Up against a wall or rolling down a grassy slope, New Haven’s got your back this week. Indoors, there are a bunch of social-issue film screenings at Yale (from local food concerns to Dickens’ Oliver Twist) and food-related art on the walls of a cupcake shop. Outdoors, there are major community festivals in the East Rock neighborhood and Edgerton Park. Sensory dazzlement, inside or out.
Monday, Sept. 10
The Arts Council of Greater New Haven has devoted the September issue of its Arts Paper periodical to “The Art of Food,” and the Katalina’s cupcake shop provides some frosting for that conceptual cake by hanging food-themed art around the shop today through November 2. Artists include Joan Fitzsimmons, Laura Barr, Alexis Neider, Barbara Marks and Lisa Hess Hesselgrave. An opening reception will be held next Tuesday, September 18, from 5 to 7 p.m. 74 Whitney Ave., New Haven.
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Tuesday, Sept. 11
Alan Abel is a prankster supreme. In his 1970 memoir Confessions of a Hoaxer he described such outrageous projects as his Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, his campaign to elect Yetta Bronstein (a New York housewife he invented, and whom his wife Jeanne voiced in phone interviews) for President of the United States and the Topless String Quartet he created by auditioning nude figure models then writing up a bunch of phony reviews to pretend that they’d actually played concerts. Abel has continued to pull pranks and tweak social sensibilities in the four decades since Confessions was published, and his daughter Jennifer made an award-winning documentary about him in 2004. Tonight Abel’s the attraction for the Institute Library’s monthly “Amateur Hour” series, in a discussion moderated by Joshua Foer. 7 p.m. $10; $5 for Library members. 847 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 562-4045.
Wednesday, Sept. 12
At Café Nine, the Woggles (pictured in the third image of the slider above) bring back the reckless style and excitement of ‘60s garage rock and psychedelia, strumming, yelping, clapping, leaping and strutting with abandon—and with impeccable taste. The Radiation opens the 9 p.m. show. $10. 250 State St., New Haven. (203) 789-8281.
Thursday, Sept. 13
The Big Food exhibit at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History has made a big difference in how many New Haveners think about what they eat. Just ask the students from Engineering & Science University Interdistrict Magnet School. Working with the “youth-driven digital video production company” The Color of Words, the students created a short documentary about how they spread awareness of unhealthy eating habits and the national obesity crisis in their own communities. The documentary will be shown today at 5:30 p.m. in the Peabody Museum, followed by a discussion with Jeannette Ickovics—Professor at the Yale School of Public Health, Director of CARE (the Community Alliance for Research and Engagement) and the lead curator of the Big Food exhibit. Free. 170 Whitney Ave., New Haven. (203) 432-5050.
Friday, Sept. 14
A Friday-and-Saturday conference at Yale’s Whitney Humanities Center, “After the Crash: European Film circa 1929-1930,” shows how swiftly and deeply Europe was affected by America’s 1929 stock market crash and resultant Great Depression. It also demonstrates how quickly films could be made in those days. Seven films (including A Cottage on Dartmoor, pictured first in the slider above) ranging from 10 to 100 minutes in length, and directed by such masters as Kurt Siodmak, Anthony Asquith and Luis Bunuel, will show what was on the mind of the film industry at the end of a turbulent decade which also marked the transition from silent filmmaking to talkies. The conference, with screenings and talks from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday, is free. 53 Wall St., New Haven.
“Indian fusion magician” Shreeyash Palshikar returns to Lyric Hall with the Jadoo show that was such a hit at the elegant, intimate Westville venue last year. Palshikar swallows swords, juggles daggers, rests on a bed of nails and delves into the “East Indian Needle Mystery” and “The Waters of India.” A former New Haven resident, he’ll be joined at Lyric Hall by a current local Indian magician, Sean Padrigh, a Yale student who works out with the Circus Delecti carnival troupe. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., with an opening reception at Friday’s show. $20; $10 for students, seniors and Military. 827 Whalley Ave., New Haven. (203) 389-8885.
Saturday, Sept. 15
If you’re not getting enough films about the starving underclass over at the “After the Crash” film conference this weekend, The Yale Center for British Art resumes its cinematic celebration of the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, with back-to-back screenings of Clay Yurdin’s documentary London by Dickens and the 1933 American-made film of Oliver Twist directed by William Cowen. 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 432-2800.
Contrast the squalor of mid-19th century London with gorgeous outdoor New Haven at day-long, jam-packed East Rock Festival. The third annual neighborhood event rules from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Orange Street between Cottage and Willow streets, with live music, dance performances, food vendors, games for kids, face-painting and, as they say, more.
Sunday, Sept. 16
Curator and art historian Michael Peppiatt compiled the book Interviews With Artists, 1966-2012 from the decades he has spent around some of the most important painters, sculptors and photographers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The interviews in the book can be either informal exchanges with old friends or in-depth discussions. Peppiatt gets interviewed himself in a 2 p.m. discussion at the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St., New Haven. (203) 432-2800.
Yesterday’s big outdoor community festival was in East Rock. Today’s is in Edgerton Park—the 25th annual Sunday in the Park. This is a massive, immaculately planned event that uses the beautiful park to its utmost and is styled as an “English country fair.” Books, plants, baked goods and “white elephant” stuff is for sale. Rides include ponies, bungee cords, a horse-drawn wagon and a sky line. There’s a rock climbing wall and a “Tuxedo Junction” to dance at. Performers include Morris Dancers, swing dancers and folk singers. There’s invariably someone on stilts, or dressed as a clown. Quieter pursuits include chess matches, science and nature displays and the opportunity to browse the Edgerton Park Greenhouse and the park itself.
