May 15, 2019
ARTSUW Roundup: newly launched ARTSUW website, JACK Quartet performance, Heisenberg, Print Sale, Screening at LANGSTON, MFA Dance Concert, and more!
This week in the arts, partake in an audio augmented reality (AR) experience with hundreds of others on Red Square, explore the newly redesigned ARTSUW website, attend JACK Quartet, and more!
Inspiring arts exploration: ArtsUW website redesigned with students in mind
“We want the arts to be part of the DNA of every student’s experience.” That bold vision, offered by Catherine Cole, divisional dean for the arts in the UW College of Arts and Sciences, is getting a boost this month with the launch of an expanded ArtsUW website designed with students in mind. The website highlights an array of opportunities for arts exploration on campus, from upcoming performances and exhibits to courses in the arts. Special one-time offerings, such as free workshops with renowned visiting artists, are also featured. For those wanting to dive deeper, the site provides information about majors and minors in the Arts Division. Learn more about the vision behind ArtsUW and explore the new website.
MFA Concert
May 15 – 19 | Meany Studio Theatre
The University of Washington Department of Dance invites you to witness the premiere of six conceptually and aesthetically diverse dance works. Engaging with themes ranging from quantum physics, to slavic folklore, motherhood, love, selfhood, and the nature of flux, our esteemed MFA in dance candidates create pieces for the undergraduate dancers at UW. Movement ideas from the realms of contemporary dance, embodied improvisational practices, dance theatre, and ballet take on new meaning with each piece.
Asia Talks: Art and Engagement in Early Postwar Japan
Asia Talks: Art and Engagement in Early Postwar Japan
May 16, 6:30 pm | Seattle Art Museum
Justin Jesty, Assistant Professor in the Department of Asian Languages and Literature, will discuss Art and Engagement in Early Postwar Japan. Jesty’s newest book reframes the history of art and its politics in Japan post-1945. It centers on a group of social realists on the radical left, a liberal arts education movement, and a regional avant-garde group split between ambition and local loyalty. In each case, Jesty examines writings and artworks to demonstrate how art became a medium for collectivity and social engagement. He reveals a shared, yet varied, effort to create a culture founded in amateur-professional interaction, expanded access to the tools of public authorship, and participatory cultural forms. Highlighting the transformational nature of the early postwar, Jesty contrasts it with the homogenization of the 1960s.
Free | More info and rsvp
Heisenberg | Red Square
May 17, 4:30 pm | Red Square
Heisenberg is an audio augmented reality (AR) experience that investigates what happens when we assume others occupy the same realities we do, and is intended for large audiences in public space.
Through playful storytelling, guided instruction, and original music, you will explore the history of the cosmos, uncertainty, and the social questions raised by the 2016 election, all through the rich frameworks of particle physics. Heisenberg asks: if we don’t know what’s coming, how do we live? And: if we don’t know each other, how do we live together? The piece is at once a poetic exploration of physics, an experiment in the limits of empathy, and a game.
Silent disco headphones provided. Please arrive early for check-in.
Free| More info and sign up
Suggested reading: High Line | Out of Line: Q&A with Janani Balasubramanian
Celebrate Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Work
May 17, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm | Mary Gates Hall
More than 1,200 students will present their research in a wide-range of disciplines, from astronomy to visual arts, international studies to psychology, anthropology to bioengineering and just about everything in between at the University of Washington’s 22nd Annual Undergraduate Research Symposium.
Free| More info
JACK Quartet – Human Subjects
May 18, 7:30 pm | Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater
DXARTS, the School of Music and JACK Quartet present Music of Today: JACK Quartet – Human Subjects. During JACK Quartet’s extended residency at the University of Washington, they worked with composers Juan Pampin and Richard Karpen as well as neuroscientists and a team of research staff from DXARTS and School of Music to explore brain and nervous system sensing methodologies as extensions to master musicians’ traditional performance practice. This collaboration was made possible through the UW Creative Fellowships Initiatives with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
$10 tickets for students | More info and tickets
Suggested reading: I Care If You Listen | 5 Questions to Juan Pampin and Richard Karpen (Creative Fellowships Initiative: JACK Quartet)
This Is How It Ends: Conversations about Emerging Technologies and Performances
May 18, 1:00 pm | Town Hall Seattle
Presented by Town Hall Seattle, Meany Center for the Performing Arts, and UW School of Drama
How can the arts inform new directions for emerging technologies? From the curatorial mind of producer and director Meiyin Wang comes a collaborative exploration of the intersection of technology and the arts: This Is How It Ends. Through a series of performances and panel discussions, Wang introduces us to artists and technologists who are conceiving of ways the arts can disrupt, inform, and influence emerging technologies. Hear from musicians, theatrical directors, and filmmakers, as well as digital artists, game designers, and experts from all walks of art and tech, all united to explore the ways technology can be impacted by the concerts of art: language, space, corporeality, materiality, time, emotion, and inclusivity. Join us for an idiosyncratic combination of panel discussions, lectures, demonstrations and performances that ruminates on the future/s of performance and technology.
This event was made possible by a grant from the Mellon Creative Fellowship.
Screening & Discussion: Until, Until, Until . . .
May 19, 3:00 pm | Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute
On the occasion of Edgar Arceneaux’s exhibition Library of Black Lies, the Henry is partnering with LANGSTON for a special screening and panel discussion at the Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute. As a Gurvich visiting artist, Arceneaux will present the film of his play Until, Until, Until… (2015) which investigates the infamous 1981 performance of Broadway legend Ben Vereen, televised nationally as part of Ronald Regan’s inaugural celebration. Intended as an homage to vaudevillian Bert Williams—America’s first mainstream Black entertainer—the final five minutes of the performance were censored for the television audience, causing Vereen’s biting commentary on the history of segregation and racist stereotypes in performance. Until, Until, Until… is based on the footage that never aired that night.
Following the screening, Arceneaux will participate in a panel discussion moderated by Senior Curator Shamim M. Momin, with dancer/choreographer Jade Solomon Curtis, director Valerie Curtis-Newton, and dancer/creator Randy Ford.
Stick around after the panel for an informal reception with drinks and light food and more opportunities for conversation.
$5 for students | More info
Printmaking Association Print Sale
May 20 + 21, 8:00 am to 7:00 pm | Art Building, room 120
Hosted by the Printmaking Association, a Registered Student Organization at the University of Washington, the UW community and the public are welcome to attend and purchase hand-printed artwork, cards, and soft goods, made by members of the association and some printmaking alums. Cash and credit cards will be accepted.
Lila Downs
May 21, 8:00 pm | Katharyn Alvord Gerlich Theater
Iconic Grammy and Latin Grammy Award-winning singer Lila Downs is one of the world’s most singular and powerful voices — her compelling stage presence and poignant storytelling transcend all language barriers. Raised in Minnesota and Oaxaca, this global superstar’s exquisite artistry bridges traditions from across the Americas, with influences ranging from the folk and ranchera music of Mexico and South America to North American folk, jazz, blues and hip-hop. As a passionate human rights activist, Lila’s lyrics often highlight issues and share stories that too often go untold.
$10 tickets for UW students when you show your Husky ID in advance at the ArtsUW Ticket Office or on the night of the show at the Box Office at Meany Hall. | More info and tickets
April 26 to June 2 | Seattle Rep
UW School of Drama’s Head of Directing & Professor of Acting and Directing Valerie Curtis-Newton is the director of the West Coast premiere of “Nina Simone: Four Women” at the Seattle Rep (read article in The Seattle Times).
