DISTINGUISHED VISITORS SERIES



Established with the generous support of alumna Penny W. Stamps, the Distinguished Visitors Program brings respected emerging and established artists/designers from a broad spectrum of media to the School to conduct a public lecture and engage with students, faculty, and the larger University and Ann Arbor communities. Additional support is provided by our media sponsor, Michigan Radio.

Unless otherwise noted, all programs take place on Thursdays at 5:10 pm at the historic Michigan Theater, located at 603 E. Liberty Street in downtown Ann Arbor, and are free of charge and open to the public.

 

 

 

Winter 2009 Schedule

 


January 15

Nick Tobier

Nick Tobier

"Interruptions for Everyday Life"

A lifelong participant-observer of street life and the social life of public places, Nick Tobier creates work that reflects his belief in the power of social dynamism and the fundamental role of artist as catalyst and conduit. Through individual and collective work, Tobier's interest in the potential of public places has manifested itself in built public projects and actions in San Francisco, Detroit and New York, internationally from Toronto to Tokyo, and performances on the stage and in the streets from Milan to Paramaribo, Suriname and at The Edinburgh, Minneapolis and Philadelphia Fringe Festivals. His short performance films have been shown across the world. He is also the author of a series of critical and speculative writings on city space, itinerant entertainment, and forms of public entertainment as radical social strategy.


Nick Tobier – Selected Bibliography
January 22

Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

"(re)creating Gilgamesh: The Artistic and Technical Exploration of an Ancient Epic"

Clarinetist and Composer Kinan Azmeh and Visual Artist Kevork Mourad have collaborated to illuminate the ancient Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, using both music and painting as vehicles for story telling. In this presentation, prior to their weekend UMS performances, the artists discuss the origins of the project and their creative collaboration. They also demonstrate the fusion of music, painting, and technology through performance excerpts and examination of the more technical aspects of their work.


Gilgamesh ­ Selected Bibliography
January 29

Hannah Smotrich

Hannah Smotrich

"Community Narratives"

Graphic designer Hannah Smotrich's work centers on issues of community, cultural history, identity and voice. Her projects explore the stories of our individual lives and the collective narratives of our communities, the many ways in which we communicate—and the walls we construct that complicate connection. Recent work includes a participatory public art project at the Jewish Cultural Festival in Krakow, Poland, an integrated system of street signs and publications for Neighborhood Heritage Trails in Washington, DC, and an exhibit for Museum L-A on the lives and community of textile workers in Lewiston, Maine.


Hannah Smotrich ­ Selected Bibliography
February 5

José Francisco Salgado

Jose Francisco Salgado

"Science Communication through Art and Technology"

Astronomer and science visualizer José Francisco Salgado uses his skills in astronomy education and visual arts to create multimedia works that communicate science in engaging ways. Currently on staff at the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum in Chicago, Salgado’s education and outreach efforts include Spanish-language programs, an Emmy-nominated astronomy news segment, and astronomy video suites created to accompany live performances of classical music concerts. In his presentation, Salgado discusses these programs and techniques and the ways Adler astronomers use the museum's Space Visualization Laboratory to communicate science.

With support from the UM Winter 2009 LSA Theme Semester, The Universe: Yours to Discover.


José Francisco Salgado ­ Selected Bibliography
February 12

Anne Pasternak

Anne Pasternak

"Public Art Then & Now: From the Strange to Spectacular and Back Again"

Anne Pasternak is the President and Artistic Director of Creative Time, an organization that has been commissioning and presenting innovative art in New York City since 1972 Pasternak is committed to initiating projects that give artists opportunities to innovate, preserve public space as a place of creative expression, and respond to timely issues. Over the past decade, she has worked closely with such artists as Doug Aitken, Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Jenny Holzer, Gary Hume, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Steve Powers, Cai Guo Qiang, and many many more. Pasternak also curates independent exhibitions, consults on urban planning initiatives, and contributes essays to cultural publications

With support from the UM Institute for Research on Women and Gender, the Ann Arbor Public Art Commission, ArtServe Michigan, and Chelsea's River Gallery.


