Events

How much work does it take to make art seem effortless, the laboring body absent? Works By attempts to answer this question by bringing together four Chicago-based artists who share an interest in the many meanings of “labor.” The centerpiece of the exhibition is a floor drawing by Tony Lewis, performatively produced on site. A sculpture by Devin T. Mays features pallets collected during his wanderings around Chicago’s South Side. Erased: (Unrelated), a 2012 photograph by Bethany Collins, captures a cloud of chalk dust released into a black void—the remnants of the word “unrelated” repeatedly written on a blackboard and then erased. A large photo by Ellen Rothenberg depicts a work boot; another captures a giant lump of crumpled paper that was once a Barbara Kruger mural. The fruits of these artists’ labors will be on view from May 1 (International Workers’ Day) through July 14 (Bastille Day)—two dates that commemorate landmark events in the history of the working class.

Curated by Dieter Roelstraete.

Join the History Department to learn about the work our third-year PhD students are doing on May 3 from 10-2 in the John Hope Franklin Room. They will present on their proposed dissertation topics. Refreshments, including lunch, will be provided. Please RSVP by April 26 using the “Register” link to the left.

Speakers: Dr. Antoine Madar (Postdoc, Mark Sheffield Lab, UChicago); Dr. Douglas Goodsmith (Postdoc, Mark Sheffield Lab, UChicago)

Join our graduating GNSE majors as they present their BA theses, showcasing gender and sexuality across disciplines. Come celebrate the great work they’ve done this year!

This hybrid event will take place in-person at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality (5733 S University Ave) and on Zoom. Registration is required to attend the Zoom option (in-person attendees are not required to RSVP).

A Symposium in Conjunction with the Exhibition Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Disorienting urban transformation, boundless enthusiasm for new technologies and cultures, increased international trade, and rising geopolitical tensions: these circumstances defined Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) as much as they describe our own. Taken together with the final decade of the Tokugawa shoguns’ regime, in which Yokohama and other ports opened to direct trade with the US and other nations, this period constitutes “fifty years of new Japan.”

The phrase “fifty years of new Japan” was used by Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in a book meant to look back on the nation’s progress since kaikoku, literally, the “opening of the country” to global trade, representative government, and unprecedented freedom of expression. While the changes wrought upheaval and uncertainty, many people, including artists, saw the Meiji period as a time of new possibilities and aspirations, global exchange, and progress. Against this backdrop, art emerged as one of Japan’s most profitable industries and a singular means of representing the modern nation-state: in Japan and abroad, art filled international expositions, domestic halls of industry, and private residences. These objects embodied the civic ambitions of Japanese artists and politicians, showcased Japan’s manufacturing capabilities, and displayed the unparalleled skill and sensibility of individual artists who enjoyed recognition on the world stage for the first time.

This symposium brings together leading scholars of Meiji art and culture from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan in order to reevaluate an artistic period described in terms of both continuity and change, westernization and the invention of Japanese tradition.

SCHEDULE

Friday, May 3rd

Smart Museum of Art (5550 S. Greenwood Ave.) Museum Hours: 10 am - 4:30 pm Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan Exhibition International House, Assembly Hall (1414 E. 59th St.) 3:00 pm-3:15 pm Welcome and Opening Remarks Chelsea Foxwell (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago) Bradley Bailey (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston) 3:15 pm - 3:45 pm Introduction and Overview: Meiji Art in the Context of U.S.-Japan Relations Chelsea Foxwell (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago) 4:00 pm - 6:00 pm Keynote Lecture (in Japanese with English translation) Satō Dōshin, Tokyo University of the Arts

TO VIEW THE FULL SCHEDULE, CLICK HERE.

SPONSORS

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies (with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education), the Smart Museum of Art, the Center for the Art of East Asia, and the International House Global Voices Program at the University of Chicago.

