Visions & Voices Fall 2018

   

 

Theme Guides to selected programs from the Fall 2018 Visions & Voices program were created in partnership with USC Libraries faculty and staff.
Look for recommended books and readings on the people, performances and topics covered by these events.
Visit the current season of: USC Visions and Voices

Photo: David Ohmer from Cincinnati, USA - Cincinnati – Spring Grove Cemetery & Arboretum "Autumn Reflection", CC BY 2.0

Sweat (Theme Guide PDF)
September 7, 2018
Winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Sweat is the keenly observed, surprisingly funny, and scorching new play from Lynn Nottage (Ruined) that “throbs with heartfelt life” (New York Times). In the industrial town of Reading, Pennsylvania, a group of friends spend their days on the factory floor and their nights sharing drinks, secrets, and laughs.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Anthony Anderson
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joyUS justUS (Theme Guide PDF)
September 13, 2018
The newest dance-theatre experience by CONTRA-TIEMPO and its founder/artistic director Ana Maria Alvarez. A vibrant realization of CONTRA-TIEMPO’s inimitable urban Latin dance-theatre technique, joyUS justUS gathers, embodies, and shares stories of joy from South L.A. communities of color. joyUs justUs is a knowing celebration of the beauty and power of people who have survived immense hardship and injustice with their humanity—and joy—intact.
Additional topics in guide:     USC Libraries contributor: Andrew Justice
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Making Data More Human: An Evening with Jer Thorp (Resource Guide PDF)
September 18, 2018
From graphing an entire year’s news cycle, to mapping the way people share articles online, to the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan, the cutting-edge visualizations of data artist Jer Thorp help us learn about the ways we use digital technologies, become more empathetic in the data age, and, ultimately, tell the story of our lives. How can understanding the human side of data lead to innovation and change? What value is there in new and interactive approaches to data visualization? And what are the business applications of creative data-focused research?
Additional topics in guide:     USC Libraries contributor: Andy Rutkowski
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Building DTLA: An Architectural Tour with Wayne Thom (Theme Guide PDF)
September 23, 2018
There will be a guided bus and walking tour of six landmark buildings in downtown Los Angeles’s Bunker Hill area, led by preeminent architectural photographer Wayne Thom. Learn about how Thom worked with natural light to create iconic images of the concrete and mirrored-glass skyscrapers of downtown L.A., while taking your own photographs of sites such as the Bonaventure and ARCO Tower. Thom will be joined by Woodbury University professor and urbanist Emily Bills, who will shed light on the successive building booms of downtown L.A.’s complex social and architectural history.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Suzi Noruschat
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Lineage and Transgression: The Grotowski Legacy with Marina Gregory (Theme Guide PDF)
September 27, 2018
Theatre artist Marina Gregory celebrates legendary twentieth-century avant-garde director Jerzy Grotowski. Grotowski is well known for his book, Towards a Poor Theatre, which transformed theatre by changing the relationship between actor and audience. Join us for a screening of With Jerzy Grotowski, Nienadówka, 1980, by Mercedes Gregory, which follows Grotowski’s return to the small village of Nienadówka, Poland, where he was hidden as a child during the Nazi occupation.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Rebecca Michelson
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Ceremonies and Celebrations: Textile Treasures from the USC Pacific Asia Museum Collection (Theme Guide PDF)
September 28, 2018
Celebrating the grand reopening of the USC Pacific Asia Museum after a year-long seismic-retrofit project, Visions and Voices will take students to the museum for a guided tour and hands-on workshop in conjunction with the special exhibition Ceremonies and Celebrations: Textile Treasures from the USC Pacific Asia Museum Collection, drawn from an extraordinary collection of over 2,700 costumes and textiles from China, Korea, Japan, India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor:
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An Evening with Calligraffiti Artist eL Seed (Theme Guide PDF)
October 9, 2018
He made international headlines in 2017 when he installed a piece of art at the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea, and the year before that when he painted an homage to garbage collectors across more than 50 buildings in Cairo. But eL Seed is not new to making images that span, cross, and bridge borders. The French-Tunisian artist’s form itself is a bridge between the traditional art of calligraphy and the contemporary language of graffiti. Inspired by the Arab Spring to produce large-scale public works, eL Seed has placed images based on Arabic calligraphy throughout the Middle East, Europe, and Latin America, activating text and public space to explore identity, perception, and our shared world.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Alyssa Brissett
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An Evening with Enrique Martinez Celaya (Resource Guide PDF)

