[Chronicle]

May 9, 2002
Vol. 21 No. 15

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    MAY Highlights


    Catherine Sullivan, “Five Economies (big hunt/little hunt),” still from five-channel film projection, 2002.
    The Renaissance Society

    “Catherine Sullivan: Five Economies (big hunt/little hunt)”

    Through Sunday, June 16

    10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday-Friday; noon-5 p.m. Saturday-Sunday.

    Room 418, Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. 702-8670. Free.

    The Renaissance Society is presenting a multimedia installation by Los Angeles-based artist Catherine Sullivan. During the past few years, Sullivan has created performances combining installation art, video, dance and traditional theater dialogue. “Five Economies (big hunt/little hunt)” is a particularly elaborate work drawing on scenes from films as diverse as The Miracle Worker, Marat/Sade, Tim and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? as well as imagined episodes from the true story of Birdie Joe Hoaks, a 25-year-old woman who tried to pass as an orphaned 13-year-old boy to receive welfare benefits.


    eighth blackbird

    Pacifica Quartet

    Contemporary Chamber Players

    Young Composers Concert

    8 p.m. Friday, May 10

    Claudia Cassidy Theater, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.

    Admission is free, but tickets are required. For tickets and information, call 702-8068.

    From its inception, the Contemporary Chamber Players has incorporated the performance of student composition with the belief that live music making should be an integral component of an outstanding composition program. This annual event offers University students a rare opportunity to turn their mental sound-images into reality and gives them a chance to interact with critically acclaimed musicians throughout the compositional process. For this year’s Young Composers Concert, conductor Carmen Helena Tellez will lead eighth blackbird, the Pacifica Quartet and horn player Kent Leslie in a performance of new music by second-years William Coble, David Gordon, Benjamin Hartman and Samuel Robles, and Ph.D. candidate Michelle McQuade Dewhirst.


    Paul Fejos, Lonesome, film still, 1928.

    Committee on Cinema & Media Studies

    “Cinema as Vernacular Modernism” symposium

    6 p.m. Friday, May 17, at the Max Palevsky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 E. 59th St.

    9 a.m. Saturday, May 18, at the Film Studies Center, Room 307, Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis Ave.

    For more information, call 834-1077.

    The notion of cinema as “vernacular modernism” has recently been proposed with regard to classical Hollywood cinema (1920s through 1950s), challenging the account of the latter as a type of narrative cinema based on universal mental structures and aesthetic forms that cross historical periods. “Cinema as Vernacular Modernism” will explore the usefulness of the concept of cinema as vernacular modernism through a number of case studies from both historical and theoretical perspectives. The symposium will open on Friday evening with a screening of Paul Fejos’ 1928 film Lonesome. On Saturday morning, a panel of scholars will convene for scintillating discussions on international topics surrounding vernacular modernism in cinema.


    “9/11: Its Causes and Consequences” Lecture Series

    “Human Rights Alternatives in the Muslim World”

    International House, 1414 E. 59th St. Free. 753-2274.

    For more information, send e-mail to nfarnia@midway.uchicago.edu.

    Some of the most powerful figures commenting on Middle Eastern politics and articulating alternatives to the status quo will be speaking in a series of lectures this month at International House.

    “Universal Human Rights and the Islamic Middle East: Culture or Cultural Relativism?”

    7 p.m. Thursday, May 16

    “Feminist Politics in the Muslim World: Challenging the Status Quo?”

    7 p.m. Wednesday, May 22

    “Transnational Activism: Advancing Human Rights in the Muslim World?”

    7 p.m. Thursday, May 23