CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art This solo exhibition will spotlight the originality, intelligence, and material pleasure in the singular practice of Brazilian artist Erika Verzutti through a survey of sculpture and wall works from over the past 15 years.
Open Wednesday – Monday, noon – 6:00 pm. Closed Tuesdays.Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies.
CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art The first major exhibition to center performance as an origin point for the development of contemporary art by Native American, First Nations, Inuit, and Alaska Native artists opens this June at the Center for Curatorial Studies’ (CCS Bard) Hessel Museum of Art. Curated by leading scholar and curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Indian Theater traces the history of experimentation that emerged from the Institute of American Indian Arts’ Department for New Native Theater in the late 1960s and continues to inform the practice of Native artists today. The exhibition brings together over 100 works by over 40 artists and collectives, including some new commissions, and performances by Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂), Jeffrey Gibson (The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee), Maria Hupfield (Anishnaabek, Wasauksing First Nation / Canada), Kite (Oglala Lakota), and Eric-Paul Riege (Diné).
Open Wednesday – Monday, noon – 6:00 pm. Closed Tuesdays.Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies.
Opening September 8 at Opalka Gallery, Albany, New York
Runs through Saturday, October 14, 2023
Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College in Albany, New York The Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN) invites the public to its art exhibition To Be—Named, at Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College in Albany, New York, with an opening reception on Friday, September 8.
The exhibition was created by EHCN in collaboration with Opalka Gallery in Albany, New York, and is dedicated to the topic of naming and the significance of names for the development or suppression of a person's identity. The exhibit in New York's Hudson Valley is the second station of an international project that includes exhibitions on the same theme in Germany, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Palestine, Republic of Sakha (online), and the US.
Names can make ancestry and knowledge of one's mother tongue visible. They are something very personal, but they can also be something very political, as the abuse of power can be exercised through naming.
The exhibition consists of six artistic conceptions from the US, which will be shown at all four locations and supplemented by local conceptions. With this approach of bringing together local and international artists, the show aims to promote a dialogue among the participating artists with different experiences and world views, as well as with the audience. In addition, specific discourses on the exhibition theme in the respective countries will also be addressed.
The works of Jenny Irene Miller, Luz María Sánchez, Bently Spang, Keith S. Wilson, Elizabeth Withstandley, Saya Woolfalk, and zhaoyuefan will be shown at all exhibition venues. They deal, among other things, with the loss of identity when names are translated into another cultural context and with the efforts of Indigenous cultures in North America to manifest their claim to cultural identity and attachment to territorial homelands through names and naming.
Through paintings, installations, films and photographs, the artists featured in the Albany exhibit address the traces of colonial history and colonial injustice that have manifested themselves over decades through naming, image appropriation or one-sided forms of historiography.
Featured artists: Aarati Akkapeddi Birding the Future (Krista Caballero and Frank Ekeberg) Jeremy Dennis Ellen Driscoll Jenny Irene Miller Native Land Digital Luz María Sánchez Jean-Marc Superville Sovak Bently Spang Sayo’:klʌ Kindness Williams Keith S. Wilson Elizabeth Withstandley Saya Woolfalk zhaoyuefan
Exhibit location: Opalka Gallery Russell Sage College 140 New Scotland Ave. Albany, NY
Dates: Sep 1 - Oct 14
Exhibit hours: Tuesday–Saturday 12–5pm open late Thursday 12–8 pm
Due to extenuating circumstances, the following performances of Ulysses have been canceled:
• Saturday, September 23 at 8 pm* • Sunday, September 24 at 3 pm • Thursday, September 28 at 8 pm • Friday, September 29 at 8 pm • Saturday, September 30 at 2 pm • Saturday, September 30 at 8 pm • Sunday, October 1 at 3 pm
*The after-party following Saturday evening’s performance has also been canceled.
If you have tickets to any of these performances, we have canceled and refunded your tickets. Members of the Box Office Team will contact you directly to process your refund if we do not have payment information on file.
We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please contact 845-758-7900, or email [email protected].
James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Building on a rich history of staging modernist works—Gatz, The Sound and the Fury, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)—Elevator Repair Service (ERS) takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature in their Fisher Center debut. Seven performers sit down for a sober reading but soon find themselves guzzling pints, getting in brawls, and committing debaucheries as they careen on a fast-forward tour through Joyce’s funhouse of styles. With madcap antics and a densely layered sound design, ERS presents an eclectic sampling from Joyce’s life-affirming masterpiece.