October 17, 2018
In an illuminating and expansive lecture, he will reflect on the creative process; the intersections between the arts, the humanities, and the sciences; and building an artistic practice and studio that encompasses painting, publishing, writing, supporting the education of young artists, and much more. The first Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at USC, Enrique Martínez Celaya is an internationally exhibited painter and small-press publisher, an artist who initially pursued a PhD in physics, and a writer informed by poetry as well as philosophy.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Barbara Jon Robinson
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Los Angeles Philharmonic: Romeo & Juliet with Dudamel and Benjamin Millepied (Theme Guide PDF)
October 18, 2018
L.A. Dance Project’s innovative artistic director, Benjamin Millepied, joins Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil to bring to vivid life the famous balcony scene from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet—one of dance’s most evocative and vibrant scores—in collaboration with L.A. Dance Project.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Anthony Anderson
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Fun Home (Theme Guide PDF)
October 21, 2018
Dorothy’s Friends Theatre Company (DFTC) proudly presents Fun Home, a fully student-produced and -performed theatrical event. Based on the autobiographical graphic novel by Alison Bechdel, Fun Home is a musical by Lisa Kron and Jeanine Tesori about self-discovery and self-acceptance. An exploration of the journey to accepting one’s own queer identity, Fun Home showcases the vulnerable and fulfilling process of living as one’s authentic self.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Hannah Schilperoort
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Xiuhtezcatl Martinez: At the Forefront of Climate Change (Theme Guide PDF)
October 25, 2018
An evening with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, an eighteen-year-old indigenous climate activist, hip hop artist, and voice from the front lines of a global youth-led environmental movement. Currently the youth director of Earth Guardians, Martinez has been advocating for the environment since he was six years old. He is the winner of a United States Community Service Award from President Obama, the Peace First Prize, the Nickelodeon Halo Award, the Captain Planet Award, and the Children’s Climate Prize Award, and was the youngest of 24 national change-makers chosen to serve on President Obama’s youth council.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Bree Russell
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Artists at Play: Two Mile Hollow by Leah Nanako Winkler (Theme Guide PDF)
November 1, 2018
When the Donnellys gather for a weekend in the country to clear their belongings from their recently sold estate, storms are brewing both inside and outside the house (uh oh!). As this brood of famous, longing-to-be-famous, and kind-of-a-mess Caucasians comes together with their non-white personal assistant, Charlotte, some really really really complicated and totally unique secrets are revealed over white wine.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Lisa Crow
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Home Fire: An Evening with Kamila Shamsie (Theme Guide PDF)
November 5, 2018
Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire is the winner of the 2018 Women's Prize for Fiction, the UK's most prestigious prize for women in fiction. The book is a contemporary retelling of Sophocles’ Antigone that asks: What motivates a person to leave home and family? What does national identity look like when you are perceived as a dangerous minority? And what sacrifices will we make for love? Join us for an engaging discussion of Home Fire with its award-winning author, named one of Granta’s “Best of Young British Novelists” and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Tiffaney Valenzuela
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Subverting Power: Cartoons, Comics, and Culture – An Evening with Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly (Theme Guide PDF)
November 8, 2018
Listen in as literati power couple Françoise Mouly and Art Spiegelman talk with their dear friend and NPR radio host Michael Silverblatt about art and politics, the subversive responsibilities of artists and media makers, and more. Françoise Mouly is an artist, author, and the art editor of The New Yorker. Art Spiegelman is a fabled cartoonist and the author of In the Shadow of No Towers, Breakdowns, and the Pulitzer Prize–winning graphic novel Maus.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Rebecca Michelson
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Dreaming with Eyes Open: The Art, Histories, Philosophies, and Practices of Virtual Reality (Theme Guide PDF)
November 13, 2018
An evening with panels, discussions, and demonstrations. Leading Virtual Reality (VR) artists, philosophers, theorists, and technologists to explore the revolutionary implications of this rich, immersive medium. Hear from Academy Award–winning visual effects artist Kevin Mack of Shape Space; groundbreaking artist Asad J. Malik, whose 1RIC Studio focuses on telling the stories of culturally underrepresented voices through augmented reality; Janet H. Murray, author of Hamlet on the Holodeck; Amelia Winger-Bearskin, who is co-directing a 360 video story about Native American monsters; USC Dornsife philosophy professor Kadri Vihvelin; and UC Irvine professor of cognitive science Donald Hoffman, who wrote the provocative and widely circulated article “The Case Against Reality.”
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Melissa Miller
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Cátedra México with Sebastian (Theme Guide PDF)
November 14, 2018
An evening with distinguished Mexican artist Sebastián, the creator of monumental urban sculptures that combine the vivid colors of pop art with the abstract forms of minimalism—at maximal scale. Active since the 1960s, Sebastián has made more than 200 steel and concrete sculptures, including colossal Gates (Puertas) in his home country of Mexico; city symbols in Sakai and Kadoma, Japan; and the famous Caballito in Mexico City.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Melissa Miller
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George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker by Miami City Ballet (Theme Guide PDF)
November 30, 2018
Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center brings back the best holiday tradition with George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® by Miami City Ballet. Balanchine’s iconic choreography and Tchaikovsky’s timeless score are paired with whimsical sets and costumes by Cuban American artists Isabel and Ruben Toledo. The classic repertoire is presented at an impressive scale, with more than 100 dancers and cast members and a live orchestra bringing to life the magic and spectacle that have delighted audiences for generations.
Additional topics in guide:    USC Libraries contributor: Anthony Anderson
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