HIVE at Wood St Galleries Through December 31

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org      
Diana Roth, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST’S
PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS
Presents
LARGE-SCALE AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATIONS
BY KURT HENTSCHLÄGER IN THE CULTURAL DISTRICT
HIVE | through December 31 | Wood Street Galleries


PITTSBURGH, PA—The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announces two large-scale audiovisual installations by Chicago-based, Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger as part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts*.

HIVE is open through December 31, 2013, at Wood Street Galleries.

HIVE is a 3D-animated audiovisual installation in which visitors encounter swirling amorphous human figures appearing as a mass, or hive, rather than as individual beings. The choreographed, projected motion, light, and sound patterns create an immersive audiovisual landscape without a beginning or an end. The computer-generated HIVE takes on a life of its own, creating an artificial organism in perpetual motion.

Kurt Hentschläger began exhibiting his work in 1983. He creates audiovisual installations and performances, featuring film, video, animation, and sound. The immersive nature of his work investigates human perception and the impact of new technologies on consciousness. Granular Synthesis has exhibited internationally, at such venues as the Venice Biennal; National Art Museum of China; Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Rotterdam Film Festival; Museum for Contemporary Arts, Taipei; Eyebeam, New York; PS1 New York; and Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul Korea. Hentschläger is currently a full-time visiting artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

*Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival (Sept. 27–Oct. 26, 2013) featuring exclusive U.S. and world premieres by highly-acclaimed international artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events are presented in association with other Pittsburgh cultural organizations and offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.

About Wood Street Galleries
Wood Street Galleries is located at 601 Wood Street. Hours: Wed. & Thur. 11 a.m.–6 p.m.; Fri. & Sat. 11 a.m.–8 p.m.; Sun. 11 a.m.–5 p.m. The gallery is free and open to the public. Wood Street Galleries is a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Support for Wood Street Galleries has been provided by the Howard Heinz Endowment and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Additional support provided by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. For more information about all gallery exhibitions featured in the Cultural District, please visit www.TrustArts.org.

About The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Seeking Fearless Female Cast Member for Measure Back

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org      
Diana Roth, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

SEEKING FEARLESS FEMALE CAST MEMBER FOR
U.S. PREMIERE OF NEW WORK

MEASURE BACK
Produced and Co-Directed by Christopher McElroen & T. Ryder Smith
October 22nd – October 26th | Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

PITTSBURGH, PA:  The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced that the organization is seeking a fearless actress of range and versatility, comfortable with audience interaction and improvisation to perform in Measure Back from October 22nd to October 26th at 8 p.m. in the Baum Building, Fifth Floor, 818 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh. Measure Back is a theatre-event produced and co-directed by Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith.  McElroen is an award-winning Brooklyn based theatre producer and director. T. Ryder Smith is a Drama Desk award-winning actor who has appeared on Broadway, regional theatre, TV and radio. The production is part of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, four weeks of diverse programming featuring acclaimed international companies and artists premiering works never before seen in the United States.

“We are excited to premiere this work in the great city of Pittsburgh, and join its rich theatrical history,” shared producers and co-directors Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith. “Included in our 3-person cast will be a member of the local theatre community, and we hope to reach out to local audiences as well, especially those who might not be in the habit of going to the theatre.”

The production is seeking an actress between the ages of 20 to 30; of Asian, South Asian, African American, Caribbean, Latin American, or Middle Eastern heritage; must be comfortable speaking, acting, and ad-libbing in a language other than English. Fluency not strictly required. Stage combats experience a plus. Sense of humor a big plus. Play contains no nudity, but does deal with sexual situations, violence, and profanity.

The actress hired for this role will be deliberately under-rehearsed, and perform with their relative uncertainty about “how to do this” as a thematic part of the event.  The actress will be required to memorize, in a foreign language, one monologue from the play, one dialogue scene, and several individual lines. This is required BEFORE they start rehearsal.

The performer will rehearse 2 days with the cast once they arrive in Pittsburgh on October 21, 2013 and will perform for five shows, October 22 – 26, 2013.

All interested candidates must send their headshots and resumes to measureback@gmail.com no later than October 4, 2013.