Hudson Valley Ramble - Montgomery Place Innovators and Influencers: Downing, Davis, Gilson, and White
Walk/Hike
Sunday, October 1, 2023 10:30 am – 12 pm
Montgomery Place Estate Long before there was online shopping, there were print catalogs; before the internet there were journals; before social media there were social circles; and before podcasts there were dinner parties. Meet some of the visitors and residents who made significant contributions to life at Montgomery Place while also shaping a wider worldview of their special field of interest. Highlighted personalities will include: A. J. Downing, landscape designer and founding journalist; A. J. Davis, architect and A-list invitee; Alexander Gilson, descendent of slaves, businessman, and groundbreaking gardener; Violetta White Delafield, scientist, pioneering mycologist, and outdoor wellness advocate. Walk will be postponed until October 8 only if heavy rain is forecast. Wear comfortable walking shoes and long pants. Difficulty: Moderate. Not suitable for children under age 7.Sponsored by: Bard Arboretum.
Faculty Recital: Yi-Wen Jiang, violin, and Frank Corliss, piano, performing Schubert, Ravel, Paganini, Albéniz, and more
Sunday, October 1, 2023 2–4 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space PROGRAM Franz Schubert: Violin Sonata in A minor, D.385 (Op.137, No.2) Maurice Ravel: Sonata No.2 in G Major Niccolò Paganini: “La Campanella” Franz von Vecsey: Caprice No.2, “Cascade” Moritz Moszkowski: Guitarre, Op.45, No.2 Jean Sibelius: Waltz, Op.81, No.3 Isaac Albéniz: “Sevilla” from Suite Española No.1, Op.47 Franz Waxman: Carmen Fantasie
Free and open to the public. Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9q3BpTlTYsSponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Montgomery Place Tour with the Cultural Landscape Foundation
What’s Out There Weekend: Rhinebeck and the Mid-Hudson Valley
Sunday, October 1, 2023 2–3 pm
Blithewood What’s Out There Weekend Rhinebeck and the Mid-Hudson Valley will illuminate the unique landscape legacy and local character of the region. The event offers two days of free, expert-led tours of some two dozen sites, encouraging participants to discover the little-known design history of places they may pass every day.
Join us for tours of Blithewood Garden on September 30 from 10:00 to 11:00 am, led by Bard College Formal Gardener Bridget Maple ’05, and Montgomery Place on October 1 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, led by Montgomery Place Garden and Grounds Docent Henry Woods.
Tours are free, but attendance is limited. Please register in advance.
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium On Monday, October 2 at 6 pm in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium, Reem-Kayden Center (RKC), Isabella Hammad will read from her work. She will be introduced by Middle Eastern Studies Director Ziad Dallal. The reading will be followed by a discussion moderated by Dinaw Mengestu, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities and director of the Written Arts Program.
Isabella Hammad is the author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost. She was awarded the 2018 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, an O. Henry Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Palestine Book Award and a Betty Trask Award, and she was a National Book Foundation “5 under 35.” Her work has been supported with fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and the Columbia University Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and she has taught literature and creative writing at NYU, Brown, and Al Quds Bard College. In 2023, she was included in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.
Read more about Isabella's work here. Sponsored by: Center for Ethics and Writing, Written Arts Program, and Middle Eastern Studies Program.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space The opening concert of the sixth annual China Now Music Festival features the NY debut of the Bard East/West Ensemble, an innovative music group combining Chinese and Western instruments to create a new model of cross-cultural performance.
