California Studio, now and later
Multidisciplinary artist Shimon Attie to deliver free public lecture Thursday
The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies public lecture, Thursday, May 18, 4:30 – 6 p.m., Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, free
Shimon Attie is a multidisciplinary artist who creates site-specific installations in public spaces using video, photography and collaborative processes with local communities. Attie’s art reflects on the relationship between place, memory and identity and explores how contemporary media may be used to re-imagine new relationships between space, time, place and identity. His work has been shown at The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston. He has received fellowships from the John S. Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the American Academy in Rome, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Pollock-Krasner Foundation and The Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University.
Film Screenings at Wright Main Theatre
The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies Film Screenings by Lynn Hershman Leeson
May 23 and 24, 4 –7 p,.m., Wright Hall, Main Theatre
May 23 –Teknolust and Logics Paralyzes the Heart
4-7 p.m.
Tilda Swinton stars in the feature film Teknolust as a geneticist who creates a formula allowing her to place her DNA into her own cyborg creations. A 61-year-old cyborg narrates the short film Logic Paralyzes the Heart, and discusses the body’s integration into digital and military-based systems of control. Hershman Leeson wrote, produced, and directed Teknolust while working in the UC Davis Department of Art and Art History. The screenings are followed by a Q&A with the artist.
May 24 – Electronic Diaries and Shadow Stalker
In Electronic Diaries, Hershman Leeson asks, “Where does performance begin and ordinary life give way? Or is all of life a performance?” The feature film chronicles the artist’s life as she speaks into the camera about trauma, anxieties, and obsessions. The Electronic Diaries was
officially selected by Sundance Film Festival as part of the 2020 New Frontier exhibition. The short film Shadow Stalker critiques techno-utopian belief in the benevolence of AI systems by articulating the problematic implications of employing them in the social sphere. Shadow
Stalker was the winner of a 2020 Prix Ars Electronica Award of Distinction. The screenings are followed by a Q&A with the artist.
Teknolust is rated R for sexual content and nudity. Films may contain sensitive content, including trauma, hunger and body dysmorphia, divorce, and childhood physical and sexual abuse.
Both screenings are organized by The Manetti Shrem California Studio in the Department of Art and Art History. Read more about Lynn Hershman Leeson here.
Lynn Hershman Leeson in public lecture next week
The California Studio: Manetti Shrem Artist Residencies public lecture, May 25, 4:30 – 6 p.m., Wright Hall, Main Theatre
Lynn Hershman Leeson’s work investigates the relationship between humans and technology as it relates to identity, surveillance and the use of media as a tool of empowerment against censorship and political repression. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering
contributions to the fields of video, film, artificial intelligence, and interactive and net-based media art.
Hershman Leeson taught in the UC Davis Department of Art and Art History from 1993 to 2004. She is the spring quarter spotlight artist in residence in The California Studio.
Organized by The California Studio in the Department of Art and Art History.
Noon concert: flute and violin duets
Thursday, May 18, 12:05–1 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free, a Shinkoskey Noon Concert
Performers in flute and violin duets include Stacey Pelinka, flute and UC Davis lecturer in music, and Joe Edelberg, violin.
(Ethno)musicology Forum: 'Arts Nonprofits: Creative Careers Beyond Academia'
Thursday, May 18, 4 – 5:30 p.m., Room 266, Everson Hall
California is home to a multitude of arts nonprofit organizations that offer exciting career opportunities to ethnomusicologists looking for work outside academia. This conversation, led by ethnomusicologist-turned-nonprofit manager Gillian Irwin, will cover topics such as: job duties in arts nonprofit work, differences between academic and nonprofit work environments, transferable skills, and how to prepare now if you’re interested in nonprofit work. This interactive discussion is open to any graduate or undergraduate student who is curious about nonprofit work; attendees who already have experience in the nonprofit sector are also encouraged to attend to enrich and diversify the discussion.
