Ideas about time and place are the common threads in two otherwise very different artworks now at aceartinc under the title Re: Location.

Scott Conarroe's Civil Twilight looks at Halifax in a series of long-exposure photographs. Then there's Boja Vasic and Vessna Perunovich's video installation Parallel World, which takes us through a day in a Roma enclave of downtown Belgrade. In each case, the manipulation of time is central to the work's effect.

Conarroe's seven large and painterly colour prints occupy most of the space. Ordinary urban landscapes such as residential lanes, railways and suburban backyards relate a (former) resident's vision of the city. Not postcard views perhaps, but quite beautiful. Because the scenes are time-exposure shots at civil twilight (technically, when the sun's centre is six degrees below the horizon), the camera captures more than the momentary. Smoke rises from chimneys and stacks in hazy streaks, the tail lights of passing vehicles streak, and there's more bright and vibrant light than our eyes can usually see at such times.

These photographs are more daydreams than facts, Connaroe writes in an accompanying artist's statement. He seems to be right about that. The technique plays up the quaint and calm that life in Halifax might romantically be thought to be. But with a focus on roadways, railways, and ship yards in several of the images, Civil Twilight also speaks subtly about the city's economy and the comings and goings of goods and people, though there's not a soul to be seen.

Parallel World, in contrast, is very much about perceptions of people. Europe's Roma population has long faced prejudice, violence, and exclusion, existing on society's margins, such as in the settlement presented in Vasic and Perunovich's videos.

Two videos play side-by-side. On the left, the video shows us a view of the world of the Roma, the camera moving us continuously to the left, as though on an axis, as the sun rises and sets. Men, women and children cross the frame, going about daily activities. With an ethnic music soundtrack, the mood here is not without hope and joy, even though amenities seem to be few and the piles of waste high.

On the right, a much slower video plays. Two young boys smile and pose heroically for the camera, giving rise to the question of what their future might hold in this busy but constrained world, a thought that resonates through the piece as a whole. While some Roma rights activists call for the full integration of Roma children into mainstream society, others would like to see their education, in public schools, include a focus on preserving Roma history and culture.

The issues facing Roma clans will not go away soon, and Parallel World explores both the misunderstanding about and the invisibility of their struggle. It also carries a message about ethnic stereotyping that could well be applied more generally, not least in our own city.