The program features new arrangements of music by Tan Dun, Zhou Long, and Aaron Copland, as well as several new works by outstanding young composers from China, including members of the legendary faculty of the Central Conservatory of Music. Internationally renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man will join the ensemble to perform a new arrangement of Zhou Long’s popular pipa concerto, ‘King Chu Doff’s His Armor’.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Last Tango in Ogygia: Human and Divine in Odyssey 5
Jenny Strauss Clay, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Classics Emerita at the University of Virginia
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 5–6:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 102 The fifth book of the Odyssey—the first to focus exclusively on the epic’s hero—may in some sense be considered the beginning of the epic proper. Its action constitutes a coherent arc that takes the hero from his captivity on Calypso’s island to the land of the Phaeacians, who will bring him back at last to Ithaca. But in addition to its narrative unity, Book 5 possesses a significant thematic unity, one centering on the issue of mortality and immortality. Although the stage is set by il gran rifituto—Odysseus’ refusal of Calypso’s offer of immortality and his choice to return to Ithaca—the tension between the divine and human in fact permeates the book in ways both obvious and subtle. Calypso’s love for the mortal Odysseus, Hermes’ distaste for his mission, Poseidon’s fury, and the aid of Leocothea, who once was mortal but is now immortal, all ring the changes on the possibilities for, and tensions inherent in, divine-human interactions. They also serve to position the Odyssey at a pivotal moment in the relations between gods and mortals: their previous intimacy is waning, and apotheosis belongs to a bygone era. This central theme not only dominates Book Five from beginning to end, but it offers a framework for the whole poem.Sponsored by: Classical Studies Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Uljana Wolf, Distinguished German Poet and Essayist
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 6:30–8 pm
Hegeman 204A What is a mother tongue, seen by day? Or at night, awake next to a crib? Or when someone changes diapers, performing tasks that interrupt the poem, or the I? Is this then a broken, stuttering language? A muttering tongue? A language never alone with itself, always with room for others? Since her debut collection kochanie ich habe brot gekauft (2005), which was awarded the prestigious Peter Huchel-Preis, Uljana Wolf's poems and essays have been listening to the dissolution of language in the murmur or Mutter of a shimmering multiplicity. Now finally her debut kochanie, today i bought bread has been translated into English by Greg Nissan (World Poetry Books). Simultaneously, Uljana Wolf’s new poetry collection in German, muttertask (kookbooks, 2023) attempts to blend the translingual trajectories of her latest poems with the lyrical beginnings of kochanie.
Wolf will read from the new translation of kochanie ich habe brot gekauft alongside with German poems rom her new book, muttertask, as well as discuss her essays on translation and translingualism from Etymologischer Gossip.Sponsored by: Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative; German Studies Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Campus Center, Weis Cinema Lukas Dhont's film ‘Close’ is a study of friendship and the expectations of masculinity placed on boys, inspired by the research of psychologist Niobe Way. Way will be a keynote speaker at our Annual Conference, Friendship & Politics.
Men's Soccer vs. RPI (Breast Cancer Awareness - Kick it Pink)
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 7–9 pm
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against RPI. The game theme is Breast Cancer Awareness - Kick it Pink. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard East/West Ensemble with special guest Wu Man – NYC
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 7–8:45 pm
Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall Jazz at Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, New York, NY The sixth annual China Now Music Festival returns to the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center for the NY debut of the Bard East/West Ensemble, an innovative music group combining Chinese and Western instruments to create a new model of cross-cultural performance.
The program features new arrangements of music by Tan Dun, Zhou Long, and Aaron Copland, as well as several new works by outstanding young composers from China, including members of the legendary faculty of the Central Conservatory of Music. Internationally renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man will join the ensemble to perform a new arrangement of Zhou Long’s popular pipa concerto, ‘King Chu Doff’s His Armor’.
The Orchestra Now Celebrates the Music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long
CHINA NOW MUSIC FESTIVAL: The Bridge of Music
Friday, October 6, 2023 7–8 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
Pre-concert talk with composers at 6 pm
The Orchestra Now Jindong Caiconductor
The China Now Music Festival returns to the Sosnoff stage for its sixth season with a concert honoring two of the most influential composers from China working in the US today, Zhou Long and Chen Yi. Led by maestro Jindong Cai, The Orchestra Now (TŌN) will perform US premieres of major symphonic works by this legendary couple and their renowned teacher at Columbia University, Chou Wenchung. With the addition of two pieces by their young protégées Zhou Juan and Li Shaosheng, who now have major careers in China, the program links three generations of composers to highlight the generational bridge that Chen Yi and Zhou Long have built between the country of their birth and the one they now call home — a musical bridge between China and the US that is both strong and enduring.
This concert is presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China, as part of the 6th annual China Now Music Festival: The Bridge of Music. More information about the program and this year’s festival at www.barduschinamusic.org/the-bridge-of-music.
Sponsored by: The Orchestra Now; US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's soccer team compete in a conference match against Union College. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Asia Society – Panel Discussion / Music Forum: Cultural Diplomacy in the U.S.-China Relationship
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Saturday, October 7, 2023 3–5 pm
Asia Society of New York, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10021 Enjoy an afternoon of engaging discussion and live music as Asia Society of New York and the US-China Music Institute at Bard College present a panel of experts from diverse perspectives to look towards the future of US-China relations in music.
