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(Artwork) - Pieces (Summer Set), 2024, Woodblock on paper, 23ā€ x 33.75ā€

Ruben Castillo, Pieces (Summer Set), 2024, Woodblock on paper, 23ā€ x 33.75ā€

Time

St. Augustine struggled with the idea of time. Might we? There is counted time and felt time. And there is much more: memory (remembered time), cataclysmic time (apocalypse or ecological disaster), historical time, heritage (the collectively valued past, or that which survives), monuments and memorials that ā€œretrieveā€ past time, clock time (work, labor conditions), productivity, not enough time, accelerated time, aging and the passing of time, daytime versus nighttime, the eschatological, nostalgia, deep or geological time, amnesia and trauma (forgotten time), the rhythm and cadence of music and poetry and dance, the calendar, the daily routine, found time, empty time. Is time an intrinsic property of the universe or a human construct? What are time's purposes? And how can our various disciplines illuminate timefulness, that state of being in time, that condition of our existence?

All are invited to this year’s Humanistic Inquiry Symposium, which will explore the theme of Time — its purposes, its influence, and the ways it shapes our existence. The event will feature a keynote address by Thomas DeFrantz, Professor at Northwestern University and director of SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology. President Marc C. Conner, along with more than 15 faculty members from disciplines ranging from art to mathematics to theater, will lead sessions examining timefulness — our state of being in time — and how humanistic inquiry helps illuminate this fundamental aspect of life.

Keynote Speaker - Thomas F. DeFrantz

Keynote Speaker - Thomas F. DeFrantz

Thomas F. DeFrantz, professor at Northwestern University, directs SLIPPAGE: Performance|Culture|Technology, a humanities and creative research lab. Believes in our shared capacity to do better and engage creative spirit for a collective good that is anti-racist, proto-feminist, and queer affirming. Convenes the Black Performance Theory working group and is founding director of the Collegium for African Diaspora Dance. Faculty and teaching at the University of the Arts Mobile MFA in Dance; ImPulsTanz; SNDO; Juilliard; New Waves Institute; Bennington College; faculty at Hampshire College, Stanford, Yale, MIT, NYU, Duke, the University of Nice. DeFrantz contributed concept and a voice-over for a permanent installation on Black Social Dance that opened with the Smithsonian Museum of African American Life and Culture in 2016. slippage.org

photo credit: Christopher Duggan

Schedule of Events (all events in the Tang)

Presenters

Friday, March 21 (3:30 - 6:30 p.m.)

Time Topic
3:30 - 5 p.m.

Welcome and Keynote, Thomas DeFrantz, introduced by Kieron Sargeant, Dance

5 - 6:30 p.m.

Jeff Segrave, Health and Human Physiological Sciences: ā€œTime and Sportā€

Ryan Overbey, Religious Studies and Asian Studies: ā€œThe Eschatological Time of the Techbroā€

Emilio Vavarella, Media and Film Studies: ā€œThe Medium of Water and the Matter of Time: On the Flow of Media and Meaningā€

Saturday, March 22 (8:30 a.m. - 7 p.m.)

Time Topic
8:30 - 9 a.m. Continental Breakfast
9 - 10:30 a.m.

Session II

Marc Conner, 91¾«¼ņ°ę president, English: ā€œThe Play of Memory: Time, Ritual, and Storytelling in Irish Film and Dramaā€

Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, Theater: ā€œā€™Si la paz de Colombia no se poetiza, no se pinta, se retrasa’:  Patricia Ariza, Temporal Violence, and Durational Peace Buildingā€

Rodrigo Schneider, Economics: ā€œRedeeming the Timeā€

10:30 - 11 a.m.
Coffee Break
11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

Session III

Brian Lawson, Dance: ā€œWhat if We’re Beautiful?ā€

Catherine Talley, World Languages and Literatures (French): "Traditions for the Future: Folk Culture after the French Revolution"

Rachel Roe-Dale, Mathematics and Statistics: ā€œHours: A Mathematical Perspectiveā€

John Cosgrove, Humanities Librarian: ā€œTime in Space: Bil Keane’s The Family Circus Sundaysā€

12:30 - 1:15 p.m.
Lunch
1:15 - 2:20 p.m.

Session IV

Ian Berry, Art History and Tang Teaching Museum: Exhibition Tour: a field of bloom and hum

Brian Lawson, Dance (and Aaron Loux): Exhibition Performance: "What if We’re Beautiful"

2:30 - 4 p.m.

Session V

Sarah Sweeney, Art: ā€œMy Deepfake Dad – Conversation Two: Letters and Recordingsā€

Michael Swellander, World Languages and Literatures (German): ā€œReading Yesterday’s News with Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826)ā€

Dennis Schebetta, Theater: ā€œTime’s Fool: A Solo Performanceā€

4 - 4:30 p.m.
Coffee Break
4:30 - 6 p.m.

Session VI

Joseph Cermatori, English: ā€œG. F. HƤndel's Other Messiahs: Rodelinda, Queen of Lombardy (1725) and the Time of Redemption in Baroque Operaā€

Adam Cottle, Metadata Librarian: ā€œLex dei, lux diei: The Sundial as a Medium for Memento Mori and Other Epigrammatic Engravingsā€

Catherine White Berheide, Sociology: ā€œEverything Took a Lot More Time: Faculty Perceptions of Time during the COVID-19 Pandemicā€

6 - 7 p.m. Closing Remarks and Reception

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