Irwin (Ph.D. ethnomusicology ‘20) is general manager at Gamelan Sekar Jaya, a nonprofit organization dedicated to Balinese performing arts. GSJ has served the San Francisco Bay Area through performances and educational programs led by master Balinese artists-in-residence and local artist partners since 1979. In her position, Irwin oversees fundraising initiatives, grant writing, program activities, production management, communications and volunteer coordination. Irwin earned her Ph.D. in ethnomusicology from UC Davis in 2020, completing her dissertation on the influence of government-defined notions of good character on music classrooms in Yogyakarta, Central Java. Irwin is devoted to using her skills to increase understanding of and appreciation for Indonesian culture in the United States.
Outside the Lines: UC Davis dance concert with student-created works
May 18 – 20, 7 p.m., Main Theatre, Wright Hall
The program includes performances of works developed by doctoral student Diego Martínez-Campos, graduate student Edward G. Jackson, and undergraduate students Eva Anderson, Navali Garg, Eliza Gilligan, Kathy Le, Harshita Rao and Julia Silvera. The choreography has been developed under the guidance of Professor David Grenke.
My piece is inspired by the question: ‘What are you/we running away from?’”
Alumnus Martínez-Campos (M.F.A., dramatic arts, ’21) shared the inspiration for his new work.
“My piece is inspired by the question: ‘What are you/we running away from?’” he said. “It combines movement, spoken language and rhythmic patterns of audible breath as means to explore individual and collective escape.”
Adult tickets are $10, faculty/staff tickets are $8 and student/senior tickets are $5. Tickets may be purchased at the UC Davis Ticket Office, located on the north side of Aggie Stadium, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, by phone 530-752-2471 during the same hours, or online at theatredance.ucdavis.edu.
The Department of Theatre and Dance is part of the College of Letters and Science at UC Davis. For information about other department productions, visit theatredance.ucdavis.edu
Open Ceilings magazine spring launch
Friday, May 19, 6 – 8 p.m., Manetti Shrem Museum
Join Open Ceilings, UC Davis’ undergraduate-run literary magazine, to celebrate the launch of their eighth issue, Spring 2023: Exit 71. Experience the creative work of contributors to the magazine.
Organized by Open Ceilings. Co-sponsored by the Manetti Shrem Museum.
UC Davis Sinfonietta is Saturday
Saturday, May 20, 7 – 8:15 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free
The program includes Salvatore Sciarrino: Lo spazio inverso, Luciano Berio: O King
with Crisia Regalado, soprano and undergraduate major in music, Gabriel José Bolaños Chamorro (Ph.D. composition ‘15): Ecosystem, Nora Ponte: Two Out of Three and Elliott Carter: Elegy for Strings.
Sunday
Curtis Symphony Orchestra plays Mondavi Center
Sunday, May 21, 2 p.m., Jackson Hall
The program includes Dai Wei: Awakening Lion, Béla Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2 in G Major, Sz. 95 and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Scheherazade, Op. 35.
The Curtis Institute of Music is home to some of the finest young musicians in the world who, each year, come together to create one of the world's great orchestras. Add internationally renowned conductor Osmo Vänskä and Grammy-winning soloist Yefim Bronfman featured on Bartók’s fierce Piano Concerto No. 2 and the stage is set for music making of the highest order. This immersive experience is completed with a new work from Curtis faculty member Dai Wei and Rimsky-Korsakov’s masterful Scheherazade suite.
Curtis on Tour is the Nina von Maltzahn Global Touring Initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music. Find more information and purchase tickets here.
Empyrean Ensemble: 'Works by Graduate Students'
May 21, 7 – 8:30 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free
There will be a preconcert discussion from 6:15 – 6:45 p.m. with Empyrean director Sam Nichols.
The program includes James Larkins: Time Ritual, Paul Engle: No Island Is an Island, Bryndan Moondy: …of shades and primary lines…, Joseph Donald Peterson: Been a rough couple of days,. Adam Strawbridge: entro…pie and Gabriel José Bolaños Chamorro (Ph.D. composition ‘15): Shoal. More information here.