ABOUT MEASURE BACK
What does it mean to say we are at war?  Can we, as "non-combatants", change the course of war? The visceral and thought-provoking work Measure Back seeks a path between the citizen-as-spectator and the citizen-as- participant.  Set in an immersive theatrical environment to examine scenes of conflict ranging from Homer’s The Iliad to today's headlines, Measure Back uses audience participation to probe how war is constructed and performed - from conception through consensus to action. Measure Back is a theatre event, produced and co-directed by Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith, written by T. Ryder Smith.
* Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival featuring exclusive U.S. and World premieres by highly-acclaimed international artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.  For more information, visitwww.TrustArts.org/Firsts.

ABOUT THE PITTSBURGH CULTURAL TRUST
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Rubber Duck Bridge Party Launches PIFOF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-1578 / miles@TrustArts.org
Diana Roth – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-8717 / roth@TrustArts.org
Saul Markowitz – Markowitz Communications,
412.577.5140 /412-977-8517 (cell)

Images available at:
http://TrustArts.org/Press
Search name:  FIRSTS
For More Information: www.TrustArts.org/FIRSTS

THE RUBBER DUCK BRIDGE PARTY
SPECIAL OPENING NIGHT
OF THE PITTSBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF FIRSTS


What:   THE RUBBER DUCK BRIDGE PARTY
Launching the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts
Where:  Roberto Clemente Bridge (also known as the Sixth Street Bridge) | Downtown Pittsburgh
Date:     Friday, September 27
Time:   5:30pm to 10:00pm

To launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust will be closing the Roberto Clemente Bridge to welcome The Rubber Duck Project to Pittsburgh and to the United States for the first time. Festivities for the evening include the appearance of the 4-story high, three-story wide Rubber Duck, Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s largest Night Market on the bridge with food and art vendors, and special guest appearances that are to be announced. Opening the event will be hosts Mikey and Big Bob from KISS FM with DJ Scottro playing tunes into the evening.

The Rubber Duck Bridge Party will run in tandem with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Fall Gallery Crawl in the Cultural District - a free quarterly showcase of art and entertainment.

About the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts
This year’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (September 27-October 26) features companies and artists representing a vast array of countries from The Netherlands, Quebec, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland and Nova Scotia as well as the United States.  The Festival, a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, offers an eclectic mix of theater, dance, puppetry, music and visual arts handpicked from around the world.  Join us for some of the most exciting new works begin created in the international contemporary performing arts and visual arts fields.  Be first in line to experience art never before presented in the United States.  For more information regarding the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, visit TrustArts.org/Firsts.

About the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity.  Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.
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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Compagnie Marie Chouinard Premieres

For Immediate Release

Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-1578/Miles@TrustArts.org      
Diana Roth, Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
412-471-8717/Roth@TrustArts.org

U.S. PREMIERES WILL FEATURE
MODERN DANCE WORKS INSPIRED BY POETRY AND
CHOREOGRAPHY SET TO CLASSIC PIANO SCORE

Pittsburgh Dance Council
Presents
Compagnie Marie Chouinard
8:00 p.m.
Saturday, September 28, 2013
Byham Theater


Pittsburgh, PA: The Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, brings you Compagnie Marie Chouinardon Saturday, September 28, 2013, at 8:00 p.m., at the Byham Theater.  Marie Chouinard and her Compagnie will open the Dance Council’s 2013-2014 season and launch the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts*, performing two U.S. premieres Michaux Mouvements and Gymnopedia.

Inspired by the book Movements, by Belgian artist Henri Michaux, Marie Chouinard creates dreamlike and interpretative dance using the poetics of the body in Michaux Movements.  The dancers form silhouette projections portraying the books India-ink drawings and poetry pieces.  Gymnopedia features eleven dancers with music set to the glorious piano pieces by Eric Satie.   Please note, these performances contain nudity.

Through a combination of movements and imagination, Montreal artist Marie Chouinard achieves an international reputation for originality preceding a twenty-eight year artistic dance career. From 1978-1990, Marie performed over fifty productions as a singular entity beginning her career with a solo piece known as Crystallization. In 1990, she formed the Compagnie which now consists of twelve dancers performing different pieces of interpretative and expressive dance. The Vancouver Sun writes that Marie Chouinard’s pieces, “felt like experiencing an event rather that watching a performance.  Marie Chouinard breaks boundaries….”

