This is the wall where the film will be projected.
As part of a collaboration between Nhv.Org with
Robert S Greenberg's Museum, we're launching a few new original films on the wall of the
Acme Furniture Building for L.A.M.P. (Light Artists Making Places). In preparation of tonight's event, we've produced a 45-minute film, complete with over 120 different events, dating from 1637 to the near future.
The film will be played in tandem with 3 additional bonus features produced by Robert Greenberg.
The tone of the work is essentially this: in 1645, the colony of New Haven collected its tradable goods, such as beaver fur and wheat, as well as peas. In addition, many of the more prominent citizens of the colony were on board, and never heard from again. They sent it all to England on what was described as the "
Great Shippe." The ship was never heard from again, presumably lost at sea. It's now known now as the Phantom Ship, because there was a mass apparition over The Harbor in 1646, where the settlers believed they saw the ship in the clouds after a June summer storm.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a
poem about it. There's a
painting at the top of the stairs at the New Haven Historical Society on Whitney Avenue.
This tour de history that Greenberg created focuses on the moments which brought the city together. Many have tried to associate New Haven with misrepresented facts about the origins of certain inventions, but Greenberg gets the facts straight, with documented evidence, sometimes more than three pieces at once, represented as images which appear along the timeline. Many of the high resolution images come from his own source of collectibles, some of which were handed down to him from his grandfather,
Simon Evans, who graduated High School with
Ernest Borgnine at Hillhouse, which is one of the more obscure facts you'll learn throughout the film; complete with yearbook photo.
Greenberg's message is that tonight marks the return of the Phantom Ship; meaning that commerce and trade is ready to come back to New Haven. "It's a celebration of the survivial and thriving of the colony of New Haven after the loss of 'The Great Shippe.' The truth is that the Phantom Ship was the motivating force to grow and advance the colony, and it success is evident in this timeline."
The film is among the most comprehensive works about the history of New Haven that has ever been created.
Light Artists Making Places (L.A.M.P.) On9 / 9th Square [
events page]
Acme / Cafe Nine Parking Lot on Crown Street [
directions]
