week 6

Lecture: Winter Tales
Spurlock Museum

I did not choose well.  Let me offer this instead of a critique of the actual event.  It would be very boring.  Sorry.

week 5: Feb. 13-19 #2

Benjamin King, Senior Trumpet Recital

Music Building Auditorium

week 5: Feb. 13-19 #1

Peace and Dignity Journeys: The Spiritual Run from Alaska to Guatemala

Speaker Hector Cerda, Fresno North America Coordinator for Peace and Dignity Journeys Organization

This was a chat and chew at the Native American House, and the second lecture that I have attended there.   I am getting a good feeling about the programming there and will keep my eyes peeled for more.

Mr. Cerda gave a background for the Peace and Dignity Journey, groups of Indigenous People from all over north and south america running from Alaska and Argentina to end (sometimes) at the Panama Canal as a demonstration of cultural heritage and unity.  He showed lots of imagery from the Aztec codex and artifacts from ancient times that refer to the myths of the re-joining of the Eagle and the Condor, the Eagle representing North America and the Condor representing South America.  The run started after the very first convention of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas in 1990 as they prepared to counter celebrations in 1992 of the 500 year anniversary of Christopher Columbus 'discovering' their home.

They wanted to call attention to the fact that they did not need discovering, and that in fact what happened as a result of Columbus' visit was the loss of their lands,  and in many cases their lives.  Uber-gentrification in the form of genocide.

Running shows up as ritual in many separate indigenous cultures in North America, and there is proof (not that it seems necessary, it is just common sense) that there were many trade routes between cultures and continents.  the Spiritual Run follows those, carrying solidarity, stories and brotherhood among what is left of the indigenous cultures in a positive and pro-active way.

www.peaceanddignityjourneys.org  

The Run happens every four years, and last year Mr. Cerda was in a group of about 12 runners that came through Champaign.  I thought it was a beautiful, poetic idea and act. Art.

week 4: Feb. 6-12

Bromance: Exploring the Rewards, Challenges, and Tensions of Men’s Friendships

and

Dr. Antwi Akom

Unit One/Allen Hall Guest-in-Residence Opening Program: Eco-Buddhism, Mindfulness, and Building an Environmental Justice Movement for Everyone

I have been in a bind over what to write about these two events.  It is easy to be critical, critique is what I do for a living.  Unless you were there, my critique being out of context might sound a bit harsh rather than just the way I saw it.   One of the first memorable lines from the 'bromance' panel was: 'one of the things I love about the 21st century is......'. 
I hate being a buzz-kill.

There were miners who attended these events, and I think they got something out of them.  I did not get what I hoped for, but I still got something out of each.  So let's just call it good.  This past week it seems I am guilty of going to the wrong venues for me.....I am a fool for a catchy title.

week 3: Jan. 30- Feb. 5 #2, #3, #4

Nahui Ollin: The Four Principles of Movement According to the Ancient Nahua Traditions

Speaker Akaxe Yotzin, Young Master of the Ancient Nahua Traditions, Temachtiani of the Native American Arts & Science of Chikomostok Academy

This was a 'chat and chew' at the Native American House.  I have never been to one of those before.

I thought this was going to be about some sort of yoga, physical movement for meditation or something.  De-coding images representing the four principles of movement seems to be more accurate.  Pictures at last.

He spoke quite beautifully about the images used on the codex of the calendars in MesoAmerica and was able to demonstrate through this translation the scientific and spiritual underpinnings of recording time and history.
I pride myself on my ability to read imagery but I would be lost with these.  I could recognize some of the icons, but the meaning of them was different.  The lexicon is very complex (for me) and represents a very different value system.  Spiritual as opposed to the more familiar Western materialism.  The end conclusion implied the import of process over object.  That epiphany made me smile.

I was fascinated.


here is a link to give background on the speaker:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:ma5Zm71O7tEJ:xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/13699726/1364054096/name/Akaxe_Yotzin_Gomez+&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEEShX5017cnIwBrhhCP7xZRdLpmYUsux5b8z8v4jXMJsnMU5UQ2SU7_Szai2V5w1bXfpNpkBQMgv9qaT__LL5fvP_ViTOz4q2es_FoHXhflAX1M-otSYs-VV04dyCA4ziukVyXA1I&sig=AHIEtbTij_sqVmsoiUpls4xDCK2KbvDvlQ

Faculty Recital

Philipp Blume, Composer
KCPA Foellinger Great Hall

I have never attended a faculty recital before, but I had just met Philipp Blume a few weeks ago which combined with the class gave me incentive to go.  I am not a music person.  I like it on occasion, have been moved by it but I don't seek it out.  I had no idea what I would be seeing/hearing, but I was determined to go.

The work was atonal, non linear, dissonnant.  I mean those terms in the most vague sense as I don't even really have the vocabulary to describe.  There was little to really follow in recognizable music forms.  I have heard this type of music before, I have just never chosen to listen to it and try to de-code (there is that word again) what I was hearing.  I realized that it was actually performance art, done by someone from the music discipline.  I refer you to the following link so that you might refresh your understanding of what Performance art is:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_art

I was not expecting that. 

The audience is cautioned, warned to refrain from photographing or recording in any way during a performance.  No texting either.  As a person who always colors within the lines, I waited until the intermission when they were re-arranging instruments and space.

Annie Sprinkle: MY LIFE & WORK AS A PLEASURE ACTIVIST, PERFORMANCE ARTIST, RADICAL SEX EDUCATOR and ECOSEX PIONEER

I have known about Annie Sprinkle for some time.  Not a lot, but she has always sounded kind of interesting for her outrageousness.   I allowed this lecture because she was brought in by by the folks at Allen Hall, a unit outside of A&D.  The lecture was long and TMI for me, but by far, the most interesting part of the talk was on her life as an artist (starting in the 80's).  Not the life I would want or choose, but some of the work (especially after teaming up with her partner/wife, artist Beth Stephens) was very good.
I did not find the early work that interesting, but I could appreciate it.  The most recent work as ecosex pioneers got my attention, not only (and especially) in concept, but visually as well.  for the past seven years Beth and Annie have been getting married in different locations around the world, each wedding between them and nature.  For instance:  in Venice, 2009 they married the Sea.  in Athens, Ohio in 2010 they married the Appalachian Mountains.

Marriage to the Sea, Venice, 2009

What a great idea.

you will just have to check out the website.
http://loveartlab.org/index.php