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.

On Tuesday, May 7, 2024, the Parrhesia Program for Public Discourse and the Chicago Center on Democracy will host Marco Geuna, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Milan, to present a paper on the theme of the “common good” in Machiavelli’s writings and how it connects to the modern republican tradition.

Please join us at 12pm for a lunchtime conversation with Professor Geuna about this paper, in room 408 of Wieboldt Hall (1050 E 59th St).

Please RSVP so we can assure we order enough lunch.

Raffaele Saggio - University of British Columbia

Jacopo Perego, Columbia Business School
Topic: TBA

Daniel Gilbert, PhD, Harvard University 
and
Timothy Wilson, PhD, University of Virginia

Panel Presentations by Students Earning a Graduate Certificate in Gender and Sexuality Studies

Presented the the Gender and Sexuality Studies Workshop and the Gender and Sexuality Studies Working Group.

“Knowing Manchuria: Environments, the Senses, and Natural Knowledge on an Asian Borderland”

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

Tuesday, May 7 - 5:00 pm

Seminary Co-op Bookstores, 5751 South Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637

Part of the East Asia by the Book! CEAS Author Series, Ruth Rogaski uncovers how natural knowledge, and the nature of Manchuria itself – a site of war and environmental extremes - have changed over time, from a sacred “land where the dragon arose” to a global epicenter of contagious disease; from a tragic “wasteland” to an abundant granary that nurtured the hope of a nation. Hear Professor Rogaski talk about her book “Knowing Manchuria: Environments, the Senses, and Natural Knowledge on an Asian Borderland” (University of Chicago Press, 2022).

This event is co-sponsored with the Seminary Co-op Bookstores.

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.

On Wednesday, May 8, 2024, the Chicago Center on Democracy will host a conversation on how countries decide to go to war. We will discuss questions such as: Who in a government makes such decisions, and what is their process for doing so? How can voters hold such decision-makers accountable? What factors are considered when making decisions to go to war. How has this process changed over time?

For this discussion, we will welcome Tanisha Fazal (University of Minnesota; author of Military Medicine and the Hidden Costs of War) and Elizabeth Saunders (Columbia University; author of The Insiders’ Game: How Elites Make War and Peace), who will be joined in conversation by Austin Carson (University of Chicago; author of Secret Wars: Covert Conflict in International Politics).

Please RSVP, lunch will be provided to those registered. 

Speaker: Christian Wolf, MIT
Topic: TBA