2008 Syracuse Symposium™ celebrates ‘Migration’

2008 Syracuse Symposium™ celebrates ‘Migration’August 21, 2008Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The 2008 Syracuse Symposium™ invites the Syracuse University and Central New York communities to explore “migration” through engaging lectures, concerts, exhibitions and award-winning films during the semester-long intellectual and artistic festival presented by SU’s College of Arts and Sciences.

Highlights of the Fall 2008 festival include presentations by human rights activist Ishmael Beah, author of “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007); critically acclaimed theatre director and installation-artist Ping Chong; award-winning cartoonist and illustrator Adrian Tomine, author of the graphic novel “Shortcomings” (Drawn & Quarterly, 2007); performances by the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra and award-winning soprano Anita Johnson; and the 6th Annual Human Rights Film Festival: Illuminating Oppression.

“Migration means movement-to warmer climates, safe havens, deeper insights and new perspectives,” says Kandice Salomone, associate dean in The College of Arts and Sciences and 2008 Syracuse Symposium coordinator. “This year’s symposium will explore how the migration of people and other living organisms, as well as the migration of ideas and cultures, change what is left behind, even as it creates something new. The collection of events is sure to spark reflection and debate as we explore, as a community, migration phenomena and probe the dynamics of human existence in all its dimensions.”

In addition to the featured events and exhibitions, several Fall 2008 courses will explore the “migration” theme. All of the 2008 Syracuse Symposium events are free and open to the public. Further information about the events and related courses is available at http://www.syracusesymposium.org.

Featured speakers and events include:

GUEST SPEAKERS

Samuel Clemence, Meredith Professor and professor of civil and environmental engineering in SU’s L.C. Smith College of Engineering and Computer Science, and Gary Radke, Meredith Professor and Dean’s Professor of the Humanities in The College of Arts and Sciences, will present “Leonardo da Vinci: Artist and Engineer,” 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 9, in Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building. The evening is co-sponsored by the Tolley Professorship in the Humanities. Parking is available for $3.50 in the Booth Garage (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Paula Luttringer, Argentine photographer and memorialist of violence, and Margarita Drago, Argentine memoirist and author of “Memory Tracks: Fragments from Prison (1975-1980)” (Editorial Campana, 2007), 6 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 16, in Watson Auditorium. The presentation is co-sponsored by Light Work and the Latino-Latin American Studies Program. Parking is available for $3.50 in the Booth Garage (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Ishmael Beah, human rights activist and author of “A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 23, in Hendricks Chapel. Beah’s book is the selection for the Fall 2008 Syracuse University Shared Reading Program. The lecture is co-sponsored by The University Lectures and presented in cooperation with the Laura Hanhausen Milton First-Year Lecture. Parking is available in the Irving Garage for $3.50.

Lynn Margulis, internationally celebrated evolutionary biologist and author, 4 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 25, in the Peter Graham Scholarly Commons, E.S. Bird Library, first floor. In addition to publishing a number of books about science and evolution, Margulis released her first fiction, “Luminous Fish: Tales of Science and Love” (Chelsea Green Publishing), in 2007. The lecture is presented in cooperation with The Kameshwar C. Wali Lecture. Parking is available in the Booth Garage for $1.75 for the first hour. Fee increases by $1 for each additional hour.

Ping Chong, critically acclaimed theater director and installation artist, 7:30 p.m., Monday, Oct. 6, in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium, Newhouse III. The lecture is presented in cooperation with the world premiere of Ping Chong’s “Tales from the Salt City” at Syracuse Stage, Oct. 14-Nov. 2. Parking is available in the University Avenue Garage for $3.50 (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Adrian Tomine, cartoonist, illustrator, graphic novelist and author of the mini-comic “Optic Nerve,” 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 16, in Watson Auditorium.The Village Voice describes Tomine as “the most masterful cartoonist of his generation” and his latest graphic novel, “Shortcomings” (Drawn & Quarterly, 2007), as “… equal parts poignant, hilarious and sad.” The lecture is co-sponsored by the Soling Program. Parking is available for $3.50 in the Booth Garage (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, immigration and globalization specialist, co-director of immigration studies at New York University, 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 28, in Hendricks Chapel. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Renee Crown University Honors Program. Parking is available in the Irving Garage for $3.50.

Spencer Wells, geneticist, anthropologist and director of the Genographic Project at National Geographic, 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 6, in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium. The Genographic Project uses DNA samples to trace human migration out of Africa more than 60,000 years ago. The lecture is co-sponsored by the Department of Biology. Parking is available for $3.50 in the Booth Garage (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

FILM FESTIVAL

6th Annual Human Rights Film Festival: Illuminating OppressionThursday, Sept. 25-Saturday, Sept. 27. All films will be shown in the Life Sciences Complex Auditorium. A complete listing of films is available on the web at http://www.syracusesymposium.org.

