New York City is packed with amazing culture and inspiring art, but sometimes it’s difficult to break the Morningside-bubble and experience it all first-hand. “Where Art Thou” is a weekly guide to interesting and notable lectures, events, and performances for the literary/musically/ theatrically-inclined on campus.
Sunday, October 30th
- Center for the Core Curriculum presents “Bacchae,” 4:00 PM, Miller Theatre – “Euripides’ Bacchae, produced in 405 B.C., dramatizes the introduction of the religion of Dionysus to Greece. . . A central text of the Literature Humanities curriculum, the Bacchae brings to life the tension between the rational and the irrational in Ancient Greek culture, and in our own.” Free and open to Columbia University students and staff.
Tuesday, November 1st
- A Fresh View: Primo Levi’s Complete Works, 5:30 PM, The Italian Academy – “Best known as an Italian Jewish survivor of the Auschwitz concentration camp who wrote lucid testimony about wartime, Primo Levi (1919–1987) also published essays, poetry, commentary, and fiction. His unforgettable work will be presented by editor Ann Goldstein and professor Marco Belpoliti.” Free, but register on the event page.
- Openings and Archives: Art-Making & Movement-Building, 12:00 PM, 302 Barnard Hall – “Artist, writer, and activist Sabra Moore reads from her forthcoming memoir Openings and shares original archival materials now housed in the Barnard College Archives and Special Collections. The collection and memoir feature over 180 different art works and 79 individual artists, covering a fascinating range of topics, from the documentation of WAR (Women Artists in Revolution) Women’s Services (the first legal abortion clinic in NY), and the Heresies Collective, to the 1984 demonstration against MoMA’s lack of inclusivity in its collections.” – Register here.
Wednesday, November 2nd
- Mid-Day Music @ Columbia featuring Sam Klein-Markman on jazz guitar, 12-1 PM, Garden Room 2 in the Faculty House – Sam Klein Markman will be performing a program of unannounced selections. This event is free.
- Nonfiction Dialogues: James Schapiro, 7:00 PM, 501 Dodge Hall – “James Shapiro is the Larry Miller Professor of English at Columbia University, where he has taught since 1985. His books include Shakespeare and the Jews (1996), recently republished in a 20th anniversary edition; 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare (2005), Contested Will (2010), the anthology Shakespeare in America (2014), and most recently The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606 (2015). He has also co-authored and presented two BBC documentaries: Shakespeare: The King’s Man and The Mysterious Mr. Webster. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Board of Governors of the Folger Shakespeare Library, is Shakespeare Scholar in Residence at New York’s Public Theater, and has been inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.”
- Focus on “Urban Now” | Sammy Baloji and Filip De Boeck, 7:00 PM, The Wallach Art Gallery – “Screenings of Pungulume (2016) by Sammy Baloji and The Tower (2016) by Sammy Baloji and Filip de Boeck will be illuminated by dialogue with the filmmakers. The gallery will be open for viewing prior to the screening from 5-7 pm, and for a reception and viewing at the conclusion of the event.” See event page for full schedule and to register.
Thursday, November 3rd
- Complex Issues: Sweat, 1:00 PM, 501 Dodge Hall – “Complex Issues explores difference, visibility, and representation through recent work by faculty of Columbia University and Columbia University School of the Arts in particular. On a monthly basis, conversations invite challenging questions of racial, ethnic, gender, economic, sexual, religious and cultural complexity, and how they are articulated across discipline and genre today.” Professors in conversation are Lynn Nottage (discussing her play Sweat) and David Henry Hwang– Register on the event page.
- Bard Hall Players present Cabaret, 8:00 PM, Columbia University Medical Center – Alumni Auditorium – “Bard Hall Players is proud to celebrate their 50th Anniversary! The Bard Hall Players are thrilled to perform Cabaret – a spectacle befitting the occasion, and a uniquely poignant show whose political undercurrents are appropriate for the election season.” Additional shows at 8 PM on November 3rd and 4th, and shows at 2 PM and 8 PM on November 5th
Friday, November 4th
- Columbia in Mahattanville: Book Launch & Discussion, 1:00 PM, Ware Lounge in Avery Hall; check site for times and locations in the Diana Center– “A panel discussion celebrating the launch of Columbia in Manhattanville, a new book from Columbia Books on Architecture and the City. Speakers: Amale Andraos, Dean, Columbia GSAPP; Caitlin Blanchfield, editor and Ph.D. candidate, Columbia GSAPP; Reinhold Martin, Associate Professor, Columbia GSAPP; Eric K. Washington, Fellow, Community Scholars Program, Columbia University.” – Free
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