Free& Cheap things to do

Free & Cheap things to do this weekend in NYC (4/12/13 to 4/14/13) from art exhibits, to music, multiple literature-related events, a Gif festival, theater, dance, talks and food! Fun and interesting events all weekend long. Click through on images above for official event pages with more info or in the descriptions below.

1. FOOD: Fri 4/12 Artisanal’s 3rd Annual Grilled Cheese Contest on National Grilled Cheese Day (who knew?) Taste and cast your vote. 3 to 5pm. $15. Tickets here.

2. MUSIC/ART:  All Weekend – 3rd Annual Brain-Cave Festival featuring more than 30 of Brooklyn’s most versatile underground and indie artists and musicians. $12 to $40. Tkts here

3. MUSIC:  Fri 4/12  –The Crystal Ark play their electronic dance music live. 7pm. FREE

4. ART/COMICS: Fri 4/12 and Sat 4/13 & through 5/11 – The Art of Harvey Kurtzman, cartoonist, writer, and founding editor and creator of MAD magazine. One of the most important figures in comic art. At the Society of Illustrators. 12pm to 5pm FREE

5. MUSIC:  Fri 4/12  – Stereo Total (love these guys!) witty alternative/indie/pop based in Berlin but drawing from musical influences across Europe. 7pm Doors $18

6. LITERATURE/TALK: Fri 4/12  – Pulitzer Prize winning author Junot Diaz talks with the New Yorker’s Hilton Als. 7pm. Purchase of his latest book or $20 gift card.

7. ART/OPENING: Fri 4/12 – Opening reception of Richard Hughes exhibit at Anton Kern where the artist turns the the gallery into a stage for a dance performed by lamp posts, walls, and statues. Fri 6 to 8pm and through 5/18 10am to 6pm. FREE.

8. ART/TECH: All Weekend – Moving the Still: A GIF Festival, every 15 minutes on the hour on the BAM sign at Lafayette and Flatbush Aves, SE corner. Through 6/30. FREE.

9. THEATER:  Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Exile by Nastaran Ahmadi An Iranian-American video game tester develops a game set in a post-nuclear-apocalypse Iran, even as her own relationship becomes a fallout zone.  7pm and also 3pm Sat, $19

10. ART:  Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Pratt MFA Open Studios – over 100 artists presented in all mediums.  Fri 5 to 9pm, Sat 12 to 6pm. FREE

11. DANCE: Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – A House Made of Salt: Miriam Wolf’s evening length work is a dance for two performers dealing with some of the most fundamental rules that govern us as humans. $10 to $15

12. TRIBUTE/PERFORMANCE ART:  Fri 4/12 & Sat 4/13 – Avant-Gard-A-Rama: New Moon. A tribute to the late downtown mentor performance artist Tom Murrin. Hosts Dynasty Handbag and Jonathan Ames with Elevator Repair Service and many more. 8pm $15

13. ART: Sat 4/13 & Sun 4/14 –Black Power: featuring works by Ron Wimberly, Coby Kennedy, and Jorden Haley. 12pm to 5pm at Superchief Gallery at Culturefix. FREE.

14. TALK/PERFORMANCE/MUSIC:  Sat 4/13 – Ask Isaac: Isaac Mizrahi answers questions and murders some tunes with the Ben Waltzer Quintet. 7:30pm at the Laurie Beechman Theater $30 tickets.

15. READINGS/PARTY: Sun 4/14 – Inaugural Downtown Literary Festival. Daylong celebration of literary culture of NYC, readings, snacks and afte-party at Pravda with Russian Lit-themed cocktails. 10am to after 7pm.

16. ART/MUSIC/PERFORMANCE:  Sun 4/14 – Sister Spit: a literary performance cabaret featuring novelists, magic marker artists, poets, performance artists and more from the queer, feminist, POC underground. 3pm $10 to $12.

17. MUSIC: Sun 4/14 – Vensaire/The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt!/Zula/MyBody. 8 to 11:45pm at the Silent Barn in Bushwick $7

18. ART/TECH: Next Sat 4/20 – Get tickets for Seven on Seven Conference. 12 to 6pm. 7 leading artists are paired with 7 game-changing technologists and challenged to develop something new over the course of the day. $39.50

MORE…

MUSIC >> Sat 4/13 – Project Bone Machine: an exciting bill of great bands perform Tom Waits’ 1992 album Bone Machine in tracklist order. Bushwick. 10pm $5.

FILM >> Sun 4/14 – Subway Series Films: Tunnel Stories & Spraymasters. Two films, one short, the other long, focus on the artists, taggers, and vandals, who make their mark underground in tunnels and on trains. 7:30pm. Suggested donation $9.