Politics and the 2004-05 Carnegie International dominated the Pittsburgh art scene this year.

The presidential election inspired more participation by visual and performing artists than any since the 1960s. Local artists contributed to the "Partisan Project," which designed and distributed free anti-George Bush posters, and a bipartisan exhibition titled "The War Room" was organized by artist Robert Raczka and held at Artists Image Resource.

The Andy Warhol Museum, in collaboration with the International Center for Photography in New York City, hosted the exhibition "Inconvenient Evidence: Iraqi Prison Photographs from Abu Ghraib" this fall. The Warhol, in collaboration with The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza (Dallas), also presented "November 22, 1963: Image, Memory, Myth," commemorating the 40th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. Over the summer, Wood Street Galleries exhibited "100 Suns," 100 photographs of above-ground nuclear tests compiled by Michael Light.

The buzz over the International gained energy when curator Laura Hoptman announced the names of participating artists in April, culminating in a gala opening weekend in October. On the down side, the departure of associate curator of fine arts Linda Batis from the Carnegie leaves a hole in the museum's staff that will be difficult to fill with like capability and dedication.

The Pittsburgh Center for the Arts laid off staff and shut down in August because of a financial crisis but has been on the upswing -- reinstating classes, exhibitions and the shop -- since Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Charlie Humphrey took over the reins as interim executive director in October.

Two new galleries opened locally. The February inaugural exhibition at SPACE, a Pittsburgh Cultural Trust property, was "Petite Enveloppe Urbaine," featuring Pittsburgh and Montreal artists. The Three River Arts Festival, ensconced in new digs, chose Allegheny College professor Robert Raczka to launch its Downtown gallery.

The Festival maintained a high standard for its visual art, including the Annual Exhibition and public artist Steven Siegel, and stirred controversy with its Graffiti Mural Invitational.

Splendid solo exhibitions by local artists were abundant, including Artist of the Year James Duesing's presentation at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts; Richard A. Stoner at Westmoreland Museum of American Art complementing "Along the Lincoln Highway;" Jeremy Boyle's elaboration upon his installation at Mattress Factory; Delanie Jenkins at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild; Fellowship 2004 winner Dylan Vitone at Silver Eye Center for Photography; Watfa Midani at the Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University; Jill Palermo at Springboard Space; and Duane Michals, an honorary local, at the Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery.

Finally, Pittsburgh's arts community made favorable impressions on participants in the first National Performing Arts Convention held here in June, and on those attending a first-rate symposium initiated by Terry Smith of the University of Pittsburgh that brought world-renowned theorists in to discuss "Modernity & Contemporaneity: Antinomies of Art & Culture After the 20th Century."

Comparing art exhibitions is like comparing aardvarks and paramecia, but here's an attempt at the year's Top Ten:

1. "CARNEGIE INTERNATIONAL 2004-05"
Carnegie Museum of Art

This periodic and much anticipated Carnegie Museum of Art exhibition -- the second oldest of its kind globally -- is big, bold and beautiful, and has a mind too. It continues through March 20 (but start on it before then).

2. "ANDY WARHOL'S 'TIME CAPSULES'"
Andy Warhol Museum

Reviewer Barry Hannegan wrote of this display of the contents of 17 'capsules' (Warhol filled 612 total) at The Andy Warhol Museum: "We approach here the human being who provided the foundation for the construction of one of the most cannily wrought personalities of the second half of the last century." It continues through Jan. 2.

3. "HUDSON RIVER SCHOOL: MASTERWORKS FROM THE WADSWORTH ATHENEUM MUSEUM OF ART" AND "ELOQUENT VISTAS: THE ART OF 19TH-CENTURY AMERICAN LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE COLLECTION"
Carnegie Museum of Art

This double bill combined the paintings of eminent artists like Thomas Cole and Frederic Church with contemporaneous photographs to expand appreciation of the context and significance of these early American artworks.

4. "FLOWERS OBSERVED, FLOWERS TRANSFORMED"
Andy Warhol Museum

From 12th-century Chinese stoneware to a video installation by contemporary Turkish artist Kutlug Ataman (who is in the '04 Carnegie International and was awarded the coveted Carnegie Prize), this rich exhibition explored the many ways flowers have been represented.

5. "DEFIANCE DESPAIR DESIRE: GERMAN EXPRESSIONIST PRINTS FROM THE MARCIA AND GRANVIL SPECKS COLLECTION" AND "EARLY GERMAN PRINTS FROM THE COLLECTION"
Carnegie Museum of Art

Another pairing at CMA inspired reviewer Barry Hannegan to write, of the former, "Rarely are we offered an exhibition that presents an entire major movement in art;" and of the latter "...not only a celebration of an exceptional chapter in the history of Western art, but also a powerful reminder of the forces that, over time, shape and enrich some portion of a museum's collection."

6. "FELIX DE LA CONCHA, A CONTRARRELOJ: A RACE AGAINST TIME"
The Frick Art & Historical Center

Paintings done by this Spanish artist at and about The Frick invigorated technique as elegant as the setting with conceptual ideas that inspired a new way of considering the grounds.

7. "FIBERART INTERNATIONAL 2004"
Society for Contemporary Craft/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts

This 18th contemporary fiber art biennial was organized by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh and it traveled to the Museum of Arts & Design, New York City -- a high compliment.

8. "PERCHANCE TO DREAM ..."
Society for Contemporary Craft

Artists working in a variety of media found inspiration in the subconscious realm that we all visit so regularly and know so little about. Continues through Jan. 15.

9. "ALLURE ELECTRONICA"
Wood Street Galleries

Digital works by six artists -- all women -- proved that success with technology isn't gender-specific. Does it differ from what men do? "Guys are obsessed with hardware. Women are obsessed with the software, meaning the content," curator and artist Claudia Hart said.

10. "PITTSBURGH SIGNS PROJECT"
This egalitarian effort to create visual and cultural documentation by photographing Pittsburgh's signs continues to grow at www.pittsburghsigns.org.