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| Monday, March 3 | |
| 7:00 PM | Textual Studies Lecture "Concepts of 'Text' and 'Work' in Religion, History, Psychology, Politics and Law," Peter Shillingsburg (English, University of North Texas). The lecture will provide a comparative analysis of various disciplines other than literature which are based on texts as their primary material medium: sacred texts, historical records, policy statements, legal documents, etc. It will point to parallel concerns among these disciplines and ask questions about their individual archival, editorial, preservational and interpretative conventions. The closest connections already exist between literature and religion. Parallel textual principles and practices are known in historiography. Cognitive studies and linguistics provide complimentary investigations in how language works and how the brain or consciousness processes language. But politics and the law seem to manage textuality on the fly with disputes adjudicated by convention and the exercise of empowered judgment rather than by textual studies and the disciplines of preservation and transmission of textual integrity--whatever that might be. In all, more questions are asked than answered. Shillingsburg, formerly the William L. Giles Distinguished Professor at Mississippi State University, is the author of numerous essays and books that include his influential _Scholarly Editing in the Computer Age_ (1984), now in its third edition. Sponsored by the Department of English, the Department of Comparative Literature, and the Textual Studies Program. 7:00 pm, Communications 226. Reception will follow. |
| Tuesday, March 4 | |
| 12:00 PM | Digital Media Lecture "Game Architecture: Just Make It Look Cool," Mike Barrette (Concept Artist and Environment Designer, Xbox projects, Microsoft Games Studio). Today, designing a video game is much like the process of designing a movie, only more complicated. In addition to designing characters and sets, you have gameplay. And it is gameplay that determines everything - the layout, scale, and complexity of the environment, because without it you only have a bad movie. As environment designer, there are numerous technical and logistic requirements that need to be considered: from what makes a good fighting arena to how many polygons can be rendered in a scene. As an architect freed from the usual constraints of budgets, materials, and even the laws of physics, however, anything goes in terms of design. In this talk, Barrette will discuss what 'realism' means in video games, and why "don't worry about whether it makes sense, just make it look cool" is both a good and bad thing. Part of the Digital Media Working Group lecture series, co-sponsored by the Simpson Center for the Humanities. 12:00-1:15 pm, Communications Building 126. |
| 1:00 PM | "Hollow Wrath" Performances This production of Hollow Wrath is the World Premiere of Don Pham's comic-book inspired adaptation of The Iliad. The show runs through March 2 with performances nightly at 8pm. There will be an additional performance at midnight on Saturday. Sponsored by the Undergraduate Theatrical Society. For more information, contact Elizabeth Pew at ksidorpa@u.washington.edu. |
| 3:30 PM | Jewish Studies Colloquium "On the Frontiers of Oral History: Recording the Lives of American Jewish Women," Pamela Lavitt (UW) and Jayne Guberman (Jewish Women's Archives). wo researchers discuss their recent work on collecting women's personal histories and explain in workshop format how to design questions about home, hearth, and faith in order to record personal histories from women that are revealing and meaningful. The presentation also examines the oral histories of two women, one from Baltimore and Seattle, to reflect on the nature of Jewish women's multiple identities as women, Jews, and Americans. Sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the Jackson School of International Studies. For more information, call (206) 543-4243. 3:30-5:00 PM, 287 Mary Gates Hall. |
| 6:00 PM | Art Exhibit Opening "Coupling: A Collaborative Project" Exhibition Opening, Opening Reception and Benefit Auction of Artworks. Exhibit runs March 4 -16. Ten strangers, one month, and an art exhibition. Born from the desire to foster an ongoing dialogue between the academic art community and the practicing local art community, Coupling: a Collaborative Art Project brings together current UW students and partners them with accomplished former UW graduates. During the month of February, each of the five pairs is working on a collaborative art endeavor, culminating in an exhibition that opens on March 4. The work will be available for a fundraising auction the night of the opening reception. Auctioneer: Doug Jeck, professor of ceramics and internationally renowned sculptor. Co-sponsored by the School of Art. For more information, contact Kris Lyons or Timea Tihanyi at 206 543-0178. 6:00 PM, UW Ceramic and Metal Arts Building, CMA Gallery, 4205 Mary Gates Memorial Drive. |
| Wednesday, March 5 | |
| 3:30 PM | History Lecture "Abolishing Slavery, Outlawing 'Coolies': Racial Formation in the Age of Emancipation," Moon-Ho Jung (Asian American History, UW). The first laws to bar immigration into the U.S. targeted Asian laborers and prostitutes in the decades following the Civil War. Jung will argue that the racial logic of exclusion did not originate in California or the struggle between white workers and capitalists, as generally interpreted. Rather, it had deeper roots in the antebellum debates over slavery and American imperial ambitions in Asia and the Caribbean. Jung is the author of Review of Rosemarijn Hoefte, "In Place of Slavery: A Social History of British Indian and Javanese Labor in Suriname" (University Press of Florida, 1998) and "The Influence of 'Black Peril' on 'Yellow Peril' in Nineteenth-Century America", in Privileging Positions: The Sites of Asian American Studies (Washington State University Press, 1995). Sponsored by the American Studies Colloquium, with generous support from the Simpson Humanities Center, the Department of English, and the Hilen Fund. 3:30-5:00 pm, Communications 226. |