Marie Chouinard has been honored with opening and closing many art festivals that feature the company’s unique style of dance. She has collaborated with prestigious names in the art community including the Biennale de Venise, the ImPulsTanz-Vienna International Dance Festival, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbonne, Movimentos Festwochender Autostadt in Wolfsburg, Fondazione Musica Per Roma in Rome, as well as Festival TransAmériques, the Place des Arts in Montreal, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.


Tickets ($19-$55) may be purchased at the Box Office at Theater Square, online at www.TrustArts.org, or by calling (412) 456-6666. Subscribe to the 2013-2014 Dance Council season by calling (412) 456-1390 or online at www.TrustArts.org/dance.

* Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (PIFOF), a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, is a city-wide, 16-day performing and visual arts festival featuring exclusive U.S. and World premieres by highly-acclaimed international artists and contemporary performing arts companies. Festival events are presented in association with other Pittsburgh cultural organizations and offer intimate experiences for audiences at various traditional and non-traditional performance venues within the downtown Cultural District and throughout the city.

Each year the Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, showcases a world-class season of dance.  As the largest presenter of international performances in the city, the Dance Council, now celebrating its 44th season, continues to help make our Cultural District one of the country’s leading arts and entertainment centers.

About The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.


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Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh

Giant Rubber Duck Makes US Debut

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts:
Shaunda Miles – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-1578 / Miles@TrustArts.org
Diana Roth – Pittsburgh Cultural Trust,
412-471-1578 / Roth@TrustArts.org
Saul Markowitz – Markowitz Communications, 412.577.5140 /412-977-8517 (cell)

Giant Rubber Duck Makes U.S. Debut For Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts 2013

FESTIVAL FEATURES COMPANIES AND ARTISTS PREMIERING WORKS NEVER BEFORE SEEN IN THE UNITED STATES

 Pittsburgh Cultural District
September 27 – October 26, 2013

PITTSBURGH, PA:  Studio Florentijn Hofman’s The Rubber Duck has ignited crazes in Hong Kong, Sydney and other international locales and will make its U.S. debut in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s International Festival of Firsts. Starting September 27, The Rubber Duck will launch on the Allegheny River setting in motion four weeks of diverse programming featuring acclaimed international companies and artists premiering works never before seen in the United States.  Presentations of theater, dance, music, performance and visual arts will grace several Cultural District venues, in spaces both traditional and highly unexpected.

“Pittsburgh has a confluence of international activities taking place during the fall of 2013,” said Kevin McMahon, president & CEO of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  “The city has been re-imagined and remade and is now hosting major international events-from the Carnegie International to the Remaking Cities Conference- that provide for an intriguing cultural climate.  The return of the Cultural Trust’s festival could not have taken place during a more fitting year, and we are glad to be part of the economic, cultural and quality-of-life transformation that is part of the region’s 30-year investment in the arts.”

This year’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts companies and artists represent a vast array of countries from The Netherlands, Quebec, Belgium, Australia, Switzerland and Nova Scotia as well as the United States.

“The works included within this year’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts will provide a diversity of disciplines (theater, dance, music, puppetry and physical theatre) and, it is my hope that they provide a snapshot of some of the finest work being created in the international contemporary performing arts field and will elicit a wide range of emotion, reaction and excitement from our audiences,” shared Paul Organisak, vice president of programming at The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.  “As I experienced each of them during various stages of their development, I am struck by how each artist is in some way redefining what we mean by “contemporary” in today’s culture.  This Festival is designed to ask that question and create an ongoing dialogue for Pittsburgh audiences and artists alike.”

“PIFOF offers an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the career of Kurt Hentschlager, one of the leading artists in new media art over a period of twenty years”, said Murray Horne, curator-Wood Street Galleries.

Special Opening Night of the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

Adding to the immensity of this year’s Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts is the opening night appearance of Studio Florentijn Hofman’s The Rubber Duck of The Netherlands.  The Rubber Duck knows no frontiers; it doesn’t discriminate and doesn’t have a political connotation. The friendly, floating, four-story-high Rubber Duck has healing properties: it can relieve mondial tensions as well as define them. The duck has been on display in Amsterdam, Belgium, Osaka, Sydney, Sao Paulo and Hong Kong and arrives in the US for the first time for the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts.