ACCESSIBILITY

Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or email: i-house-programs@uchicago.edu

A Symposium in Conjunction with the Exhibition Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Disorienting urban transformation, boundless enthusiasm for new technologies and cultures, increased international trade, and rising geopolitical tensions: these circumstances defined Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) as much as they describe our own. Taken together with the final decade of the Tokugawa shoguns’ regime, in which Yokohama and other ports opened to direct trade with the US and other nations, this period constitutes “fifty years of new Japan.”

The phrase “fifty years of new Japan” was used by Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in a book meant to look back on the nation’s progress since kaikoku, literally, the “opening of the country” to global trade, representative government, and unprecedented freedom of expression. While the changes wrought upheaval and uncertainty, many people, including artists, saw the Meiji period as a time of new possibilities and aspirations, global exchange, and progress. Against this backdrop, art emerged as one of Japan’s most profitable industries and a singular means of representing the modern nation-state: in Japan and abroad, art filled international expositions, domestic halls of industry, and private residences. These objects embodied the civic ambitions of Japanese artists and politicians, showcased Japan’s manufacturing capabilities, and displayed the unparalleled skill and sensibility of individual artists who enjoyed recognition on the world stage for the first time.

This symposium brings together leading scholars of Meiji art and culture from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan in order to reevaluate an artistic period described in terms of both continuity and change, westernization and the invention of Japanese tradition.

SCHEDULE

Friday, May 3rd

Smart Museum of Art (5550 S. Greenwood Ave.)
Museum Hours: 10 am - 4:30 pm
Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan Exhibition

International House, Assembly Hall (1414 E. 59th St.)
3:00 pm-3:15 pm
Welcome and Opening Remarks
Chelsea Foxwell (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago)
Bradley Bailey (Museum of Fine Arts, Houston)

3:15 pm - 3:45 pm
Introduction and Overview: Meiji Art in the Context of U.S.-Japan Relations
Chelsea Foxwell (Associate Professor of Art History, University of Chicago)

4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Keynote Lecture (in Japanese with English translation)
Satō Dōshin, Tokyo University of the Arts

TO VIEW THE FULL SCHEDULE, CLICK HERE.

SPONSORS

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies (with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education), the Smart Museum of Art, the Center for the Art of East Asia, and the International House Global Voices Program at the University of Chicago.

ACCESSIBILITY

Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or email: i-house-programs@uchicago.edu

Please join us at APEA on May 3 for our second dissertation proposal workshop of the quarter. PhD students from EALC who are working on their dissertation proposals will present on their dissertation proposal writing. The pre-circulated materials can be accessed HERE with the password prospectus 2. Please do not circulate the materials without consent from the authors.

The primary focus of the workshop is to brainstorm on the introduction section of the proposal. We will also be mainly addressing the pre-circulated materials themselves, though we will dedicate time to questions about the projects in general. We hope to see you at the workshop!

EALC Dissertation Proposal Workshop

Presenters:

Hang Wu, EALC & CMS

Yiwen Wu, EALC & TAPS

Yuwei Zhou, EALC

Time: Friday, May 3, 3-5pm CT

Location: Center for East Asian Studies 319 (1155 E. 60th St)

Please feel free to contact Danlin (danlinz@uchicago.edu) or James (kennerly@uchicago.edu) with any questions you might have, and we look forward to seeing you at the workshop!

A Symposium in Conjunction with the Exhibition Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Disorienting urban transformation, boundless enthusiasm for new technologies and cultures, increased international trade, and rising geopolitical tensions: these circumstances defined Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) as much as they describe our own. Taken together with the final decade of the Tokugawa shoguns’ regime, in which Yokohama and other ports opened to direct trade with the US and other nations, this period constitutes “fifty years of new Japan.”

