Experience a magic show Downtown, check out three new installations at the Mattress Factory or listen to "Coming Home" by the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Magic
Vancouver-based magician Shawn Farquhar visits Liberty Magic for a 12-day run. Farquhar, known for appearances on “The X-Files” and “Highlander,” blends magic and comedy. His latest show, “Déjà Vu: An Experience to Remember,” is a choose-your-own-adventure show heavy on audience participation. It opens Wed., March 6, and many performances are already close to capacity.
Words
As the creator of the 1619 Project, which explored slavery’s inextricable role in U.S. history, Nikole Hannah Jones is one of the country’s best-known journalists. Jones, who won a Pulitzer for the 1619 Project, has also won a MacArthur “genius” grant and a Peabody Award. On Thu., March 7, she visits the August Wilson African American Cultural Center as part of the TRUTHSayers Speakers Series.
Visual Art
The Mattress Factory opens three new installations by Pittsburgh-area artists at its Monterey Street annex. Ivorian-American interdisciplinary artist Marvin Toure “uses fictional narratives and the objects of innocence … to interrogate themes of love, loss and memory.” Chilean-born Catalina Schliebener Munoz explores gender, sexuality and class. And, inspired by “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Isla Hansen offers “How to Get to Make Believe,” an installation mapping the increasingly blurry line between what’s real and what’s made-up. The room-sized exhibits open Fri., March 8, and run for a year.
Visual Art
Plastics are all around us — and, research confirms, inside us, too, via microscopic particles that have inundated our environment. “Everlasting Plastics,” an exhibit that premiered at the 2023 Venice Biennial of Architecture, makes its North American debut at the Carnegie Museum of Art’s Heinz Architectural Center. The show includes site-specific sculptural objects and installations by five U.S. artists, architects and designers who interrogate everything from plastics’ ubiquity and utility to its ecological impact. The show opens Sat., March 9.
Music
“Coming Home” is the title and the theme of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh’s new concert. The venerable choir’s 140 singers perform a set of shorter classical and contemporary choral works by composers ranging from namesake Felix Mendelssohn to Chicago-based Stacy Garrop, Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, and a piece from Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide.” There are two concerts, both free: Sat., March 9, at Westminster Presbyterian Church, in Upper St. Clair, and Sun., March 10, at East Liberty Presbyterian Church.
Visual Art
The 12 artists spotlighted virtually in the past year in the Associated Artists of Pittsburgh’s monthly featured-artist program get a chance to shine in person. AAP’s 2023-2024 Featured Artists Exhibition includes paintings, photographs, ceramics and more by the likes of Lauren Braun, Cheryl Capezzuti, Ulric Joseph and Ling-lin Ku. The exhibit opens Sat., March 9, with a reception at AAP’s gallery, in Lawrenceville, and runs through May 17.
