Exhibits, a Sudanese a cappella choir and Renaissance art are on tap for the continuing 2002 Syracuse Symposium

Exhibits, a Sudanese a cappella choir and Renaissance art are on tap for the continuing 2002 Syracuse SymposiumFebruary 15, 2002Judy Holmesjlholmes@syr.edu

The 2002 Syracuse Symposium continues at Syracuse University with the music and stories of Sudanese refugees; a keynote lecture by David Allan Brown, curator of the Italian Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.; and three exhibits in various locations across campus. All of the events are free and open to the public.

The upcoming events are:

? The “Lost Boys” of the Southern Sudan and Sudanese elders will perform traditional music and “talk performance” in three languages-Dinka, Swahili and English-at 3 p.m. March 4 in SU’s Hall of Languages, Room 500.

? David Allen Brown will present “Virtue and Beauty: Renaissance Women in the Mirror of Art” at 7:30 p.m. March 6 in Watson Auditorium

? An exhibition of “Antique Scientific Instruments” from the collection of Jonathan Riechert, courtesy of TeachSpin, will be on display in the Bird Library first-floor exhibit area from March 1 to 31. The library is open 8 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday; 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday; and 10 a.m. to midnight Sunday.

? “Towards a Modern Beauty: Berenice Abbott and Scientific Photography,” an exhibition in Lyman Hall foyer March 1 to 31. The building is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

? “Campus and Community Quiltmakers” will be exhibited in the Hendricks Chapel Noble Room March 8 to 22. The building is open from 8: 30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.

“The Lost Boys” of the Southern Sudan arrived in Syracuse two years ago after spending their childhood and teen-age years in refugee camps in Ethiopia and northwest Kenya. During the late 1980s, thousands of Sudanese boys walked to Ethiopia to flee the civil war that was raging in their country. In 1991, they were expelled from Ethiopia and made a 600-mile trek to camp Kakuma in Kenya.

Since arriving in Syracuse, these young men have gathered at the Syracuse Area Catholic Refugee Resettlement Center after work to sing as they did in the refugee camps, preserving the oral traditions they learned in their childhood, for which the Dinka and DiDinka tribes are famed. They also sing in the Swahili they used in the refugee camps.

They will be joined at Syracuse University by elder members of the Dinka and the Ngok tribes, Anthony Makur and Andrew Wuei, who will demonstrate the traditional cattle songs of their people. The songs of both groups celebrate life and survival.

In addition to his role as curator of Italian Renaissance Painting at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., Brown is the author of dozens of scholarly articles and many books, including the award-winning “Leonardo da Vinci: Origins of a Genius” (Yale University Press, 1998). He has served as curator for many exhibitions at the National Gallery of Art, including “Leonardo’s Last Supper: Before and After,” “Michaelangelo: Draftsman/Architect,” and “Titan: Prince of Painters.”

Brown recently won wide acclaim as the curator of “Virtue and Beauty: Leonardo’s Ginevra de Benci and Renaissance Portraits of Women,” which is currently on display at the National Gallery of Art.

The Syracuse Symposium is an annual University-wide intellectual and creative festival hosted by The College of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with schools and colleges from across the University. The opportunities provided by the symposium are consistent with initiatives in the University’s Academic Plan directed at expanding opportunities for multidisciplinary intellectual discourse for students.