at the Barmuvinjam parties as well.

"They will play a broad selection of songs, including Hip Hop, Reggae, and R&B," he said.

"Jon Legere is just beginning to play out as a DJ and I think we can expect to hear something unpredictable, from Rock, to Electro and anything you can think of. One thing that's also interesting is that Calisthenics will be playing only vinyl records, the Dirkistan Fighters only CD's, and Jon Legere uses a computer to DJ, so people attending will get to see the past, present, and future of where deejaying is going."

The Interim is located on the corner of Reid and King Streets, Hamilton, and the Gallery is open from Wednesday ? Saturday 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The show opens on Friday and runs until February 1.