Gallery Crawl Downtown Tonight

I know you're probably all too familiar with bar crawls, those ingenious schemes to throw your liver to the wind and ingest as much alcohol over as much ground as possible. They're fine and dandy, but if blacking out is not your thing, I'd like to introduce to you a PG-rated version: art gallery crawls, such as the one that starts tonight in the Cultural District downtown. (No, not convinced? Still need the booze to make that "crawl" quite literal? Well, this ends at 9:00, so you'll have plenty of time afterward to dance on tables and make bad decisions.)

Eighteen different venues will open their doors to the public for FREE, so head downtown at 5:30 this evening and check out some light installations, expressionist paintings, story-telling stand-up, robots, the tunes of a gospel choir, steel pan bands, cha cha dancers, and sugar sculptures--just to name a few. (Still think endless pitchers of Natty Light beats this? Get out before I punch you in the face.)

This fantastic plethora of events is put on four times a year by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and TONIGHT is the first one of the year. (Sorry for the short notice... I just found out about it this morning, while lazily listening to my radio alarm of 91.3 wyep, which is one of the sponsors.)

It would take forever to describe all 18 showcases, so I'll just direct you to the website here
and describe a few that stood out to me (although all seem great and magnificent! Check them all out!):

-The Wood Street Galleries is presenting the installations of Argentinian artist Martin Bonadeo in "Alba Magica MMX." These interactive, three-dimensional pieces of art allow the gallery crawlers to get involved. For example, one called 'real time vanitas' is described as follows: "The spectators pass beneath a light bulb and a camera takes a middle ground shot of them. This image is projected in real time on a sand glass timer perfumed with naphthalene. As time is passing by the projected image vanishes and gets lost upon the sand glass." (Say WHAAAAT. Trippy sand glass timers? I'm there.)

-The August Wilson Center on Liberty Avenue is showing a different interactive exhibit (although this one seems less psychedelic and a little more city-centric): "Pittsburgh: Reclaim, Renew, Remix", in which both a display of "imagery, film and oral history" and the personal anecdotes of visitors tell the stories of African Americans living in Western Pennsylvania.

-Down the street is Pittsburgh's very own cartoon museum--one of only three in the country--called Toonseum. (I totally didn't know we had this and--uber-dork that I am--cannot wait to check out.) Crawlers can see a hundred year's worth of cartoons "from Gertie the Dinosaur to Spongebob" in 'Enchanted Drawings: A Century of Animation.' Showcased is a tribute to Art Clokely, the late creator of that lovable almost-not-three-dimensional Gumby.

-Also on Liberty Avenue at the Bricolage Space is the stand-up performance of "For Real For Real," based on the Moth, the hit story-telling series in NYC and LA. Pittsburgh's version of the "yarn-spinning extravaganza" features "only a microphone, an audience, and the true-to-life narratives of local performers." (I've listened to performances of the Moth on PRI's This American Life and was impressed by the raw, emotional stories these people told. I know down-to-earth Pittsburghers can keep this tradition going.)

So cancel that date to the Southside Works and grab your bike or hop on a bus headed downtown (any of the 71s or the 500.) The next gallery crawl isn't until April (again! I'm sorry if you read this too late! I suck!) so I recommend you take advantage of this free opportunity to immerse yourself in the greater arts community of our city. Do something fun tonight that will actually create brain cells instead of destroying them.