The phrase “fifty years of new Japan” was used by Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in a book meant to look back on the nation’s progress since kaikoku, literally, the “opening of the country” to global trade, representative government, and unprecedented freedom of expression. While the changes wrought upheaval and uncertainty, many people, including artists, saw the Meiji period as a time of new possibilities and aspirations, global exchange, and progress. Against this backdrop, art emerged as one of Japan’s most profitable industries and a singular means of representing the modern nation-state: in Japan and abroad, art filled international expositions, domestic halls of industry, and private residences. These objects embodied the civic ambitions of Japanese artists and politicians, showcased Japan’s manufacturing capabilities, and displayed the unparalleled skill and sensibility of individual artists who enjoyed recognition on the world stage for the first time.

This symposium brings together leading scholars of Meiji art and culture from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan in order to reevaluate an artistic period described in terms of both continuity and change, westernization and the invention of Japanese tradition.

SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 4

International House, Assembly Hall (1414 E. 59th St.) 9:00 am - 6:00 pm (order and schedule TBD)

Speaker Listing Bradley Bailey, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago Mami Hatayama, Roger L. Weston Foundation Meghen Jones, Alfred University Andreas Marks, Minneapolis Institute of Art Alison Miller, University of the South Rhiannon Paget, Ringling Museum of Art Eriko Tomizawa-Kay, University of Michigan Alice Tseng, Boston University Takurō Tsunoda, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Art

TO VIEW THE FULL SCHEDULE, CLICK HERE.

SPONSORS

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies (with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education), the Smart Museum of Art, the Center for the Art of East Asia, and the International House Global Voices Program at the University of Chicago.

ACCESSIBILITY

Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or email: i-house-programs@uchicago.edu

A Symposium in Conjunction with the Exhibition Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan

THIS IS AN IN-PERSON EVENT AND WILL NOT BE LIVE STREAMING.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Disorienting urban transformation, boundless enthusiasm for new technologies and cultures, increased international trade, and rising geopolitical tensions: these circumstances defined Japan’s Meiji era (1868-1912) as much as they describe our own. Taken together with the final decade of the Tokugawa shoguns’ regime, in which Yokohama and other ports opened to direct trade with the US and other nations, this period constitutes “fifty years of new Japan.”

The phrase “fifty years of new Japan” was used by Prime Minister Ōkuma Shigenobu in a book meant to look back on the nation’s progress since kaikoku, literally, the “opening of the country” to global trade, representative government, and unprecedented freedom of expression. While the changes wrought upheaval and uncertainty, many people, including artists, saw the Meiji period as a time of new possibilities and aspirations, global exchange, and progress. Against this backdrop, art emerged as one of Japan’s most profitable industries and a singular means of representing the modern nation-state: in Japan and abroad, art filled international expositions, domestic halls of industry, and private residences. These objects embodied the civic ambitions of Japanese artists and politicians, showcased Japan’s manufacturing capabilities, and displayed the unparalleled skill and sensibility of individual artists who enjoyed recognition on the world stage for the first time.

This symposium brings together leading scholars of Meiji art and culture from the United States, Great Britain, and Japan in order to reevaluate an artistic period described in terms of both continuity and change, westernization and the invention of Japanese tradition.

SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 4

International House, Assembly Hall (1414 E. 59th St.)
9:00 am - 6:00 pm (order and schedule TBD)

Speaker Listing
Bradley Bailey, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Michael Bourdaghs, University of Chicago
Mami Hatayama, Roger L. Weston Foundation
Meghen Jones, Alfred University
Andreas Marks, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Alison Miller, University of the South
Rhiannon Paget, Ringling Museum of Art
Eriko Tomizawa-Kay, University of Michigan
Alice Tseng, Boston University
Takurō Tsunoda, Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Art

TO VIEW THE FULL SCHEDULE, CLICK HERE.

SPONSORS

This program is co-sponsored by the University of Chicago Center for East Asian Studies (with generous support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education), the Smart Museum of Art, the Center for the Art of East Asia, and the International House Global Voices Program at the University of Chicago.

ACCESSIBILITY

Persons with disabilities who may need assistance should contact International House in advance of the program at (773) 753-2274 or email: i-house-programs@uchicago.edu