The Black in the Americas Series presents Roberto Zurbano Torres, a Cuban-Haitian essayist, cultural critic, and anti-racist activist. The film Zurbano and His Racial Conscience, produced in 2022 by the University of Missouri and directed by Juana María Cordones-Cook, will be shown at the event.
In this talk, public historian and curator Orilonise Yarborough will analyze the concept of sankofa, time jumping and time collapse through the use of oral history and archival research, positing that Black concepts of time have never been linear. This is the third in a series of six lectures, Beyond the Veil: Making Sense of the Spirit World.
Today, the figure of the guide dog has become a ubiquitous cultural symbol signifying blindness perhaps best shown by the fact that guide dog emojis commonly appear alongside those for wheelchairs and prosthetics. This talk will explore the role of popular culture in reshaping public responses to the figure of the guide dog and the human handler.
Spark 6: Refractions features the work of UMBC and Towson faculty, recent graduates, and current students in the historic galleries of The Peale in Baltimore City, sponsored by PNC. Refraction is the change in direction of a wave as it passes from one transparent substance into another — a phenomenon most commonly observed when light waves pass through lenses, magnifying glasses, and prisms. Each of the artists in this exhibition serves as an apparatus of refraction: focusing, magnifying, or redirecting our attention and experience of our world.
In conjunction with the exhibition States of Becoming, curated by Fitsum Shebeshe and produced by Independent Curators International (ICI), the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture presents a conversation with the curator and Jessica Bell Brown, curator at the Baltimore Museum of Art. The discussion, moderated by Rhea Beckett, founding director at Black Artist Research Space, will focus on curatorial approaches to African diasporic experience and migration.
The Department of Music presents the UMBC Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Matthew Belzer. Strange things are afoot at UMBC! Come spend the afternoon with the UMBC Jazz Ensemble performing an All-Halloween Themed Live (or undead) Show. Treat yourself to our tricky grooves! Selections include Giant Steps by John Coltrane, Dance You Monster To My Soft Song by Maria Schneider, Over the Rainbow by Harold Arlen, A Call For All Demons by Sun Ra, Oh! by Ernie Wilkins, and more!
Amy Eva Raehse, executive director and partner at Goya Contemporary Gallery and writer, educator, and independent curator, will give us a behind the scenes view of her career and will answer questions about gallery practices, representation, and sustaining a contemporary art gallery in Baltimore.
Flutists Lisa Cella and Tessa Brinckman join forces to explore the extraordinary sonorities of alto and bass flutes in Ouroboros — Journeys in the Underworld as part of their project The Low Flutes Project, presenting works by Elainie Lillios, Tessa Brinckman, Jorge Sosa, Linda Dusman, Martin Lodge, Doina Rotaru, and Christopher Adler.
UMBC Theatre presents Dracula: A Feminist Revenge Fantasy, Really by Kate Hamill, directed by Kathryn Chase Bryer. In this new adaptation of Dracula, the playwright-actor confronts the sexism in Bram Stoker’s original work, turning it into a feminist revenge fantasy.
As part of the exhibition SPARK 6: Refractions, Anna Kroll and Chloë Engel present Inside the Room, featuring “The Space is a Body and You Are In It,” a collaborative world-building (and world-falling apart) game. Developed during the early days of the pandemic when dancing together only became possible through speech, the game engages bodily awareness, the (im)possibility of a shared imagination, and coping with inevitable disaster. In this intimate performance, audience members are invited to watch Kroll and Engel play the game, building an imaginary space and watching it fall apart.
Join artist Stephen Bradley for Imaging the Peale's Biomes, as part of the exhibition SPARK 6: Refractions. Participants will explore the environment through BioBuggy, a mobile art and science laboratory on wheels designed and envisioned by media artist Stephen Bradley and scientist Eric Schott.
Embark on a musical voyage as violin virtuoso Fangming Shen and pianist Hsiao-Ying Lin join forces to present an extraordinary evening of classical masterpieces. The program is a harmonious blend of four iconic pieces that will transport you through time and space — the hauntingly beautiful Violin Sonata No. 4 by J. S. Bach, the enchanting soundscape of Karl Szymanowski's Mythes, the Sonata No. 2 for violin and piano by Maurice Ravel, and Beethoven's majestic "Kreutzer" Sonata, Op. 47.
A special addition to the SPARK 6: Refractions exhibition — Wavefront — features the work of Towson University and UMBC students and alumni Allanis Silva, Audrey Le Ballentine, Audrey Mba, Ayanna Phillips, Gabrielle Moore, Kellan Marriot, Kristen Landsman, Michael Elias Rubinstein, Susie Park, and more artists to be announced.
The Black in the Americas Series presents Tiely Santos, who has been a part of Brazilian hip hop culture for more than 30 years. He will discuss his artwork, activism and new book, TRANSPOETHICALBODY.
Enjoy the works of more than 20 artists from UMBC and Towson University at the exhibition reception for SPARK 6: Refractions, sponsored by PNC Bank and on display at The Peale in downtown Baltimore.
