If you found yourself asking, "What the heck was that all about?" after seeing James Maszle's "Perfect Night," you're not alone. Part of the exhibition "Interplay" at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, the multimedia installation is in parts kitschy, sweet and eerie.

Populating a sound-infused, black-light illuminated gallery are dismembered female mannequins, urns, a religious statue, rustic fence, shovels, 2-foot-high letters made of faux daisies that spell out "thanks," a fluttering kite. Glowing neutered nude male and female figures dominate -- he standing against a star-studded sky holding a roll of kite sting, she sliced in half with a black net enveloping her face. A video includes a night scene of a clothed young man who walks into a river followed by a doppelganger who approaches from behind, then blends into, the first figure.

Mr. Maszle writes in his artist statement that the work is "an illustration of a waking dream. I wanted to make an artwork about the joy I feel with my young daughter flying kites in the front yard." While photographing the installation, he introduced the element of darkness and "another side of the perfect day, an unexpected encounter with the mystery of individual identity ... Mystery is the only subject matter that we have left."

The element of fantasy, of lightheartedness, of realms of possibility, characterize this exhibition, which elicits smiles in every room even as the visitor is challenged to ponder artist intent.

The exhibition title derives from its being the first collaborative exhibition among the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh (part of AAP's centennial celebration), Pittsburgh Filmmakers/Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, and the eight affiliated PCA guilds: Craftsmen's Guild of Pittsburgh, Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh, Group A, Pittsburgh Print Group, Pittsburgh Society of Artists, Pittsburgh Society of Sculptors, Pittsburgh Watercolor Society and Women of Visions, Inc.

Juror Eric C. Shiner, Milton Fine curator of art at The Andy Warhol Museum, wrote that he selected for "like-minded works that play well together. And it is just that concept of play, embedded as it is in the term 'interplay,' that I kept in the back of my mind as I put this show together."

That tactic worked as a way of uniting, and putting the best face upon, a very diverse population of local artists. And upon a show that draws with expectation from room to room.

Hisham Youssef liberated a beech from barbed wire abuse, by killing it, for "Nature vs. Nurture," in which the nearly 10-foot high tree becomes sculpture and monument. Mary Towner's "Bolero Mousies," made of felted cat fur, dance up and across a wall, and by suggestion beyond.

Ian Page combines rainbows and ground meat imagery in digital prints "Rainbow and Meat Bulb," while Martha and Jay Ressler combine digital photography and fiber art in "The Uncertainty Principle," both amalgams of science, color and inventiveness. Wesley Smith's digital print "Deep Woods Silkie" continues the quirky, slightly creepy show atmosphere.

Not everything in the exhibition is so wildly imaginative, and there are many solid works that exhibit technical proficiency, have political intent and explore material. While digital triumphs, the video element was disappointing in comparison.

Exceptional is Wendy Osher's astute, politically charged "Continental Drift," a 19-by 9-foot fiber work made of labels snipped from clothing. These she composed into a global map, placing each in a position that approximates the location of its country of origin, to "represent a snapshot of the post-industrial textile landscape in our closets," she writes in her artist statement.

Suspended from the ceiling, the airy piece moves slightly in response to visitors passing by, "much as the vagaries of politics and money shift the universe of agriculture, transportation and garment industry workers."

That's an interplay that is worthy of contemplation.

"Interplay" continues through Aug. 22 at 6300 Fifth Ave., Shadyside. Information: 412-361-1370 or www.aapgh.org.

Regarding my June 30 story about the auction of photographs from the Polaroid Collection, Stephen Perloff, editor of The Photograph Collector, wrote with a clarification:

"I'm writing to point out an important distinction that most people miss, partly because of the language that Sotheby's used: The court did not order the sale. The trustee chose to sell what the court ruled was Polaroid's property."

The trustee had several options, Mr. Perloff said by phone, including to offer the photographs to various museums, which was done. However, the price asked was higher than those institutions were willing to pay and the works were given over to auction.

A centennial year highlight exhibition, "Associated Artists of Pittsburgh at Fallingwater," opens with a free public reception at the Fallingwater Visitor Center Gallery from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday. AAP members interpret the famed house and grounds in many media.

The Banksy film, "Exit Through the Gift Shop," will end its run at the Regent Square Theater tomorrow night, but Pittsburgh Filmmakers is holding it over Friday through Monday at their Melwood Screening Room, 477 Melwood Ave., North Oakland (412-682-4111).

The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is holding a Wet Sale Weekend July 23-25. Modeled upon the successful Paint Outs held at its Ligonier Valley branch, the Weekend comprises approximately 25 artists painting out of doors Friday and Saturday followed by an exhibition and sale from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday (free admission, 1-814-472-3920).

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