UW News

September 27, 2012

Arts Roundup: Exhibits, music, dance — and valuing live versus digital

UW News

Emerson String Quartet

The Emerson String Quartet will perform Oct. 2 in Meany Hall.Lisa-Marie Mazzucco

What’s the value of live performance in an increasingly digital world? The School of Drama will explore the question in three faculty lectures in October — an arts highlight as the new school year begins.

Odai Johnson, professor of theater history, will kick off the series Oct. 2 with “Theatre and Social Efficacy,” exploring how various media respond to national crisis. Johnson writes, “In a world where the ease, access and ubiquity of the digital image is increasingly asked to stand in for the live event … we risk that the ‘real’ real can diminish into just another reproduction.”

Meanwhile, arts groups campuswide are busy rehearsing fall performances and readying exhibits. But there’s already much to see — including a new exhibit at the Henry Art Gallery and faculty art on display at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.

Emerson String Quartet, 7:30 p.m. Oct. 2. The quartet has released more than 30 acclaimed recordings and has won nine Grammy awards, three Gramophone Awards and the coveted Avery Fisher Prize. The New York Times calls the quartet “a dominant force on the chamber music scene.” In Meany Hall. Tickets are $37-$41.

Ann Gale painting Babs with Ribbons

“Babs with Ribbons,” by Ann Gale, 2008, is part of the current exhibit at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery.Ann Gale

Art by Sang-gyeun Ahn, Karen Cheng, Ann Gale, Oct. 2-19. The School of Art displays work in the Jacob Lawrence Gallery by three faculty members being considered for promotion. Ahn is an assistant professor of industrial design, Cheng is an associate professor of visual communication design and Gale is an associate professor of painting and drawing. Reception 4-7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 2, in the gallery. Each will give a public lecture as well: Ahn at 7 p.m. Oct. 2, and Gale at 6 p.m. Oct. 9, both in Art 003; and Cheng at 7 p.m. Oct. 18, in the Henry Art Gallery auditorium.

Art by 3D4M (3-Dimensional Forum) students, Oct. 2-12. Second-year students Jared Bender, Lacy Draper, Meg Hartwig and Stephanie Klausing share some work they created over the summer in the Ceramic + Metal Arts (CMA) Building. Reception is 6 to 8 p.m. Oct. 2.

“Why Live: The Value of Live Performance in a Digital Age,” Oct. 2, 16, 30. A lecture series that, press notes state, “considers the presence, power and authenticity of the live and the real in the arts, and through the arts, the experience of the real world.” Tickets are $10, all lectures are 7:30 p.m. at the Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse. Learn more at the School of Drama website.

  • Oct 2, “Theatre and Social Efficacy,” exploring the response time of artists of various media to national crisis.
  • Oct. 16, “Virtually Yours: Presence, Liveness, Lessness,” by Herbert Blau, English professor emeritus.
  • Oct. 30, “Beyond the Uncanny Valley,” by Andrew Tsao, associate professor of drama.
Paul Taylor Dance

The Paul Taylor Dance Company will perform Oct. 4-6 in Meany Hall.

Paul Taylor Dance Company, 8 p.m., Oct. 4-6. The last living member of the pantheon that created America’s indigenous art of modern dance, Taylor observes life’s complexities, tackles society’s thorniest issues and has made some of the most romantic, athletic, and humorous dances ever put on a stage. The program will include “Kith and Kin,” “Brandenburgs,” and the West Coast premiere of Taylor’s newest piece, The Uncommitted” (2011), with music by composer Arvo Pärt performed by the Seattle Modern Orchestra. In Meany Hall. Tickets $45-$49.

Pipilotti Rist still image A la belle etoile

A still image from the audio-video installation “A la belle étoile (Under The Sky),” by Pipilotti Rist, 2007.

Pipilotti Rist: “A la belle étoile,” Oct. 6-March 24, 2013. The Henry Art Gallery presents the work of internationally acclaimed video artist Rist, in collaboration with the Seattle Art Museum’s exhibit, “Elles: Women Artists from the Centre Pompidou, Paris.” Gallery notes say the installation will project video onto the floor “where the camera zooms from microcosms, like individual bodies, to macrocosms, like a galaxy of stars. Whether by viewing the piece from the overlook above, or walking among the projected images, visitors will experience a sense of disorientation and weightlessness as they become part of Rist’s visually fluid and hypnotic space.”

Next week: UW Jazz faculty light up Benaroya Hall.