PITTSBURGH—Carnegie Mellon University's Center for the Arts in Society continues its art histories lecture series, "Aesthetics Out of Bounds," on Jan. 23.
The lecture series provides a framework for a new course offered at Carnegie Mellon titled "Aesthetics Out of Bounds: History and Art Outside the Frame." The program brings top scholars in the arts, humanities and sciences to campus to speak on their specialty and lead one complementary seminar for faculty, graduate students and undergraduate students. In addition to attending each lecture, students participate in a group of seminars on the topic of "arts histories."
The objective of the arts histories program is to connect the artistic, social, political and technological to broader historical frameworks. The Center for the Arts in Society received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to sponsor the lecture program, and the center is hosting the lectures in association with the University of Pittsburgh.
All lectures are open to the public and will take place at 5 p.m. A list of speakers follows.
Joseph Roach, Yale University
January 23, McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Roach has chaired the Department of Performing Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, the Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in Theatre at Northwestern University and the Department of Performance Studies at NYU. His books and articles include "Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance" (Columbia, 1996), which won the James Russell Lowell Prize from MLA, the Calloway Prize from NYU and the Distinguished Scholar Prize from ASTR; "The Player's Passion: Studies in the Science of Acting" (Michigan, 1993), which won the Barnard Hewitt Award in Theatre History; and essays in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, The Drama Review, Theatre History Studies, Discourse, Theater, Text and Performance Quarterly, and others. He has served as director of graduate studies in English and chair of the Theater Studies Advisory Committee at Yale.
Colin MacCabe, University of Pittsburgh
January 30, Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A
MacCabe teaches Literature in the 17th Century, and Literature and Media in the 20th Century. His research interests include the history of English since 1500, psychoanalysis, James Joyce and linguistics. He is also head of research at the British Film Institute in London. MacCabe is the author of "James Joyce and the Revolution of the Word"; "Godard: Images, Sounds, Politics"; "Tracking the Signifier"; and "Diary of a Young Soul Rebel" (with Isaac Julien). He is also editor of "Signs of the Times: Introductory Readings in Textual Semiotics"; "The Talking Cure: Essays in Psychoanalysis and Language"; "High Theory/Low Culture"; "The Linguistics of Writing"; "Futures for English"; and "James Joyce: New Perspectives." He is also an editor of the journal Critical Quarterly.
Tom Smart, Frick Art & Historical Center
February 27, Adamson Wing, Baker Hall 136A
Smart is the director of collections and exhibitions at the Frick Art & Historical Center in Pittsburgh. He has also worked as curator and acting director for the Winnipeg Art Gallery and as curator for the Beaverbrook Art Gallery. He has written several books, including "The Art of Mary Pratt: The Substance of Light," and "The Art of Fred Ross: A Timeless Humanism."
Michael Roth, California College of the Arts, Getty Institute
March 20, McConomy Auditorium, University Center
A graduate of Wesleyan University, Roth holds an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from Princeton University. Since July 2000 he has been president of California College of the Arts (CCA), a college dedicated to the education of undergraduate and graduate students through the practice and critical understanding of the arts, broadly conceived. His primary focus has been CCA's interdisciplinary art programs and his various writings on a range of topics about the arts. He was formerly associate director of the Getty Research Institute, where he headed the Research and Education Department. Prior to his tenure at Getty, Roth was the H.B. Alexander Professor Humanities at Scripps College, and professor of history and cultural studies at the Claremont Graduate School.
Lorraine Daston, Max Planck Institute, Berlin
April 3, McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Daston, director of the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin, is working at the intersection of the history of science and aesthetics. She published an important book with Katharine Park called "Wonders and the Order of Nature" that tracked the scientific and aesthetic interest in "marvels" (unicorn horns, painted stones, baroque clockwork) from the Middle Ages to the18th century. She is an excellent creative speaker and an engaging interdisciplinary conversationalist. She has also worked on the history of "attention" as an aesthetic and scientific category and, most recently, on the epistemological status of "things" and "instruments" in cultural history. Her latest Zone book is "Things That Talk: Object Lessons from Art and Science" (MIT).
Katheryn Linduff, University of Pittsburgh
May 1, McConomy Auditorium, University Center
Linduff has a Ph.D. in early Chinese art and archaeology. Since completing her doctorate, she has taught at state universities, believing that excellent public education is essential to a sane America. She teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses in Chinese and Eurasian art and archaeology. Linduff's current research focuses on cultural diversity in ancient society, especially the relationship between the early Chinese and other groups that lived at China's borders and contributed to early Chinese culture. She travels to China and Eurasia each year for research and runs a surveying and excavating operation in the northern frontier of China.
