The College of Fine Arts kicks off annual event series with a lecture by Una Chaudhuri.
The College of Fine Arts will cross multiple disciplines to educate Ohio University and Athens on the influence humans have had on the environment with an year-long series.
Titled “EARTH: Arts in the Anthropocene,” this new series is an initiative organized by the Ohio University Consortium for Historical and Critical Studies in the Arts. The new group, composed of scholars in each school of the CoFA, plans to designate a theme to be at the center of each academic year.
The first theme explores the many effects of humankind on the ecology of our planet, from climate change to migration to use of resources.
“We are also forming alliances with other professors and the community to come together to explore the issues,” Charles Buchanan, director of the School of Interdisciplinary Arts, said.
The consortium will examine the role of the arts in addressing the challenges of the Anthropocene, which is the current geological age that is characterized by a human impact on the environment.
“(The series will also) boost intellectual, academic aspects of the college,” Jennie Klein, associate director of the School of Art and Design, said, putting an emphasis on scholarship as well as the active creation of art.
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Klein, an associate professor of art history, said the theme will allow Athens to revisit ecological activism but from the artist’s perspective.
To commence the series, the college is bringing in Una Chaudhuri as a keynote speaker to discuss art and climate change, or as Chaudhuri prefers to call it “climate chaos.” It will focus specifically on the role that art is to play in the contribution toward change.
Chaudhuri will speak Thursday at 7 p.m. in Robert Glidden Recital Hall.
Matthew Cornish, assistant professor of theater history, suggested the consortium bring Chaudhuri to campus for the event.
As a professor at New York University for 35 years, Chaudhuri’s work has intersected English, drama, environmental studies and animal studies.
Chaudhuri will engage the audience with a discussion of theater’s place in the issue. She will also speak of Dear Climate, a project she took part in that includes a collection of political propaganda posters and audio experiences designed to develop a more personal relationship between climate change and an individual.
“Art is an arena for exploration,” she said.
The theme will not only be incorporated into events, but will also be integrated into the curriculum and activities of classes throughout the college.
For instance, the School of Dance, Film and Theater’s first spring mainstage production, Urinetown, relates to the theme. This dystopian comedy presents a futuristic society in the midst of a 20-year drought and a government ban on private restrooms. The musical explores topics such as water shortage, sustainability and human rights, Cornish said.
“Wax and Gold: Contemporary Artists from the Horn of Africa” will be presented at the Kennedy Museum of Art from Jan. 22, 2016 to May 29, 2016. The exhibit will be guest curated by Andrea Frohne, associate professor of African art history. Frohne will offer a class in the spring semester in connection with the exhibit. The exhibit will explore transnational diasporas, the political environment in the Horn of Africa and migration.
“Art really has a role to play… engaging people and being as creative as possible in how to react to (climate change),” Chaudhuri said.
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