The three-day festival features award-winning documentaries by independent filmmakers from Africa, Europe, Latin America, North America, South Asia and West Asia. Film Festival co-sponsors are: Breakthrough, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, the South Asia Center at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Institute for Global Affairs, LGBT Resource Center, and the South Asian Students Association. Breakthrough is an international human rights organization that uses media, education and pop culture to promote values of equality, dignity and justice.

Parking is available in the Booth Garage on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for $3.50 and Friday at 5:30 p.m. in all non-gated parking lots. Saturday parking is available in the Booth Garage for $7 during the football game (time TBA; garage closes two hours after the completion of the football game). Parking on Saturday following the football game is available in all non-gated parking lots.

PERFORMANCES

“From Sonnets to Spirituals,” featuring award-wining soprano Anita Johnson, who will present a program of vocal gems-settings of Michelangelo sonnets followed by a generous offering of heartwarming spirituals, 2 p.m., Sunday, Sept. 21, in Hendricks Chapel.

The concert is a joint presentation of the Malmgren Concert Series, SU’s Pulse performing arts series, Syracuse Symposium and The College of Arts and Sciences in collaboration with the Office of Alumni Relations, and is part of “Rethinking Michelangelo: A Series of Lectures, Concerts and Special Events” that complements “Michelangelo: The Man and the Myth,” an unprecedented exhibition at the SUArt Galleries Aug. 12-Oct. 19. Parking details to be announced.

“Folk Arts: Soul of Syracuse,” music, dance, and traditional arts by Syracuse community members, 2-4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 4, and Saturday, Oct. 25, in the Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, Panasci Lounge. The performances complement the Syracuse Symposium exhibition “Migrating Memories, Migrating Arts: Photographic Retrospective” and are part of the Soul of Syracuse Folk Arts Series, funded by the New York State Council on the Arts and the Chancellor’s Office. Parking is available in all non-gated parking lots.

“Adventures in Great Music,” the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra performs Haydn, Copland, Bernstein and Larsen with Daniel Hege, conductor, 8 p.m., Monday, Oct. 13, in the Rose and Jules R. Setnor Auditorium in Crouse College. The concert, which is co-sponsored by Pulse, will feature critically acclaimed soloist Eileen Strempel and will include a performance of Libby Larsen’s “This Unbearable Stillness: Songs from the Balcony,” and four songs for soprano and string quartet adapted from the work of Arab poets Dima Hilal and Sakeeena Shaben. Parking is available in the Irving Garage for $3.50.

EXHIBITIONS

Sept. 15-25 Lessons from RwandaJoseph A. Strasser Commons, Second Floor, Eggers Hall (Sept. 15-19)Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, Panasci Lounge (Sept. 20-25)

The exhibition presents an account of the events taking place before, during and after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, during which as many as 1 million people are estimated to have died during several weeks of systematic massacres. The purpose of the exhibition is to raise awareness of the lessons to be learned from those events, the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and other judicial mechanisms in ending impunity, and the lasting impact of genocide on survivors. The exhibition was launched in New York at the United Nations Headquarters in April 2007 and has subsequently been displayed in Burkina Faso, Canada, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania.

The exhibition is a production of Aegis Trust for genocide prevention (http://www.aegistrust.org) in partnership with the United Nations Department of Public Information (UNDPI) and is part of “Lessons from Rwanda: The United Nations and the Prevention of Genocide” outreach program.

Gallery hours for the Panasci Lounge are Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m. Gallery hours for the Joseph A. Strasser Commons are Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; closed Saturday-Sunday.

Sept. 27-Oct. 25Migrating Memories, Migrating Arts: Photographic RetrospectiveHildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center, Panasci Lounge

The exhibition celebrates the formative cultural fermentation occurring in the present regional landscape of Central New York. These photographs document “Folk Arts: Soul of Syracuse,” a series of community-University collaborative programs hosted by the Department of Anthropology in SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Services, the Center for New Americans, St. Vincent de Paul Church and Tabernacle Baptist Church in 2007 and 2008.

Gallery hours for the Panasci Lounge are Monday-Friday, 7:30 a.m.-11:30 p.m., and Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-11:30 p.m.

Sept. 8-Dec. 31Dawn of a New Age: The Immigrant Contribution to the Arts in AmericaSpecial Collections Research CenterE.S. Bird Library, 6th Floor

This exhibition introduces selected artists who, after their arrival during the period between World War I and II, created a dynamic vision for a new America. Drawing on the holdings of SU’s Special Collections Research Center, this exhibition features selections from the papers of, among others, William Lescaze, Louis Lozowick and John Vassos.

Gallery hours for E.S. Bird Library are Monday-Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.