A Brief History of the University of Chicago’s Artspeaks Series

2008–2009 Season

Guillermo Gómez-Peña, February 2009
Performance artist/writer

• El Mexorcist 4: An Evening of Spoken Word Roulette

Leon Fleisher, March 2009
Pianist

• Performed works by J.S. Bach; Post-concert Q&A session hosted by Thomas Christensen, associate dean and master of the Collegiate Humanities Division

Kara Walker, May 2009
Visual artist

• Walker reflected on her work in a presentation and dialogue with Amy Dru Stanley, Associate Professor, Department of History

2007–2008 Season

Hans Haacke

Peter Sellars, January 2008
Theater/opera/film director

• Spoken presentation: “Art and History,” followed by conversation with audience moderated by Gretchen Helfrich, Mandel Hall
• Graduate student and faculty seminar on “Aesthetics and the Bomb,” moderated by David Levin, co-sponsored by Franke Institute
• Conversation with undergraduate students in History and Theory of Drama class
• Workshop on adaptation and performance with students from University Theatre/Theater and Performance Studies

Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), February 2008
Composer/Violinist/Multi-media artist

• Concert: etudes4violin&electronix (aka Sonata for Violin & Turntables) by DBR & Elan Vytal aka DJ Scientific, followed by talkback moderated by Travis Jackson, Associate Professor of Music and the Humanities, Mandel Hall
• Seminar with composer Kotoka Suzuki, moderated by Shauna Quill, executive director of The University of Chicago Presents, with composition students
• Discussion with Bakari Kitwana, hip-hop scholar in residence at Center for the Study of Race, Politics and Culture (CSRPC), co-sponsored and held at CSRPC

Hans Haacke, April 2008
Conceptual artist

• Spoken presentation with slides: “Dog and Pony Show,” followed by conversation with audience, moderated by Matthew Jackson, Assistant Professor of Art History, U of C Department of Visual Arts (DOVA), Court Theatre
• Critiques with DOVA students
• Interview with Matthew Jackson for Open Practice Committee
• Seminar with students and faculty from Art History, DOVA, Anthropology, Department of Germanic Studies

Fiona Shaw, April 2008
Stage and screen actress

• Spoken presentation: “Medea & Friends or Electra & Enemies,” followed by conversation with audience, moderated by David Levin, Associate Professor in the Department of Germanic Studies, in the Committee on Cinema/Media Studies, and in the Committee on Theater and Performance Studies
• Master class with University Theatre/Theatre and Performance Studies students
• Seminar-style workshop on Euripides’ Medea with faculty and students from several disciplines extending the conversation begun during the conference, "Women on the Verge: Medea and Other Exiles of the Tragic Stage"

2006–2007 Season

Anne Bogart

Atom Egoyan, November 2006
Director, producer, writer

• U.S. premiere of Egoyan’s newest film, Citadel, followed by conversation with Egoyan and Arsinée Khanjian, his wife and star of Citadel, moderated by Gretchen Helfrich and co-sponsored by Cinema and Media Studies, Max Palevsky Cinema
• Conversation with students and faculty from The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Fire Escape Films and Mass Culture Workshop

Anne Bogart, November 2006
Director and co-founder of SITI Company

• Spoken presentation: “The Role of the Theater on the World Stage,” followed by discussion with audience moderated by Gretchen Helfrich, Court Theatre
• Conversation between Anne Bogart and Chicago director Mary Zimmerman, co-hosted by University Theater and Court Theatre
• Four-part workshop series conducted by Anne Bogart and SITI Company with University Theatre acting, writing, directing and design students

Uri Caine, January 2007
Composer, pianist, pioneer of classical hybrids

• Performance ensemble of Caine’s reimaginings of Mozart and Mahler by Caine and five-member ensemble, followed by conversation with Travis Jackson, Department of Music, Mandel Hall
• Lecture/demonstration: “The Art of Variation,” with Ethnomusicology Workshop and Department of Music students
• Solo performance by Caine of improvised jazz for faculty and students

2004–2005 Season

Anna Deavere Smith

Anna Deavere Smith, March 2005
Playwright, stage and screen actor, professor of performance studies/art and public policy, New York University

• Spoken presentation: “Snapshots: Glimpses of America in Change” followed by Q&A with audience, Mandel Hall
• Conversation with students and faculty, moderated by English professor Jacqueline Stewart

Neil Gaiman, April 2005
Graphic novelist, creator of Sandman and American Gods

• Reading by Gaiman from his new book, followed by conversation with audience moderated by Gretchen Helfrich of Chicago Public Radio, Court Theatre
• Book signing, Smart Museum
• Conversation with students and faculty, moderated by Ronald Gregg, Center for Film Studies, and Achy Obejas, Creative Writing Program

2005-2006 Season

Bill T. Jones

James Schamus, November 2005
Independent filmmaker, co-president of Focus Features, professor of film theory, Columbia University

• Domestic premiere of Brokeback Mountain, followed by public conversation with Schamus and surprise guest, director Ang Lee, moderated by Gretchen Helfrich, Max Palevsky Cinema
• Seminar with University of Chicago Mass Culture Workshop faculty and graduate students

John Zorn, February 2006
Avant-garde composer, saxophonist

• Concert performance by Zorn and his ensemble, Acoustic Masada, Mandel Hall; Q&A session between quartet and audience
• Class session with students from Department of Music; Cinema and Media Studies and the Ethnomusicology Workshop

Bill T. Jones, May 2006
Dancer, choreographer, co-founder and artistic director of Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company

• Spoken presentation: "The Persistence of Questions," followed by conversation with audience, moderated by Gretchen Helfrich, Court Theatre
• Movement workshop with students from dance RSO, Rhythmic Bodies in Motion
• Moderated discussion with students and faculty from the Center for Race, Politics and Culture, the Center for Gender Studies and the Lesbian & Gay Studies Project

The University of Chicago’s Artspeaks series is produced by The University of Chicago Presents in partnership with Court Theatre; the Smart Museum of Art; the Department of Music; the Department of Visual Arts; University Theatre; Theatre and Performance Studies; Cinema & Media Studies; Doc Films; the University of Chicago’s Provost Office; the Museum of Contemporary Art; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

For information on all the arts at the University of Chicago, see arts.uchicago.edu