Ninth Square Makes Noise!

It was 4 p.m. on a Friday. The end of the work week loomed, the ticking of clocks across the city growing louder with each each drawn-out minute.

But on Orange Street between Chapel and Crown, Jessica Parkins was already outside, the early September breeze warming her cheeks as children 5 months to 50 years old squealed with delight at a series of drawings sprawling out across the pavement and bright, free chalk outside Svigals + Partners.

New Haveners don’t always respond fondly to noise. But last Friday, one corner of the city committed wholeheartedly to making as much of it – in as many artistically different ways – as possible.

The occasion was ​“Noise On 9,” the latest installment of the first-Friday series in New Haven’s historic Ninth Square.

Making noise took a lot of different forms. For Parkins, marketing coordinator for Svigals + Partners, it was about hearing the pop of community members coming out of the proverbial woodwork as they sat down with hunks of sidewalk chalk and vibrant images in mind.

“We wanted to build a playground outside our office. We’re about art and architecture, so we always try to bring art to the community,” she said.

Elsewhere on the street, noise meant other things.

At Reynolds Fine Art, it was encapsulated in the bright, consuming mixed media pieces by Lois Goglia (pictured, with friend Carol Robbins), one of the artists featured in Dissection, a new exhibition exploring the relationship between science and art.

Over the din of artists and friends mingling, Goglia motioned to her works, which have been inspired by X‑rays, bandages, and medical tapes and seem to breathe and sigh with the weight of their subject matter.

Outside, speakers crackled to life with Florence and the Machine’s ​“Swimming.” Dressed in black dance clothes and swimming goggles, the Elm City Dance Collective got ready to make some serious noise.

That is, with their bodies.

As the experimental, experiential-minded troupe crisscrossed what would later become Neville Wisdom’s fall runway, the street began to vibrate and pulsate, their energy transmitting in full-fledged waves through the air.

From a nearby table, an attendee who had just gotten one of Thali’s ​“Faithfully Ginger” cocktails laughed, the slightly tinny sound floating wispily into the wind.

As they continued to move to Metric’s ​“Help I’m Alive,” noise took on a different meaning at Euphoria Salon. Or rather, two different meanings.

As Dr. Caterwaul’s Cadre of Clairvoyant Claptraps played, accompanying the Cygnet Sisters every few songs, visitors to the salon took in Broken Myths, an exhibition by Cygnet Sisters member Zohra Rawling. 

“When I think of noise, I think of music, absolutely. But I also like the noise associated with breaking ceramics,” said Rawling when asked if ​“noise” meant more than one thing to her as a vocalist and visual artist. 

“I find that in opera there are all these strong characters that come out in my art,” she added.

The greatest noise of the night was Neville Wisdom’s fall fashion show, debuting a line of glorious, glamorous and – at least according to Wisdom – functional clothes to techno‑y beats.

Such a stupendous ruckus has not taken place this side of the Farmington Canal for some time. Watch a portion of it here. 

“Art is pretty much about us making as much noise as possible. If you’re a dancer, dance as hard as possible. If you’re a singer, make as much noise as possible. If you’re a designer … It’s about doing something spectacular,” Wisdom said after the show, as New Haveners and Ninth Square enthusiasts filled his dress shop.

And indeed, it rounded out a spectacular, gloriously loud evening. But when it was over, the crowd had no need to feel downtrodden as they dispersed across the city. A DJ was spinning tracks late into the night at Artspace. Cafe 9 promised a stellar lineup for anyone who could keep eyes open into the wee hours.

The delicious sound of it all could go on forever.