Pittsburgh Events & Happenings

From www.post-gazette.com

Blockbuster Arts Events

Starting Sept. 27, through three distinct art events, the world will converge on Pittsburgh. On Sept. 27, the Rubber Duck Project, an outdoor art installation, will launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. This giant, four-story rubber duck (by Florentijn Hofman of the Netherlands) will grace the Allegheny River’s northern tip of Point State Park until Oct. 20. It sets the stage for the International Festival of Firsts – four dizzying weeks of international artists premiering works that have never before been seen in the United States. Then, Oct. 4 marks the opening of the 2013 Carnegie International at the Carnegie Museum of Art. This world-renowned exhibition brings together 34 artists from 19 countries, including a series of large-scale new commissions. Seriously, it’s some serious art happenings in the City of Bridges.

Historic Hotel

Pittsburgh will be home to a new historic hotel. ThenDesign Architecture was awarded the Embassy Suites 228-room hotel interior on the top 10 floors of the historic Oliver Building conversion in downtown Pittsburgh. Numerous features of this high-profile grand old building, designed by Daniel Burnham & Company in 1908, will be captured in the design.

Soup Sega

It’s fall so it’s time for the Soup Sega! season at the Bulgarian Macedonian National Educational and Cultural Center. The center’s culinary program, which runs through Memorial Day, has been around for about 14 years. Each Saturday morning, locals line up to buy homemade soups, like Balkan bean, cabbage and tomato, or creamy mushroom. They’re available in frozen half- and whole-quart sizes. And while it’s a culinary blast from the past, the homemade soups can be ordered online and, in most cases, are gluten-free, vegetarian and even vegan!

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

ScareHouse, one of America’s best haunted house attractions, opened its newest terrifying thrill. The Basement, which allows only one or two guests to enter at a time, promises a terrifying experience unlike anything experienced at traditional haunted houses. This new experience involves adult content, explicit language, crawling, handcuffs and physical contact with disturbing characters in disgusting situations. Sound like fun? All customers must be 18 years or older and are required to sign a waiver before entering.

Pop Art

Burton Morris came home to Pittsburgh for a hero's welcome in September with the opening of "Poptastic! The Art of Burton Morris," the first retrospective of his work, on view through Feb. 23 at the Senator John Heinz History Center. The exhibition features more than 100 works of art by the Pittsburgh native Morris, who gained national acclaim when his artwork was selected to hang on the set of the NBC hit television series, “Friends.” The exhibit includes early art and drawings from Morris' childhood, signature painted works, product lines such as his Pittsburgh ties, sculptural work and interactive works of art developed in conjunction with the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University. Over the years, Morris’ artwork has been selected for the 76th Academy Awards®, the 2004 Summer Olympic Games, and the 2006 MLB All-Star Game. Catch Poptastic!, which runs through February 23.

Get your Vote OnCarnegie Museum of Art will be featured in a six-week online campaign to save Pennsylvania’s Top 10 Endangered Artifacts. One of the so-called endangered artifacts is the collection of Charles “Teenie” Harris, the African-American photographer who captured 20th-century urban black experience with unparalleled intimacy and depth. The archive contains previously unexamined films shot by Harris, which bring key moments to life: documenting Negro League baseball from the Forbes Field grandstand, observing street life by the legendary Crawford Grill, or portraying neighborhood personalities and events. It may contain the only existing film footage of life in Pittsburgh's thriving Hill District in the 1930s and 1940s. This campaign, which runs through midnight, Nov. 1, is an innovative experiment in nonprofit crowdfunding. The public is encouraged to support the conservation of these unique through voting, sharing and donating at PATop10Artifacts.org/film.