News + Notes

Highlights + photos from 2017–18

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We Shall Not Be Moved

A new opera created by Institute Professor Daniel Bernard Roumain premiered in 2017. “We Shall Not Be Moved,” a multi-disciplinary work created by artists of color that addresses race relations in America, received praise from The New York Times and was named one of its five best classical performances of 2017. The opera debuted at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia with sold-out performances, and then moved to the Apollo Theater in New York. Roumain has said he believes the opera is something that can be translated back into an ASU classroom and the online learning experience to positively impact and influence students’ lives. Roumain worked on “We Shall Not Be Moved” with librettist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones, who is the director.

Art World City

Joanna Grabski, director of the School of Art, was invited to speak at the Biennale of Contemporary African Art, DAK’ART. Her book, “Art World City: The Creative Economy of Artists and Urban Life in Dakar,” was published last summer. Grabski spent more than a week in Dakar, the capital of Senegal.

Out of Time

ASU hosted the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Society for Literature, Science and the Arts (SLSA), and Sha Xin Wei, director of the School of Arts, Media and Engineering, gave a keynote speech. The conference theme was “Out of Time,” and it brought together artists, engineers, technology experts, humanities researchers and scientists to explore nonhuman temporalities, species extinction, life after humans, slow time, digital temporalities and more. The conference also included an art exhibition featuring work by local and international artists.

(Photo by Ivan Cazares)

The Compass
Written and directed by Institute Professor Michael Rohd
Nov. 11–19, 2018
See behind the scenes of the performance:

https://vimeo.com/241609716
Lauren Emmerson
Domi Care models

Empowering women

Lauren Emmerson (left), a recent graduate of The Design School at ASU, and current industrial design senior Anastasia Miller (right) merged design and health in an effort to empower women. Their product concept, Domi Care, is an at-home Pap smear test designed to reduce anxiety associated with the procedure and to give women more control over their health. They presented the award-winning design at the International Home and Housewares Show in March.

“I’m the type of artist that thinks not about what I could do next, but what I should do next — that attitude, that sense of responsibility and that need to affect change for a common good.”

Daniel Bernard Roumain, Professor of practice, School of Music + Institute Professor

Los Angeles Opera

Los Angeles Opera announced that its 2018-19 season will include a world premiere of “Prism,” an opera produced by a Herberger Institute alum and workshopped at the School of Music. ASU Music Theatre and Opera in the School of Music performed a reading of Ellen Reid’s and Roxie Perkins’ experimental opera “Prism” as part of its new works series last year. The opera is produced by alum Beth Morrison (pictured), who was listed among Musical America’s 30 Innovators in 2016 and has been profiled in The New York Times. Morrison and the creative team for “Prism” were in residence with ASU students for one week. Los Angeles Opera will premiere the opera in November.

(Photo by James Matthew Daniel)

A city on the moon

ASU’s Emerge festival transformed the Herberger Institute’s Paul V. Galvin Playhouse into a city on the moon in the year 2175 for this year’s art, science and technology festival. Emerge 2018: Luna City 2175 welcomed visitors into a rich theatrical experience grounded in space science research and the inspirational vision of writer-at-large Kim Stanley Robinson. The interdisciplinary event included the work of faculty, students and staff from the Herberger Institute as well as from the School for the Future of Innovation in Society, the Center for Science and the Imagination, the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, the Interplanetary Initiative, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the School of Earth and Space Exploration.

“The stories we tell, and the representations we create through art, can transform the world we live in and help us to see and imagine the change we want in the rest of society.”

Lance Gharavi, Associate professor, School of Film, Dance and Theatre

Research in Paris

Garth Paine, a professor in the School of Arts, Media and Engineering and in the School of Music, was selected as the 2018 Artist-Researcher in Residence for the internationally recognized research center IRCAM, Centre Pompidou, Paris. Paine’s work at IRCAM grows out of his work at ASU and with the Acoustic Ecology Lab, which he co-founded in 2015 with School of Music professor Sabine Feisst. Paine and Feisst collaborate with other artists and researchers to explore sonic environments through intersections between the arts, sciences, humanities and new technologies.

La Playa, MFA Thesis Show, Camila Galofre, Feb. 26–March 16, 2018
See opening night of the exhibition:

group of people walking on path in desert landscape
group of people walking on path in desert landscape

Museum of Walking

In March, the Museum of Walking held its signature event, theWalk — a 90-minute contemplative walking experience that guided participants through the historical and culturally rich Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Area. “Walking can inspire creative and divergent thinking as well as positively impact our well-being,” said Angela Ellsworth, a founding member of the museum and an associate professor in the School of Art.

museumofwalking.org

DryLab

Eight people, 30 days and 100 degrees in the Mojave desert. DryLab 2023, a project co-directed by School of Art Professor Adriene Jenik, explored art and sustainability in this near-future fictional scenario where military enlistment is mandatory because of water scarcity. Eight people in the desert lived on four gallons of water per person per day.

Read more.

Students looking at installation at Digital Showcase

Digital Culture Showcase
April 27, 2018

outdoor gathering celebrating 40 years of landscape architecture at ASU

Landscape Architecture Celebrates 40 Years
April 7, 2018