Studio Florentijn Hofman | THE RUBBER DUCK
Friday, September 27 – TBD
Allegheny Riverfront

http://tiny.cc/rubberduck


Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts Schedule

Marie Chouinard (Quebec), September 28, 8pm. Byham Theater
Kiss & Cry (Belgium), October 2, 3, 4, 8pm, New Hazlett Theater

It’s Dark Outside (Australia), October 9, 10, 12, 9pm, Pierce Studio-Trust Arts Ed. Center
The Pigeoning (USA), October 9, 10, 12, 7pm, Bricolage
Zimmermann& de Perrot (Switzerland), October 18, 19, 2pm, Byham Theater
Measure Back (USA),  October 22-26,  8pm, Baum Bldg., 5th Floor
The God That Comes (Nova Scotia), October 24-26, 10pm, Cabaret at Theater Square

Compagnie Marie Chouinard

Compagnie Marie Chouinard | *GYMNOPEDIES and HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS
Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 p.m.
Byham Theater | 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Marie Chouinard creates dance conceived from primeval dreams — earthy and strong, yet shaped by irrepressible secrets and unseen dimensions in time. The performance includes the U.S. premiere of GYMNOPÉDIES, set to glorious solo piano works by Erik Satie, and HENRI MICHAUX: MOUVEMENTS, inspired by a book of poetry and drawings by Belgian artist Henri Michaux.   *Contains nudity.

NanoDanses , Michèle Anne De Mey & Jaco Van Dormael | KISS & CRY
October 2, 3 & 4 at 8:00 p.m.
New Hazlett Theater | 6 Allegheny Square East (Northside), Pittsburgh, PA 15212

A woman nearing the end of her life recounts her greatest loves in this sweeping, romantic work.  Hands visually portray characters with a beautifully engaging sensual presence, moving around a set of miniatures with absolute precision. A unique blend of film, dance, text and theatre, Kiss & Cryis an unforgettable experience.

Robin Frohardt, HARP (HERE Artist Residency Program) | THE PIGEONING
October 9, 10 & 12 at 7:00 p.m.
Bricolage | 937 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

Meet Frank, an obsessive compulsive consumed with routines.  Enter a flock of pigeons and experience The Pigeoning, a darkly comedic work that combines bunraku puppetry, music and video to examine mankind’s obsession with cleanliness, safety and control.  Brimming with originality and humor, The Pigeoning is an entertaining exploration of the human condition.

Perth Theatre Company | It’s Dark Outside
October 9, 10 & 12 at 9:00 p.m.
Peirce Studio | Trust Education Center, 805-807 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

It's Dark Outside Pictured: Chris Isaacs & Arielle Gray (Credit: Richard Jefferson)

Inspired by experiences and research into Alzheimer’s and Sundowner’s Syndrome, Tim Watts’ newest production in collaboration with Arielle Gray and Chris Isaacs, is a heartfelt, fearless, and inventive adventure. Puppetry, mask, animation, live performance and an original music score by the award-winning composer Rachael Dease, are expertly intertwined to create a grand epic Western about redemption and dementia.

Zimmermann & de Perrot | Hans was Heiri
Friday, October 18 at 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, October 19 at 2:00 p.m.
Byham Theater | 101 Sixth Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

The inventive Swiss directors duo Zimmermann & de Perrot have crafted an original and mischievous marriage of theater, circus and dance. Poets as well as magicians, their choreography, music and set design overflows with cunning depth and humor. In Hans was Heiri, the stage design revolves on a horizontal axis, forcing the performers into the most unlikely positions.

Christopher McElroen and T. Ryder Smith | Measure Back
October 22, 23, 24, 25, 26 at 8:00 p.m.
Baum Building, Fifth Floor | 818 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15222

What does it mean to say we are at war?  Can we, as “non-combatants”, change the course of war? The visceral and thought-provoking work Measure Back seeks a path between the citizen-as-spectator and the citizen-as- participant.  Set in an immersive theatrical environment to examine scenes of conflict ranging from Homer’s The Iliad to today’s headlines, Measure Back uses audience participation to probe how war is constructed and performed – from conception through consensus to action.

