2024 Symposium
Visual and Performing Arts Symposium • January 18-20, 2024
Carthage will host the second annual symposium featuring art from the Sam and Berry Shoen Soviet Art Collection.
“From Canvas to Cosmos: Soviet Art, Solaris, Space Exploration, and the Science of Serene Spaces”
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
All events are free and open to the public.
“Place/Trace” Exhibition
Dec. 1-Jan. 20, H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art
Gallery hours: Noon-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday, noon-8 p.m. Thursday, and 1-4 p.m. Saturday
Curated by Ryan Peter Miller, “Place/Trace” is an exhibition of 20th century landscape paintings curated from Carthage’s Samuel and Berry Shoen Collection of Soviet Art. “Place/Trace” is a playful and speculative exhibition that contemplates the landscapes but also the trace evidence of the people and artists who called these places home.
A second exhibition features a group of 2024 graduating studio art majors. In advance of their senior thesis, this showcase is a coquettish display of what’s to come. Representing a breadth of media, including ceramics, illustration, installation, video, photography, sculpture, painting and fibers, this exposition is a springboard event for our emerging professional artists.
Special event: Opening Reception
3:30-6:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 18, H.F. Johnson Gallery of Art
The opening reception will include food and fellowship, as well as presentations from three student art history researchers: Kassie Kelnhofer ’26, Abigail Smith ’25, and Kelsey Spofford ’25. A Curator’s Talk will also be led by Ryan Peter Miller.
“Her Dream Factory: Women and the Socialist Realist Narrative in East German Films”
11 a.m.-Noon, Thursday, Jan. 18, Visual and Performing Arts Lab
Professor Gregory Baer will discuss East German films.
Film Screening: Tarkovsky’s film “Solaris” (1972)
Carthage faculty Eric Hahn and Jojin Van Winkle will host a screening of director Andrei Tarkovsky’s film from 1972. “Solaris” is a haunting, meditative film that uses sci-fi to raise complex questions about humanity, technology, and existence. In the film, a psychologist travels to a space station orbiting the planet Solaris to investigate the death of a doctor and the deteriorating mental states of cosmonauts on the station. Runtime: 2 hours, 49 minutes.
Following the screening will be a brief talk by James Kreul, a moving image curator, critic, scholar, maker, and enthusiast from Madison, Wisconsin. The talk will be followed by a discussion with Eric Hahn, Jojin Van Winkle, and James Kreul over a light dinner with “Solaris attendees” in the Carthage Student Union (fireplace area).
“The Science of Beautiful Spaces”
Esther Sternberg is internationally recognized for her discoveries in the science of the mind-body interaction in illness and healing, and the role of place in well-being. She is a pioneer and major force in collaborative initiatives on mind-body-stress-wellness and environment interrelationships.
The New Space Race: A Roundtable Discussion
5-6 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 20, H. F. Johnson Gallery of Art
We are looking at significant historical events within the arc of Soviet history that resonate with what is discussed in classes across campus and our world. Sputnik and the space race of the late-50s to mid-70s led us to 21st-century space exploration, where a ‘new space race’ is developing. Please join us for a roundtable discussion of this dynamic topic with implications that span scientific, political, historical, cultural and legal dimensions.
Special guests: (Carthage faculty) Kevin Crosby, Jean Quashnock, Temple Burling, Eric Hahn, Doug Arion (faculty emeritus), and (University of Michigan Law School faculty) Donald Moore.
Questions from the audience and a reception will follow.