| 4:30 PM | Art Lecture "Art and Life: Patronage and the Beginning of a Modern Art World in Late Qing Shanghai," Kuiyi Shen (Asian Art History, Ohio University). By examining the market of art, especially ways of selling and buying art works, and changes in painting style and subject matter in the nineteenth century, Shen will discuss how the changed nature of art patronage represents a key feature of modernity in the context of painting and culture in late Qing Shanghai. Shen is the author of numerous books and articles on modern and contemporary Chinese art and Chinese painting of the early Republican period. He also maintains an active career as a curator. He is best known as the catalogue co-author and curator of A Century in Crisis: Tradition and Modernity in the Art of Twentieth Century China, the modern section of China: 5000 Years, held at the Guggenheim Museums in New York and Bilbao, Spain, in 1998. Please RSVP: 206-654-3182 or HeatherH@SeattleArtMuseum.org. 4:30 pm, Stimson Auditorium, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Volunteer Park. |
| 7:00 PM | Germanics Film Series "Young Torless," 1966. This allegorical German film is based on the novel Die Verwirrungen des Zöglings Törless, written by Robert Musil in 1906. Young Torless is set at an Austrian military school and is based on the author's own experieces. This penetrating study of young cadets is often interpreted as offering a preview of coming power of Fascist movement. Mathieu Carriere plays Törless, a student in a prestigious boarding school during the waning, but still proud days of the Hapsburg Empire. Torless witnesses and assists in the sadistic behavior of fellow students. When Torless does finally report his former friends, it is he who has to leave the school. Shown in German with English subtitles. Sponsored by the Department of Germanics. 7:00 pm, Smith 205. |
| 8:00 PM | Faculty Dance Concert Opening Faculty Dance Concert (March 5-9). Sponsored by the UW Dance Program. For more information, call (206) 543-9843. Tickets: $9 Adults, $7 Students and seniors. Available at UW Arts Ticket Office, 543-4880. 8 pm, Meany Studio Theater. |
| Thursday, March 6 | |
| 2:45 PM | Art History Seminar "Stolen and Unstolen Portraits: Two Busts by Gian Lorenzo Bernini," Rudolf Preimesberger (Professor Emeritus, Freie Universität, Berlin; 2002-2003 Getty Scholar in Residence). Rudolf Preimesberger is the author of Porträt (Berlin, 1999) and of numerous articles on Italian Renaissance and Baroque Art, predominantly Raphael, Caravaggio, and Bernini. Particularly interested in problems of early modern art theory, he is currently completing a volume with selected essays on Caravaggio. Sponsored by The Early Modern Research Group, the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Division of French and Italian Studies, and the Division of Art History. 2:45 pm, ART 312. |
| 3:30 PM | Humanities Lecture "Visionary Science and the Laboratory Imagination," Rebecca Lemov (Anthropology, UW). A look at the dynamics of the modern scientific impulse to create new life forms and "engineer life." How did the space of the laboratory allow a newtype of experimentation in the years between the turn of the century and 1940? Beginning with the work of Jacques Loeb, a pioneer in biotechnology and nanotechnology, Lemov examines two sides to this project of "instrumentalizing life" or building machine-human-animal hybrids as it took place in various laboratories across America. Lemov is a Woodrow Wilson Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities at UW, where she teaches courses in History, Anthropology and the Comparative History of Ideas. Sponsored by the Departments of Anthropology and History, the Program in the Comparative History of Ideas, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities. 3:30 pm, Communications 206. Reception to follow. |
| 3:30 PM | Japan Studies Lecture "Current Situation in the Asia-Pacific Region and Japan - U.S. Relations," The Honorable Tadahiro Abe (Consul General of Japan). Recent developments of the politico-economy in the Asia- Pacific: How does it affect Japan-U.S. relations? What is the future of the "most important bilateral relationship"? Consul General Abe was posted to the Consulate General of Japan's Seattle office last August. His jurisdiction includes Washington State, Northern Idaho and Montana. Consul General Abe has a long and distinguished career of service in the Japanese Foreign Ministry. He recently served as Minister at the Embassy of Japan in Hanoi, Vietnam. Previous international assignments include Minister, Embassy of Japan in Austria; Counsellor, Permanent Mission of Japan in Geneva, Counsellor, Embassy of Japan in Islamabad, Pakistan; Consul, Consulate General of Boston; Economic Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Washington, D.C.; Consul, Consulate General of Japan in Los Angeles, and Consul, Consulate General of Japan in Karachi, Pakistan. Sponsored by the Japan Studies Program and the East Asia Center, Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies. For more information, visit http://depts.washington.edu/japan. 3:30-5 pm, Parrington Hall - Commons Room. |