Next week
Student Recital: David Schneider, flute
Tuesday, May 23, 3 – 3:45 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free
Student Recital: Anthony Jennings, trombone
May 23, 2023 - 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm, Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free
A mural researcher talks about his work
Painting Solidarity: U.S-Central-American Murals of San Francisco
May 23, 4 – 6 p.m., Everson 157
Mauricio Ernesto Ramírez, a postdoctoral scholar in the UC Davis Department of Chicana and Chicano Studies, will give a talk about the San Francisco murals in the 1980s that addressed the civil wars in Central America and the U.S. intervention in those struggles. Only one of the 27 murals made at that time still exist and he has been uncovering that lost history for a book. He is a UC President’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Hispanic-Serving Institution Postdoctoral Fellow. Ramirez visited Balmy Alley, a narrow street filled with murals in San Francisco’s Mission District, and much later learned about how many murals were about wars in Central America including those in El Salvador, his family’s homeland. Ramírez received support and guidance as an undergraduate student at UC Santa Cruz from UC Davis Chicana and Chicano studies faculty members.
Read more about Ramirez and his research here.
Sponsored by the Department of Chicana and Chicano studies, and art history in the Department of Art and Art History.
More coming up
UC Davis Film Fest 2023: student-created shorts
May 24, 25, 7:30 – 9 p.m., Cruess Hall, UC Davis
The 2023 Film Fest @ UC Davis has found a new home on campus in Cruess Hall. The festival featuring short student-created films will be held on May 24 and 25.
Film Fest showcases films that are eight minutes or less and have been created by undergraduate or graduate students and recent graduates. The films include a variety of genres and styles, from narrative to documentary to experimental, with a different program each evening. In addition, the festival honors short original screenplays.
The May 24 screenings take place in Cruess Hall 1003 and the May 25 event is in Cruess Hall 1002. Film Fest begins at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are free but must be reserved in advance.
This year’s festival is being produced by a team of 25 students who are enrolled in CDM 198: Where Do Films Go? taught by Julie Wyman, associate professor of cinema and digital media.
Established in 2000 in the UC Davis Department of Theatre and Dance, the festival was founded by students involved in filmmaking (with other departments joining later). Alumni filmmakers have gone on to submit works to numerous regional film festivals.
This year’s festival is dedicated to the late Professor Emeritus John Iacovelli who was a co-founder of the festival. He will be greatly missed.
The festival is co-produced by the UC Davis departments of Art and Art History, Cinema and Digital Media, Design, Music, and Theatre and Dance, which are part of the College of Letters and Science.
Race, Representation and Museums: A Conversation
May 25, 4:30 – 6 p.m., Manetti Shrem Museum
A 2019 study by Williams College found that 85% of the artists featured at 18 major U.S. art museums were white. While some museums have instituted changes in response to the lack of inclusivity and representation, the entrenched systemic racism that is central to this issue requires a radical shift — the introduction of a new paradigm for how museums operate. This conversation features three dynamic leaders in the field who will address paths forward and the barriers that impede rapid and profound movement.
Joanne Jones-Rizzi is vice president of science, equity and education at the Science Museum of Minnesota. She advises museums nationally and internationally on culture, identity, anti-racism, exhibition development and community engagement. Jones-Rizzi is the co-creator and concept developer of the award-winning exhibition RACE: Are We So Different? (Science Museum of Minnesota, 2007. She is the recipient of the 2018 Inclusion Award from the American Alliance of Museums.
Porchia Moore is department head and assistant professor of museum studies at the University of Florida in the School of Art + Art History. Her research investigates the role and function of race in museums and the cultural heritage sector. She is the critical race futurist for The Incluseum and co-author of Transforming Inclusion in Museums: The Power of Collaborative Inquiry. Dr Moore is a strategist, educator, and activist-scholar working in and with institutions that want to achieve deep inclusion.
Yolanda Moses is professor of anthropology, associate vice chancellor for diversity, equity and excellence, and executive director for conflict resolution at UC Riverside. Her research focuses on the broad question of the origins of social inequality in complex societies through the use of comparative ethnographic and survey methods. She is the co-author of How Real is Race: A Sourcebook on Race, Culture and Biology.
Organized by the Manetti Shrem Museum
Terrie Baune, violin and John Chernoff, piano
Thursday, May 25, 12:05 – 1 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free, a Shinkoskey noon concert
Jazz Combos of UC Davis
May 25, 2023 - 5-7 p.m., Recital Hall, Ann E. Pitzer Center, free