A Beating Heart of Social Import.

There's a small, inspired exhibition cocooned inside ''30 Seconds Off an Inch,'' an exhibition of 60 disparate artworks by 42 artists at the Studio Museum in Harlem. Similarly, its catalog essay, while convoluted and sometimes sophomoric, takes a refreshingly visual, even formal approach to art that is usually admired exclusively for its political and social meanings. But the whole thing feels extremely green. It is no surprise to learn that show and catalog both are the first major effort of a 33-year-old assistant curator, Naomi Beckwith, who came to the Studio Museum in 2007, after a two-year fellowship at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]