February 3, 2023
ArtSci Roundup: LIVE from Space, History Lecture Series, Going Public Podcast Launch, and more!
Attend lectures, performances, and more!
January 18 – February 15, 7:30 PM |History Lecture Series: Medieval Made Modern, Kane Hall
The medieval period has always occupied a paradoxical position in our cultural memory. An age of fantasy unimaginably distant from historical reality, it is also an era onto which writers and artists—and now moviemakers and gamers—have long projected their fears and desires. Why do cultures remake certain figures from the past—but not others–in their own image?
Join Professor Emerita Robin Stacey for this five-lecture series where she looks at the present’s relationship with the past through the lens of the making and remaking of important historical figures—some real, some fictional, and some the creatures of myth.
Free | More info.
New Exhibition: Thick as Mud (February 4 – May 7), Henry Art Gallery
February 3, 7 – 9 pm | Public Opening
Thick as Mud explores how mud animates relationships between people and place, with works by an international roster of artists. Across multiple geographies and a range of aesthetic approaches—from figurative clay sculpture to audio recordings of the swamp—these artists engage mud as a material or subject that shapes personal and collective histories, memory, and imagination.
Free | More info.
February 8, 5:30 PM | Black Patience: Performance and the Racial Politics of Time – lecture by Julius Fleming |A Minoritarian Performance Research Cluster Event, Communication 120
This talk considers how theatre—like television and photography—was vital to the cultural and political fronts of the Civil Rights Movement. It explores how black artists and activists used theatre to stage a radical challenge to a violent racial project that I call black patience—a project that has historically delayed black freedom as a means of reinforcing anti-blackness and white supremacy. Mounting plays like Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, these cultural workers used theatre to demand “freedom now.” In exploring theatre’s intervention into the violent cultures of black patience, this talk foregrounds the centrality of race to theories of ephemerality and disappearance in performance studies scholarship.
Free | More info.
February 9 – 11, 8 PM | Ragamala Dance Company – Ranee and Aparna Ramaswamy’s Fires of Varanasi: Dance of the Eternal Pilgrim, Meany Hall
Driven by the artistic vision of mother-daughters Ranee Ramaswamy, Aparna Ramaswamy (Artistic Directors) and Ashwini Ramaswamy (Choreographic Associate), Ragamala Dance Company is committed to the idea that while history is time bound, the stories we share are timeless. Rooted in the South Indian dance form of Bharatanatyam, Ragamala’s work is expansive – extending beyond the stage to embody their immigrant experiences and show a kindred relationship between ancient and contemporary within today’s world.
$48 tickets | Tickets and more info.
February 9, 6 PM | Scand30: 1 Object, First comes love, then comes marriage? Sex, Labor, and the Fisherman’s Wife with Olivia Gunn, Nordic Museum
The ever-popular Scand30 series returns with a twist! During the month of sweethearts and heartaches, join Olivia Gunn, Associate Professor in the Department of Scandinavian Studies, as she explores the practicalities of pairing off in modern Norway.
Co-presented with the University of Washington’s Department of Scandinavian Studies, this latest iteration of our popular Scand30 series uses one object in the Museum’s collection as a point of departure for the speaker’s topic. These short, snappy talks are delivered by University of Washington faculty and reflect current research. A light reception will follow the presentation.
Free | More info.
February 10, 10:45 AM | Friday in Space — Astronaut Talk LIVE FROM SPACE! Online
Gregg Colburn, Assistant Professor of Real Estate, and Emily Levesque, Associate Professor of Astronomy, will welcome NASA Astronaut Josh Cassada, LIVE from the International Space Station.
The highlight of this Friday in Space will be a 20-minute downlink with astronaut Cassada, currently stationed on the ISS. A downlink affords participants on Earth to see video and hear audio from the ISS, while the astronaut will have audio only from Earth’s side of the conversation. During the downlink, UW students, moderated by Prof. Colburn, will have the chance to ask questions directly of astronaut Cassada.
Free | More info.
February 10, 4 PM |Going Public Podcast Launch Celebration, Communication 206
Celebrate the launch of Going Public, a podcast dedicated to exploring public scholarship and publicly-engaged teaching in the humanities. From 2015-2022, two successive Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded grant initiatives under the name Reimagining the Humanities PhD and Reaching New Publics supported public scholars at the University of Washington. The Going Public podcast showcases the public-facing graduate seminars and doctoral student projects made possible by this generous support.
At this special event, you’ll be able to independently listen to clips of the podcast and explore the Reimagining the PhD digital archive of graduate seminar syllabi and doctoral student projects. You’ll have a chance to learn more about public-facing scholarship and teaching at the University of Washington from many people who have been involved in the Reimagining the Humanities PhD program and talk with podcast host and co-producer Annie Dwyer about her vision for the Going Public project.
Free | More info. and RSVP
Have an event that you would like to see featured in the ArtSci Roundup? Connect with Lauren Zondag (zondagld@uw.edu).
Tag(s): ArtsUW • College of Arts & Sciences • College of Built Environments • Department of Astronomy • Department of History • Department of Scandinavian Studies • Henry Art Gallery • Meany Center for the Performing Arts • Simpson Center for the Humanities
