Ruben Castillo, Pieces (Summer Set), 2024, Woodblock on paper, 23” x 33.75”
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 “retrieve” past time, clock time (work, labor conditions), productivity, not enough time, accelerated time, aging and the passing of time, day time vs. 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
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)
Friday, March 21 (3:30 - 6:30 p.m.)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 3:30 - 5 p.m. |
Welcome & Keynote, Thomas DeFrantz, introduced by Kieron Sargeant, Dance |
| 5 - 6:30 p.m. |
Jeff Segrave, Health & Human Physiological Sciences: “Time and Sport” Ryan Overbey, Religious Studies and Asian Studies: “The Eschatological Time of the Techbro” Emilio Vavarella, Media & Film Studies: “The Medium of Water and the Matter of Time: On the Flow of Media and Meaning” |
Saturday, March 22 (8:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.)
| Time | Topic |
|---|---|
| 8:30 - 9 a.m. | Continental Breakfast |
| 9 - 10:30 a.m. |
Session II Marc Conner, President of Skidmore College and English: “The Play of Memory: Time, Ritual, and Storytelling in Irish Film and Drama” Lisa Jackson-Schebetta, Theater: “’Si la paz de Colombia no se poetiza, no se pinta, se retrasa’: Patricia Ariza, Temporal Violence, and Durational Peace Building” Rodrigo Schneider, Economics: “Redeeming the Time” |
| 10:30 - 11 a.m. |
Coffee Break
|
| 11 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. |
Session III Brian Lawson, Dance: “What if We’re Beautiful?” Catherine Talley, World Languages and Literatures (French): "Traditions for the Future: Folk Culture after the French Revolution" Rachel Roe-Dale, Mathematics and Statistics: “Hours: A Mathematical Perspective” John Cosgrove, Humanities Librarian: “Time in Space: Bil Keane’s The Family Circus Sundays” |
| 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 (& Aaron Loux): Exhibition Performance: What if We’re Beautiful |
| 2:30 - 4 p.m. |
Session V Sarah Sweeney, Art: “My Deepfake Dad–Conversation Two: Letters and Recordings” Michael Swellander, World Languages and Literatures (German): “Reading Yesterday’s News with Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826)” Dennis Schebetta, Theater: “Time’s Fool: A solo performance” |
| 4 - 4:30 p.m. |
Coffee Break
|
| 4:30 - 6 p.m. |
Session VI Joseph Cermatori, English: “G. F. Händel's Other Messiahs: Rodelinda, Queen of Lombardy (1725) and the Time of Redemption in Baroque Opera” Adam Cottle, Metadata Librarian: “Lex dei, lux diei: the Sundial as a Medium for Memento Mori and Other Epigrammatic Engravings” Catherine White Berheide, Sociology: “Everything Took a Lot More Time: Faculty Perceptions of Time during the COVID-19 Pandemic” |
| 6 - 7 p.m. | Closing Remarks & Reception |