News

AoE seeks work for Arts & Bodies

Arts on Earth seeks work for its Fall 2009 Arts & Bodies festival and for the Arts & Bodies e-journal, to be published in Spring 2010.

New NC Student Group - IDEA

New interdisciplinary student group developed by North Campus students: IDEA to knit together NC mavens.

"Explorth," an Outdoor Party on NC

IDEA and others plan “Explorth” (Navigate North) to introduce students to North Campus. Friday, September 25 from 4:30-7:30pm. There will be music, prizes, and more. Check out the poster.

New York Times recognition for AoE “Arts & Minds” project

"Unreal Estate," a conceptual art project developed by TCAUP faculty member Andrew Herscher and colleagues is mentioned in this March 7 New York Times Op-Ed article.  The "Unreal Estate" agency was partially funded as a continuation of Arts on Earth's "Arts & Minds."  It's great that attention is being paid to this interesting project, which, among other things, is bringing artists to Detroit. 

For more about the Unreal Estate agency, check out their blog.

United States' first “Green Opera” to be staged at U-M
April 8 & 9

In the 45-minute opera, "The Child and the Magic Spells" (or "L'Enfant et des Sortileges" in the original French), a child despoils the environment, and the environment bites back.  This green theme is carried through the opera's production, whose carbon footprint will be minimized by eliminating paper programs, using water-soluble paint on sets and natural fibers in costumes, and substituting the powerhouse stage klieglights for alternatively-powered LEDs.  SMTD faculty member Robert Swedberg leads a group of undergraduate voice majors and a team of collaborators from Engineering, Computer and Environmental Science, Digital Media, Music, Theater, and Dance in this ground-breaking production, which will be staged April 8 & 9 in the new Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Center on North Campus.  For more information, see the Green Opera Page. The Green Opera is also on Facebook.

AoE announces “Creative Process - France”

All University of Michigan undergraduate students are invited to spend four weeks in Pontlevoy, France and earn four credits Spring 2009, May 18 to June 12. For more information about the course content see Creative Process. For information about the trip itinerary, cost, and how to sign up, see Creative Process - France.

“Arts & Bodies” announced as Fall 2009 Topic

The purpose of Arts & Bodies is to explore the dynamic, tortured, joyful, complex relationship between our arts and our bodies across epochs and cultures.  We’ll examine how we use our arts to affect and reflect our thinking about, and our relationship with, our bodies.  We will participate in and study art that is a direct extension of the body, such as dance and vocal music; art that celebrates the body; and art that probes, explores, challenges, plays in, teases about, and sometimes closes (or attempts to close), the gap we often experience between “I” and “my body.” 

We'll explore how disciplines such as engineering, law, medicine, and business have affected the ways in which arts and bodies interact, and how anthropology, art history, philosophy, psychology, and other disciplines have interpreted the impulses and effects of art/body interactions.

Internationally renowned body music artist Keith Terry and his Slammin' All-Body Band will be in residence November 2- 10 to bring Arts & Bodies home by providing classes, workshops, and performances in Ann Arbor and the Detroit Public Schools.

More information on events surrounding this topic will be posted as they develop.

Keith Terry on NPR discussing the First International Body Music Festival.

Feel the Music Competition is Launched September 18, 2008

Arts on Earth is proud to partner with the Deaf Performing Artists Network (D-PAN) and the University of Michigan College of Engineering's Center for Entrepreneurship to launch a competition encouraging individuals or groups to design technology solutions that enable deaf and hard of hearing participation in live music events. $10,000 in prizes + unrestricted cash grants will be made available to students who succeed in applying new wireless technologies in enabling deaf and hard of hearing individuals to “feel” music in a live concert setting. For more information, see www.feelthemusiccompetition.com.

The Giving Tree: Swap Stuff for Sustainability

Students (Michigan Artists for Sustainability) take the lead in developing interdisciplinary art installations to raise awareness about environmental sustainability. November 3 through 6 in the Duderstadt Connector Hallway across from the gallery and November 3 through 5 in the Dana Building Commons. Want to learn more? The Giving Tree is a part of Arts & the Environment and is co-sponsored by the Graham Environmental Sustainability Institute.

David W. Orr to keynote “Arts & the Environment” opening night, November 5

David W. Orr, the Paul Sears Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies and Politics at Oberlin College, will keynote “Arts & the Environment” on Wednesday, November 5, at 7:00 pm in the Stamps Auditorium on North Campus. For more information on David Orr, click here. For more on Arts & the Environment, click here.

Theo Jansen to visit on November 6

The astounding Dutch environmental artist/sculptor/inventor Theo Jansen will be brought to U-M on November 6 by the School of Art & Design’s Penny Stamps Distinguished Visitor Series. Jansen will lecture at 5:10 at the Michigan Theater as an extension of AoE’s exploration of Arts & the Environment. For an eye-opening introduction to his work, view this video.

AoE’s course, “Creative Process,” wins Provostal funding

Arts on Earth will begin piloting a new undergraduate course, “Creative Process,” in Winter 2009. Funded by Provost Teresa Sullivan through the Multidisciplinary Learning and Team Teaching Initiative, “Creative Process” is designed to help undergraduates recognize, articulate, and fully develop their creative ideas. Students will explore expression in four major modalities, guided by faculty in Art & Design; Music, Theatre & Dance; Architecture + Urban Planning; and Engineering. For more information see Creative Process.