Anne Pasternak: Selected Bibliography
March 5

Jacque Fresco

Jacque Fresco

"Global Sustainability"

Jacque Fresco is a futurist, industrial designer, behavioral scientist, artist, inventor, author and a master of "out of the box thinking". Fresco offers a bold new way of looking at our world and its unworkable social systems. He envisions a global civilization in which science and technology are applied in tandem with human and environmental concerns to secure, protect, and encourage a more humane world for all people, where human rights, are no longer paper proclamations but a way of life.

With support from the UM Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.


Jacque Fresco - Selected Bibliography
March 12

Richard Saul Wurman

Richard Saul Wurman

"A Conversation with Richard Saul Wurman"

Richard Saul Wurman is an architect, a cartographer, the creator of the Access Travel Guide Series, and the author and designer of more than eighty books, including Information Architects (1996), Follow the Yellow Brick Road (1991) and Information Anxiety (1989). He has also served as chairman and creative director of the TED conferences. For Wurman: "The only way to communicate is to understand what it is like not to understand. It is at that moment that you can make something understandable. In the end, all I am ever trying to do with every project I do is to do good work.”

With support form the UM Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning, UM School of Information, and AIGA Detroit, the Professional Association for Design.


Richard Saul Wurman ­ Selected Bibliography
March 19

Marina Abramovic

Marina Abramovic

"Performing Body"

Performance is the language that Abramovic, winner of the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice Biennale in 1997, favors for her artistic expression. In performance the body empties itself to serve as a go-between for energy in its passage from matter to spirit and space. Her experiences in Tibet, in Ladakh and among the Australian Aborigines and her studies of various rituals have allowed her to understand how to bring the body to a borderline state.

With support from the UM Institute for Research on Women and Gender, Chelsea's River Gallery, and MOCAD - Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.


Marina Abramović – Selected Bibliography
March 26

George Manupelli

George Manupelli

"An Unauthorized History"

Filmmaker, painter, collagist, activist and contrarian George Manupelli is the founder of the Ann Arbor Film Festival. In 1963, while teaching at the UM School of Art & Design and collaborating with the ONCE Group, he established the Ann Arbor Film Festival as a counterpoint to the New York destination art world. Manupelli directed the festival for 20 years defining it with his aesthetic sense of festival as event and film as art. He made numerous films while in Ann Arbor including the “Dr. Chicago” trilogy. Over 400 exhibitions of his art works, films, music, and performance pieces have been held throughout Europe, North, Central and South America.

With support from the 47th Ann Arbor Film Festival.


George Manupelli ­ Selected Bibliography
April 2

Mary Ellen Strom & Ann Carlson

Mary Ellen Strom & Ann Carlson

"Body and Camera"

Through the lens of the historic record and art history, Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom employ tactics of spectacle and humor to provide critical re-evaluations of cultural and historical narratives. Displayed as immersive projections or installations, their work simultaneously fuses video art’s tendencies towards the visually spectacular and its legacy as a tool for social change. Carlson and Strom examine the moving body within a range of ”landscapes”: the physical western vista, the economic terrain of late-capitalist America, and the artistic tradition of constructing these literal and ideological images.

With support from the UM Department of the History of Art, the UM Department of Dance, and MOCAD - Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.


Selected Bibliography - Ann Carlson and Mary Ellen Strom
April 9

Clotaire Rapaille

Clotaire Rapaille

"The Logic of Emotion"

Dr. G. Clotaire Rapaille is an internationally known expert in creativity and communication. His marketing strategies have grown out of his work in the areas of psychiatry, psychology, and cultural anthropology, combining a pyschiatrist’s depth of analysis with a business person’s attention to practical concerns. He has written more than ten books including, Creative Communication, recognized as the standard reference for the French advertising community. His most recent book, the best selling, The Culture Code, sheds light not just on business but on the way every human being acts and lives.

With support from the UM Yaffe Center for Persuasive Communication at the Ross School of Business, the UM Institute for the Humanities, the UM College of Engineering Center for Entrepreneurship, and UM Arts on Earth.


Dr. Clotaire Rapaille ­ Selected Bibliography

 

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