January 28, 2005
Weissman
Center Offers Spring Series
on Water Matters
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Berenice
Abbott, The Science Pictures: Water Pattern, gelatin
silver print photograph, 1982. Gift of Joseph R. and
Ruth Pollack Lasser '47, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum. |
The
long-planned spring series, Water Matters: Survival for the Twenty-First
Century, sponsored by the Harriet L. and Paul M. Weissman Center
for Leadership and the Liberal Arts, could not be more timely
and appropriate. The devastating effects of South Asia's tsunami,
as well as the deadly mudslides in Southern California, recently
have shown us just how powerful -- and unpredictable -- water
can be.
The Weissman series,
which will explore the political, environmental, and cultural
meanings of water, includes art exhibitions, lectures, public
conversations, and two symposia (see following list of events).
"We want to inspire
the Mount Holyoke community to see water differently," said Karen
Remmler, codirector of the Weissman Center and professor of German
studies. "Instead of taking water for granted, we hope that facing
the finiteness of water will give us new insights on its role
in all aspects of life."
On February 10, leading
environmentalist Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy
Project, and Tina Clarke, campaign director of the Massachusetts
Clean Water Project, will discuss the major questions guiding
public debates on water use, conservation, and accessibility.
"We also want to explore
the cultural aspects of water in this series," Remmler said. "In
collaboration with the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, we will
look at how water is visually conveyed." Eye on Water, an exhibition
that will run from February 1 to July 3 at the museum, will focus
on water as a subject for artists.
A weekend-long symposium,
modeled after the Pontigny symposium that was held in 2003, will
examine the relationship between water and place in scientific
and artistic expression. Titled The Place of Water in the World:
Ritual, Beauty, and the Environment, the symposium will take place
March 31 -- April 2. "The symposium is open to the public and
will feature a day of special events for alumnae and students,"
Remmler said.
In conjunction with
the series, nearly a dozen courses related to water are being
offered this spring. From visiting artist in art and art history
Ann Rosenthal's Ecological Art: Imaging and Writing Water and
professor of Russian studies Stephen Jones's Oil and Water Don't
Mix: Geopolitics, Energy, and the Environment to professor of
geology Lauret Savoy's Human Dimensions of Environmental Change,
students can explore the artistic, political, and geological aspects
of water in more depth.
Other sponsors of
the water series include the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum,
the Center for the Environment, the Center for Global Initiatives,
the Alumnae Association, and the Dean of Faculty's Office.
For more information
on the series, go to www.mtholyoke.edu/go/water.
Water Matters Events
Eye on Water
Format: Exhibition
Date: February
1 -- July 3
Location: Rodney
J. White Print Room, Mount Holyoke College Art Museum
Selections from the
museum's collection and a number of loans from artists, private
collectors, and institutions focus on water as a subject for artists.
Water Ways
Format: Exhibition
Date: February
1 -- June 13
Location: Fourth
Floor Hallway, Williston Library
The exhibition features
items from the Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections
that historically depict ways in which water has been used and
viewed at the College. Featured in the exhibit are photographs,
spanning the centuries, of students at work and play at Mount
Holyoke's Upper Lake and Lower Lake. Also featured are rarely
shown books with an artistic and historic focus on water.
Thirst and Abundance
in the Twenty-First Century: The Politics of Water
Format: Public
Conversation
Date: Thursday,
February 10
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art
Building, Gamble Auditorium
Leading environmentalist
Sandra Postel, director of the Global Water Policy Project, and
Tina Clarke, campaign director of the Massachusetts Clean Water
Project, discuss the major questions guiding public debates on
water use, conservation, and accessibility.
Water: Its Ecological,
Civic, and Cultural Meanings
Format: Roundtable
Date: Thursday,
February 17
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art
Building, Gamble Auditorium
This discussion explores
the characteristics of water from its role as a basic element
of life to its influence on community activism and social movements.
Tom Miner, former executive director of the Connecticut River
Watershed Council; Daniel Ross, executive director, and Hilda
Colon, organizing director, of Nuestras Raices in Holyoke; Hilary
Noll '05, environmental activist; and Giovanna Di Chiro, visiting
assistant professor of women's studies, discuss how water works
in a community. What are the infrastructures that get water from
its origin to a community? Why does water matter for creating
a community?
Water: The Oil
of the Twenty-First Century?
Format: Panel
discussion
Date: Thursday,
March 3
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art
Building, Gamble Auditorium
"Many of the wars
of this twentieth century were about oil, but the wars of the
next century will be about water." --Former World Bank Vice President
Ismail Serageldin.
Ian MacDonald, professor of environmental science at Texas A&M
University Corpus Christi; Elizabeth Wilson, petroleum geologist;
and Stephen Jones, professor of Russian and Eurasian studies,
discuss the ecological and economic relationship between oil and
water and their significance as (re)sources of power in the twenty-first
century.
Outdoor Sculpture
Presentation
Speaker: Mary
Miss
Format: Lecture
Date: Thursday,
March 31
Time: 7 pm
Location: Art
Building,
Gamble Auditorium
Artist Mary Miss has
reshaped the boundaries among sculpture, architecture, landscape
design, installation art, photography, and drawing. With an unusual
combination of raw power and simple poetry, her works demand engagement
with materials, ideas, environments, and ourselves.
The Place of Water
in the World: Ritual, Beauty, and the Environment
Format: Symposium
Date: Thursday,
March 31 -- Saturday, April 2
Location: Art
Building, Gamble Auditorium
Building on the Mount
Holyoke College Art Museum's fall exhibition Valenciennes, Daubigny,
and the Origins of French Landscape Painting and the spring exhibition
Eye on Water, this public exchange explores the relationship between
water and place in scientific and artistic expression. Within
a framework of visual renditions of water, the symposium addresses
the following questions: What does art teach us about science?
What does science contribute to the making of art? What is the
place of water in our physical and metaphysical lives? How do
sacred and profane uses of water flow together or diverge in the
world? Leading artists, scientists, and scholars will discuss
their work and specific local and global water sites.
Undine Goes
Format: Performance
Date: Saturday,
April 2
Time: 4-5 pm
Location: Atrium,
Williston Library
A performance with
Hannah Bailey and the Mount Holyoke College dancers directed by
Holger Teschke, visiting professor of theatre arts, and James
Coleman, professor of dance and arts coordinator.
Making Waves: Projects
and Presentations on Water
Format: Student
symposium
Date: Friday,
April 8
Time: TBA
Location: TBA
Linking with the 2005
Mount Holyoke Student Science Symposium, this event celebrates
a college-wide presentation of leading student work on a variety
of topics including a focus on water.
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