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Reconsidering Vietnam: Conversations on War and Society
Organizer

Henry Art Gallery

Related Exhibitions

An-My Lê: Small Wars
August 18-November 4, 2007
Henry Art Gallery

Kim Jones: A Retrospective
October 20, 2007-January 20, 2008
Henry Art Gallery

Project Overview

Using contemporary art as a catalyst for exploration, the University Art Institute will encourage diverse audiences to engage in multiple perspectives on timely artistic and social issues. The inaugural Institute considers the legacy of the Vietnam War in conjunction with the museum's fall exhibitions An-My Lê: Small Wars and Kim Jones: A Retrospective.  From October 17 to 20, the Henry will host lectures and discussions with artists, scholars and community members, film screenings, and art dialogues, as well as a myriad of affiliated events to take place from September through November.

With the conjunction of these exhibtions, the Henry is launching the University Art Institute (UAI), an annual initiative that develops and expands opportunities for dialogue, access, and participation in specific Henry exhibitions. Embracing an inquiry-based model, the UAI engages diverse audiences by providing multiple perspectives and a variety of ways to approach complex ideas, including symposia, screenings, artist and scholar lectures, along with innovative partnerships within the UW community. The inaugural Institute reconsiders the legacy of the Vietnam War as portrayed in the work of An-My Lê and Kim Jones, in public seminars, lectures, and screenings presented by several UW Faculty and visiting scholars, to explore how we image, record, and discuss war in contemporary society.

An My-Le Photograph
An-My Lê. 29 Palms: Rocket–Propelled Grenade Ambush. 2003–2004. Gelatin silver print. Collection Lannan Foundation, Santa Fe, NM.

Kim Jones Photograph
Kim Jones. Venice, California, December 1975. Gelatin silver print. Photo: Ned Sloane. Courtesy Luckman Gallery, California State University, Los Angeles.

Events

Open Rehearsal with Spectrum Dance Theater
Thursday, September 27, 7 pm
(Henry Art Gallery, Sculpture Court)

In conjunction with the Henry's exhibition An-My Lê: Small Wars and the University Art Institute, the Henry hosts a special preview of Spectrum Dance Theater’s new performance Interrupted Narratives/WARInterrupted Narratives/WAR represents Donald Byrd's protest dance/theater expressing the horror and outrage of war, in the tradition of Kurt Joos's great anti-war ballet, The Green Table.

Come Together with Harrell Fletcher
Friday, September 28, 6:30 pm
(Henry Art Gallery, Auditorium)

Come Together is an event created by Portland-based artist Harrell Fletcher that integrates people from different areas of a community to gather and exchange perspectives with one another.  The Come Together event taking place at the Henry on September 28 will include presentations by Fletcher and ten members of the Seattle community who have been affected directly by the Vietnam and Iraq wars. 

Capturing War, with John Sinno
Wednesday, October 10, 7 pm
(Henry Art Gallery, Auditorium)

Iraq in Fragments is a documentary on post-war Iraq utilizing a 3-act structure to illustrate the way the country is pulled in multiple directions by factors such as religion and ethnicity.  Capturing War includes a screening of this Academy Award-nominated film, followed by a question and answer session with Producer John Sinno.

Views into Vietnam, First View
Thursday, October 18, 4 pm
(Henry Art Gallery, Auditorium)

This first of two Views into Vietnam discussions with Kiko Benitez (Comparative Literature), Laurie J. Sears (History), Tani Barlow (Women Studies), and Miriam Bartha (Simpson Center for the Humanities) will offer contexts, understandings, and questions that have emerged from several collaborative UW projects, including the Forum on Trauma, History, and Asia; Difficult Dialogues on Southeast Asian American Pluralism; and the Work of Area Studies in the Age of Preemptive War.

Views into Vietnam, Second View
Thursday October 18, 7 pm
(Henry Art Gallery, Auditorium)

The second Views into Vietnam panel will emphasize the way war is seen through current Henry exhibitions Kim Jones: A Retrospective and An-My Lê: Small Wars.  The panel will include visiting artist Kim Jones, Karen Irvine (Curator of An-My Lê: Small Wars), Sasha Su-Ling Welland (Anthropology), and Susan Jeffords (Vice Chancellor, UW Bothell).

Kim Jones: A Retrospective Opening Celebration with Performance by Kim Jones
Friday, October 19, 8 pm
(Members and UW Student + Faculty Preview at 6 pm
Free to members/UW Students and Faculty/$10 General/$6 Seniors and non-UW students)

Kim Jones was born out of the 1970s performance art movement in Southern California, where he became known for his alter ego, Mudman.  The opening celebration at the Henry provides a rare opportunity to see Jones perform as Mudman for a contemporary audience.

Lecture by Daniel Hoffman
Thursday, November 15, 7pm
(Henry Art Gallery Auditorium)

Daniel Hoffman (Anthropology) will discuss exhibitions An-My Lê: Small Wars and Kim Jones: A Retrospective in relation to his research on teaching difficult content as curriculum.

University Art Institute Keynote Lecture: Robert Storr
Thursday, January 10, 7pm
(Roethke Auditorium, Kane Hall)

Cost:
$10 Henry members
$15 General Admission
$12 Students and Seniors

Robert Storr (Art, Yale University). Storr is an internationally renowned curator, critic, academic, and artist. He has been a contributing editor at Art in America since 1981 and writes frequently for Artforum, Parkett, Art Press, and Frieze. From 1990 to 2000 he was the Museum of Modern Art’s contemporary curator. Storr is currently Dean of the Yale School of Art and Consulting Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. He is Director of the 2007 Venice Biennale, Think with the Senses - Feel with the Mind. Art in the Present Tense.

In conjunction with the closing of Kim Jones: A Retrospective, Storr will speak on Jones and his work’s inclusion in the 2007 Venice Biennale and at Site Santa Fe in 2004. This lecture will also conclude the Henry’s University Art Institute, an annual initiative that develops and expands opportunities for dialogue, access, and participation in specific Henry exhibitions. This year’s Institute considers the legacy of the Vietnam War as portrayed in the work of An-My Lê and Kim Jones, and explores how we image, record, and discuss war in contemporary society.

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