Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden St., Cambridge
This event is to celebrate the launch of a collaborative project, the Judy Chicago Research Portal, and to discuss the role of portals in providing access to feminist art archives.
The Judy Chicago Portal will be presented, challenges in the technology of portal development will be discussed, and Christina Schlesinger and Judy Chicago will discuss the importance of preserving feminist art archives.
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
Tomiko Brown-Nagin, Imani Perry, and Robert Reid-Pharr will join in conversation to discuss how their work as biographers speaks to key contemporary discussions about black politics, community, identity, and life.
Perry will consider her recent book, Looking for Lorraine: The Radiant and Radical Life of Lorraine Hansberry (Beacon Press, 2018), while Reid-Pharr and Brown-Nagin will share perspectives from their own research, writing, and forthcoming books on, respectively, James Baldwin and Constance Baker Motley.
Hunnewell Building, Arnold Arboretum, 125 Arborway, Boston
As the first botanical history of World War II, Plants Go to War examines military history from the perspective of plant science. From victory gardens to drugs, timber, rubber, and fibers, plants supplied materials with key roles in victory. Author and botanist Judith Sumner will speak of the many plants that were incorporated into wartime safety materials, diet and rations, and even bombers.
Why are the noses broken on Egyptian statues? Why were other sculpted body parts, including eyes, mouths, arms, and feet, purposely shattered in antiquity? Focusing on the ancient world of the pharaohs and on the Late Antique world that emerged following Egyptian conversion to Christianity, Edward Bleiberg (Senior Curator of Egyptian, Classical, and Ancient Near Eastern Art at Brooklyn Museum) will examine the patterns of damage inflicted on Egyptian images for personal, political, religious, and criminal reasons. He will also highlight how close inspection of statue damage can...
Ancient Maya civilization—known for its cities, monumental architecture, ceramics, hieroglyphic writing, and advanced understanding of mathematics and astronomy—suffered a major demise between the tenth and eleventh centuries. The causes continue to be investigated and debated. Paleoenvironmental research over the past twenty years has revealed that the demise coincided with a prolonged intensive drought that extended across the region, providing compelling evidence that climate change played a key role in the collapse of the Maya.
Join the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments for a free lecture and book signing by Lukas Rieppell, David and Michelle Ebersman Assistant Professor of History at Brown University.
Dinosaur fossils were first found in England, but a series of late-nineteenth-century discoveries in the American West turned the United States into a world center for vertebrate paleontology. Around the same time, the United States also emerged as an economic powerhouse of global proportions, and large, fierce, and spectacular creatures...
The year 2019 has not turned out as expected for the political elite in Russia and Ukraine. Local elections in Russia have triggered stubborn street protests set amidst falling living standards. In Ukraine, political neophyte and comedian Zelensky has been rapidly consolidating power—though whether he can resolve Ukraine’s numerous political, economic, and geopolitical problems remains to be seen.
Join the Davis Center as Harvard’s top specialists on Russia and Ukraine discuss contemporary developments in Eurasia and their import for the rest of the world.
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Stubbins Room 112, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Join the Harvard Graduate School of Design for a lecture delivered by Philip Ursprung, Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at ETH Zürich, Switzerland.
For the 100th birthday of Bauhaus, the German State supports two new museums, several exhibitions, and many celebrations. However, the current celebrations repress the fact that the Bauhaus in the late 20th century was criticized for its formalism and dogmatic design education. And while a...
Jen Thum, the Inga Maren Otto Curatorial Fellow in the Division of Academic and Public Programs, will give this gallery talk.
The Harvard Arts Museums galleries are full of stories—this series of drop-in talks gives visitors a chance to hear the best ones! The talks highlight new works on view, take a fresh look at old favorites, investigate artists’ materials and techniques, and reveal the latest discoveries by curators, conservators, fellows, visiting artists, technologists, and other contributors.
Free with museums admission. Gallery talks are limited to 15...
The town of Teotitlán Del Valle in the Mexican state of Oaxaca is renowned for its weaving traditions and its importance as a Zapotec cultural center. Porfirio Gutiérrez will examine the rich history of Zapotec weaving from the perspective of its practitioners. He will also discuss his studio’s role in preserving and promoting the use of natural dyes in his community, and abroad, using pigments derived from plants and insects.
Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums, 32 Quincy St., Cambridge
The Center for Land Use Interpretation explores how land in the United States is apportioned, utilized, and perceived. Through exhibitions and public programs, the Center interprets built landscapes—from landfills and urban waterfalls to artificial lakes—as cultural artifacts that help define contemporary American life and culture.
Matthew Coolidge, Director of the Center for Land Use Interpretation,will discuss the Center’s approach to finding meaning in the...
The Mexican Revolution of 1910 began as a multilocal revolt against the 35-year regime of dictator Porfirio Díaz and evolved into a national revolution and civil war lasting nearly a decade. Javier Garciadiego—a leading historian of Mexico’s revolution—will discuss the precursors, armed struggles, political factions, U.S. manipulations, and triumphs of Mexico’s revolution, including the development of a landmark constitution—one of the first in the world to enshrine social rights.
Join the Davis Center for a film screening for "The Barber of Siberia." This 1998 Russian film follows the story of Jane Callahan (Julia Ormond), a beautiful American woman, writes to her son, a cadet at a famous military academy, about a long kept secret. Twenty years ago she arrived in Russia to assist Douglas McCracken (Richard Harris), an obsessive engineer who needs the Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich's patronage to sponsor his invention, a massive machine to harvest the forests. On her travels, she meets two men who would change her life forever: a handsome young...
This panel examines the remarkable achievements of the great violinist David Oistrakh (1908-1974). Born and raised in Odessa, Oistrakh became one of the 20th century’s preeminent musical virtuosi. He collaborated with leading musicians and composers of his time, among them Aram Khachatourian and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Panelists will include: Oleh Krysa (Ukrainian-American Violinist; University of Rochester) and Harlow Robinson (Northeastern University). Moderated by Maxim D. Shrayer (Boston College; Davis Center).
Harvard Graduate School of Design, Gund Hall, Stubbins Room 112, 48 Quincy Street, Cambridge
Join us for a lecture from Kenneth I. Helphand FASLA, a Philip H. Knight Professor of Landscape Architecture Emeritus at the University of Oregon where he has taught courses in landscape history, theory and design since 1974. He is a graduate of Brandeis University (1968) and Harvard's Graduate School of Design (MLA 1972). Helphand is the recipient of distinguished teaching awards from the University of Oregon and the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture. He is also the author...
Ancient Egyptian texts and objects associated with funerary rituals often include references to “magic” and “demons.” Rita Lucarelli will look at how these concepts were defined and used in ancient Egypt, with a special focus on the roles that demons played in magical practices and spells. Through an examination of textual and material sources produced from the early Pharaonic to the Greco-Roman periods, she will also address how Egyptian beliefs about demons compare with those of other ancient cultures.
Center for Government and International Studies South Building, Room S354, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Join us at the Center for Government and International Studies for a comparative politics seminar, "Countering Authoritarianism and Nationalism: Russia Needs Multiple Liberal Leaders," with speaker Zhanna Nemtsova.
After studying economics at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO), Zhanna Nemtsova pursued a career in journalism at the Russian business news channel RBC TV, where she worked as a host and interviewed political and business figures. Following the assassination of her father, political opposition leader and Putin-critic Boris Nemtsov in...
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, Knafel Center, 10 Garden Street, Cambridge
Who are the modern Koreans, and what do they care about? Koreans have experienced colonialism, diaspora, war, national division, immigration, and a persistent nuclear threat—and yet, they have achieved extraordinary gains in their homelands and elsewhere. Min Jin Lee, the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko who is working on the third novel of The Koreans trilogy, will explore the will of Koreans to survive and flourish as global citizens, their enduring faith in education, and the costs of such a quest and what it may mean...
CGIS South Building, Room S354, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge
Russia has become increasingly assertive on the world stage, particularly in its intent to maintain a sphere of influence in Eurasia and Eastern Europe. More recently, Moscow has also become comfortable with interfering in Western Europe through asymmetric means. What is the Russian government’s strategy toward Europe? What are the levers of influence at the Kremlin's disposal and how does it wield them in Eastern vs Western Europe? At this seminar, Dr. Busygina and Dr. Polyakova will discuss the opportunities and constraints facing Russia with a specific look at Western Europe and...