| 7:00 PM | Phi Beta Kappa Colloquium "From Rome to the Raelians: 'Alternative' Religious Traditions, Past and Present." This colloquium will engage the broader topic of religion by focusing on a number of religious movements for which the term "alternative" might be fittingly applied. We shall investigate the social and historical circumstances that shape such movements by looking at three very different times and places: ancient Rome, 16th century Europe, and contemporary America. Each talk will be roughly 15 minutes. Sarah Stroup (Classics) will discuss "Alternative Religion in Ancient Rome: The Case of the Jealous God," Mary O'Niel (History) will talk about "Reformation Alternative Religions: Anabaptists as Outsiders," and James Wellman (Comparative Religion) will speak on "American Alternative Religions: From Golden Plates to the Raelians." The moderator will be Scott Noegel (Near Eastern Languages and Civilization). Sponsored by the Washington Alpha Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. 7:00 pm, Faculty Club Conference Room. An informal reception will follow. |
| 7:30 PM | Middle East Center Lecture "Turkey Between Two Worlds," Stephen Kinzer (New York Times correspondent and author). Stephen Kinzer is the New York Times national culture correspondent, a veteran foreign correspondent, the first New York Times bureau chief in Istanbul, and author of Crescent and Star: Turkey between Two Worlds. Sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Jackson School of International Studies. For more information, email the Middle East Center at mecuw@u.washington.edu or phone (206) 543-4227. 7:30-9:00 pm, Kane Hall 120. |
| Friday, March 7 | |
| 2:45 PM | EMERGE lecture "CARAVAGGIO: PLINY AND VASARI. The Long Shadow of Apelles' and Michelangelo's Biographies," Rudolf Preimesberger (Professor Emeritus, Freie Universität, Berlin; 2002-2003 Getty Scholar in Residence). The lecture will discuss two texts from the remarkable body of European biographical literature on artists that were of crucial significance for Caravaggio's "Deposition" (Pinacotheca Vaticana): Pliny's narrative of Apelles' portrait of the one-eyed Antigonos; and the perhaps most famous anecdote from Vasari's "Life of Michelangelo" concerning the wounded pride of the sculptor, who carved his name upon the Pietà in St. Peter, because the work had been ascribed to someone else. Sponsored by The Early Modern Research Group, the Walter Chapin Simpson Center for the Humanities, the Division of French and Italian Studies, and the Division of Art History. Reception to follow. 2:45 pm, ART 317. |
| 7:00 PM | Polish History Lecture "In Search of the Second Earth," Alexander Wolszczan. An outstanding Polish radioastronomer and astrophysicist, Wolszczan is widely recognized for his discovery of the first planets outside the solar system. A doctoral graduate of the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, since the early 1980s he has worked at the astronomical research centers at Princeton and Cornell. Since 1992 he has been a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Pennsylvania State University. Professor Wolszczan's specialty is the study of pulsars - fantastically dense, rapidly spinning neutron stars with a diameter of 20 km or less, emitting extremely regular pulses of radio waves into space. As ideal cosmic clocks, they can be used to investigate other physical phenomena in their vicinity. This is the method that Aleksander Wolszczan applied to make one of the most sensational astronomical discoveries of the last decades. Timing the radio signals coming from a distant pulsar in the constellation Virgo, he determined the presence of three planets orbiting the star, two of them similar in mass to Earth, and the third about the mass of the moon. His discovery caused great excitement, and was immediately followed by intense (and successful) search for planets around other stars. Sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures, Simpson Center for the Humanities, College of Arts & Sciences Exchange Program. For more information, visit http://depts.washington.edu/slavweb/events/wolszczan.htm. Wine and cheese reception to follow. 7 pm, Physics-Astronomy Building, Room A102. |
| 7:30 PM | Lecture and Conference "Destroying the world to save it: Death-defying apocalyptic violence in the wake of 9/11," Robert Jay Lifton, M.D. This keynote address begins a 2-day conference March 7-8. Lifton, a psychiatrist, author, and Visiting Professor of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, is author of many important books, several of which are especially relevant at this time of global violence and pending war. Other speakers include: Sheldon Solomon, Daniel Liechty, and Merlyn Mowrey. Filmmakers Greg Bennick and Patrick Shen will show their 90-minute feature documentary, Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality. Joining with the Ernest Becker Foundation for this event as co-supporter and co-sponsor is the UW Department of Psychiatry and Biological Sciences. Other UW co-sponsors include the Departments of Anthropology, Communication, and the Simpson Center for the Humanities. For full details, visit the conference website. 7:30 PM, Kane Hall, Room 220. |
| Sunday, March 9 | |
| 2:00 PM | Faculty Dance Concert Closing Faculty Dance Concert (March 5-9). Sponsored by the UW Dance Program. For more information, call (206) 543-9843. Tickets: $9 Adults, $7 Students and seniors. Available at UW Arts Ticket Office, 543-4880. 8 pm, Meany Studio Theater. |