2b theatre company | *The God That Comes
October 24, 25, 26 at 10:00 p.m.
Cabaret at Theater Square | 633 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA  1522

The God That Comes

Sex, wine and rock and roll!  Hawksley Workman’s intoxicating one-man cabaret, pop and glam rock hybrid recreates the story of Bacchus, the Greco-Roman god of wine, following Euripides’ The Bacchae.  In a world ruled by an oppressive king, the lesser classes let loose in a hedonistic spiritual revolution fuelled by wine, ritual madness and ecstasy. *Contains strong language.

TICKETS:  Tickets for all performances are $25.  To purchase, visit TrustArts.org/First, call 412-456-6666 or visit the Theater Square Box Office, 655 Penn Avenue (located at the intersection of Penn Avenue and Seventh Street in Downtown Pittsburgh).

Pittsburgh International Festival of First Visual Art Presentations

Kurt Hentschlager (USA) | Hive (Austria/USA, 2011)
September 27-December 31
Wood Street Galleries | Located above the T-Station at Wood Street and Sixth Avenue

Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 11a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Hive

Hive is a 3D-animated audiovisual installation where gallery visitors confront a swirling mass of amorphous figures, appearing as a genderless collective of matter as opposed to individual beings. Choreographed motion, light and sound form an immersive and dynamic figurative landscape without a beginning or an end. Moment by moment, the computer-generated Hive takes on a life of its own, creating an artificial organism in eternal motion and interplay.

Kurt Hentschlager and Ulf Langheinrich (USA/Austria) |
Granular Synthesis: Model 5 and POL
September 27-October 20
SPACE | 812 Liberty Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA  15222

Hours: Wednesday & Thursday 11a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday & Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Model 5

Model 5 (Austria/USA, 1994)
An unprecedented visual, acoustic and physical experience, Model 5 projects multiple portraits of Japanese performance artist Akemi Takeya. At once serene and kinetically beautiful, heightened mechanical rhythms manipulate the image to create a sense of schizophrenia, with the body being pulled apart and dissolving in electronic space.

POL

POL (Austria/USA, 1998)
The German word for “pole,” POL is a live, improvised panoramic performance that relies on high intensity light, video and audio projection, subjecting audiences to an astounding flow of stimuli to create a perceptional situation of disorientation and recollection. By emanating a feeling of what Granular Synthesis describes as “visual radiation,” POL engulfs the audience by erasing all sensual barriers.

Also Taking Place During The Festival

Kurt Hentschlager (USA) | Zee (Austria/USA, 2008)
September 26-October 27
943 Liberty Avenue | Pittsburgh, PA  15222
Hours: Saturday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Chicago-based Austrian artist Kurt Hentschlager invites visitors to explore an enclosed space filled with a dense, odorless fog that completely obscures the gallery walls, floor and ceiling. A droning soundscape intensifies this full-immersion experience, which shifts dynamically according to changes in the color, frequency and intensity of the light. Exhilarating as well as meditative, the pulsing, stroboscopic audiovisual journey that is ZEE pushes the boundaries of human perception.

About Kurt Hentschlager
Chicago based Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger creates audiovisual performances and installations. He began to exhibit his work in 1983, creating surreal machine-objects, and since has been working with time-based media, film, video, animation and sound. 

The immersive nature of his work reflects on the metaphor of the sublime and the human condition. His current work further researches human perception and the impact of new technologies on both individual and collective consciousness.

About Granular Synthesis
The Austrian audiovisual media artistic duo of Kurt Hentschlager and Ulf Langheinrich create large scale installations that fuse sight and sound into one medium. Through their manipulation of technology, the works of Granular Synthesis serve to challenge human perception, conditioning and consciousness.

ADMISSIONS: All visual arts exhibitions are free and open to the public

About the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh’s most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country’s largest land masses “curated” by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity.  Using the arts as an economic catalyst, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh’s quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts
The Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts is supported by Anonymous donor, Hillman Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Buhl Foundation, Carol R. Brown Performance Fund, Snee-Reinhardt Charitable Trust, Richard King Mellon Foundation, Joan Humphrey and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation.

Posted on behalf of Dreamweaver Marketing Associates.  Joyce Kane is the owner of Cybertary Pittsburgh, a Virtual Administrative support company, providing virtual office support, personal and executive assistance, creative design services and light bookkeeping.  Cybertary works with businesses and busy individuals to help them work 'on' their business rather than 'in' their business.  www.Cybertary.com/Pittsburgh