April Highlights

Special Collections Research Center
Chicago Poetry Symposium
1 to 5 p.m. Saturday, April 18

A conversation on the history of Chicago poetry will highlight the SCRC’s archival and book holdings. Speakers will include David Pavelich, bibliographer for modern poetry at the University Library, who will speak about the world of Ralph J. Mills Jr.; Andrew Joron, poet and author of Neo-Surrealism, who will speak about “The Chicago Surrealist Group”; Liesl Olson, Collegiate Assistant Professor in the Humanities Collegiate Division, whose talk is titled “‘An invincible force … meets an immovable object’”: Gertrude Stein comes to Chicago.” There will also be respondents to each discussion. For more information, contact Pavelich at pavelich@ uchicago.edu or (773) 834-4338.
Joseph Regenstein Library, 1100 E. 57th St.

Divinity School
“Culturing Theologies, Theologizing Cultures: Overtures Toward Interdisciplinary Theories and Theologies of Cultures”
Wednesday, April 22 and Thursday, April 23

Christian theology currently confronts an interdisciplinary and intercultural reconfiguration. Many contemporary theologians acknowledge the need to take into consideration the various ways in which culture has engaged with theology, and there is a growing appreciation for comparative interdisciplinary approaches in reflecting upon ideas of the divine in, through and before cultures. The conference will explore such themes, especially from the perspective of contemporary and emerging theological work in culture. It also will include critical work from other human sciences as they reflect on religion and theology. For more information, visit: http://marty-center.uchicago.edu/conferences/culture//.
Swift Hall, 1025 E. 58th St.

International House
Asia Ahead—“Traditional Contemporary: The New Cultural Vocabulary”
8 p.m. Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25

On Friday, dancer Shanti Kumari Johnson, who is of Indian and Mexican descent, will perform a contemporary dance, and Canadian Kathakali artist Anupama Dineshkumar will present the highly stylized classical dance-drama of Indian’s southern state of Kerala. On Saturday, the group Kalapriya will perform traditional Bharata Natyam dance. Indondesian Dance of Illinois will offer an ensemble that will feature traditional and modern renditions of Balinese sounds and movement. Soloist Prajwal Ratna Vajracharya, a priest of one of the Vajrayan Buddhist lineages of Nepal, will perform Nepalese dance. Tickets are $20, $15 seniors and students but free to University students and International House residents. For tickets, call (773) 363-9303 or e-mail info@kalapriya.org.
1414 E. 59th St.

	Nails, washers, and rivets in the Smart Museum’s H.C. Westermann Study Collection (above).
	Roger Brown’s living room and collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Smart Museum of Art
“Artistic Evidence: Data or Dust?”
Noon Thursday, April 30

The artist Roger Brown’s thrift store discoveries and a pair of Ronald and Nancy Reagan bedroom slippers are preserved in a study collection maintained by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The Smart Museum’s H.C. Westermann Study Collection boasts an assortment of carpenter tools and love letters. Are these collections trash or treasure? Lisa Stone, curator of the Roger Brown Study Collection, and Richard A. Born, Smart Museum Senior Curator, will lead a lunch-hour discussion and debate about collecting periphery objects and source materials related to these two Chicago artists. Free but advance registration is required. To register, contact Kristy Peterson at (773) 702-2351 or kristypeterson@uchicago.edu.
5550 S. Greenwood Ave.