Over the past 50 years, classical music exchange between the US and China has brought many benefits to both nations and remains one of the bright spots in an otherwise complex relationship. Speakers will share their thoughts, experiences, and vision as to how we can best continue developing this relationship going forward, despite the strained political relationship and other obstacles.
Tickets: $25 ($10 for Asia Society Members and students)
Faculty Recital: Luosha Fang ’11, violin, with Zhenni Li-Cohen, piano
Violin and piano duo performs Bach, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky
Saturday, October 7, 2023 7–9 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Violinist and violist Luosha Fang ’11brings her adventurous spirit to music ranging from canonical repertoire to world premieres. She was a member of the Bard Conservatory's very first entering class in 2005, and after graduating in 2011 with a double degree in violin performance and Russian Studies, she went on to study violin and viola at the Curtis Institute and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. Luosha joined the Bard Conservatory violin/viola faculty in 2019.
As a violinist, she has performed as soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra, with whom she gave the US premiere of the Grażyna Bacewicz Violin Concerto No. 5. With the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she recorded George Tsontakis’s double violin concerto "Unforgettable" for release on NAXOS Records. She performed Kurtag Concertantes with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2023. As violist she has performed as soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the TOHO-Gakuen Orchestra, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.
Zhenni Li-Cohen’s riveting presence and passionate performances have brought audiences to their feet around the world. Hailed for her “torrents of voluptuous sound...Li impresses as an artist of tremendous conviction, who fascinates even as she provokes“ by Gramophone Magazine, “a thrillingly good pianist” by The New Yorker and for her "...big, gorgeous tone and a mesmerizing touch" by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms. Li-Cohen has performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and WQXR’s Greene Space in New York, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Performing Arts Center, Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Museum, San Jose’s California Theater, the Helsinki Music Center in Finland, the Grieghallen in Norway and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany. After studies at Julliard, Yale University, and McGill University, she began concertizing in earnest, earning worldwide recognition as the winner of the 2017 New York Concert Artists Worldwide Debut Audition, Astral Artist’s 2016 National Auditions, the Grieg International Competition in Norway, and the unanimous 1st Prize at the Concours Musical de France.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
The Orchestra Now Celebrates the Music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long – NYC
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Sunday, October 8, 2023 3–5 pm
Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall Jazz at Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, New York, NY The sixth annual China Now Music Festival closes with a symphonic concert in honor of the 70th year of two extraordinary Chinese American composers, Chen Yi and Zhou Long.
The Orchestra Now and conductor Jindong Cai perform major works by the legendary couple, along with pieces by their mentor and teacher Chou Wen-chung and two of their acclaimed students, Zhou Juan and Li Shaosheng.
Fall BreakMonday, October 9, 2023 – Tuesday, October 10, 2023
The Art of Friendship: A Student Exhibition & Community Dinner Party
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Campus Center Art of Friendship Student Exhibition Submission Deadline: October 1
Starting the night before our 2023 Annual Conference on Friendship & Politics, the Hannah Arendt Center invites you to explore a diverse collection of student artworks, all inspired by the spirit of friendship. These pieces offer a variety of perspectives, all through different mediums, on the nature of human connection. As you explore, take note that selected artworks are available for purchase, supporting our talented student artists. Submit your artwork here!
We especially encourage students who do not study art formally, and thus don't have as many opportunities to exhibit their work, to submit something. We want your poems, paintings, photos, prints, drawings, knits, crochet pieces, and whatever other artwork you have made that you feel captures the spirit of friendship. If your artwork is accepted into the exhibition, there will be an option to sell your piece. Pieces unfortunately must be limited to art that can be hung on a wall, and artists are responsible for obtaining a physical piece to be hung in the exhibit.
The exhibition will run from October 11-November 17. Location: Campus Center
Art of Friendship Community Dinner Party
To kickoff the exhibit we are holding a special community dinner party at MPR, Campus Center at 5:30 pm RSVP to join us here.
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against Vassar. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability - Online Info Session
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 7–8 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability holds online informational webinars for prospective students to learn more about graduate school options in our MBA in Sustainability and Center for Environmental Policy programs. Learn about our programs directly from Director Eban Goodstein and the admissions team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings
Alumni success and career outcomes
Admissions information
Prerequisite course information
Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps programs
Financial aid and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
“I have never in my life ‘loved’ any people or collective... I indeed love ‘only’ my friends.” —Hannah Arendt To Gershom Scholem, 1963
Hannah Arendt, whose thinking is at the heart of our center, was said to have a “genius for friendship.” Known as a political thinker, Arendt wrote to her friend Gershom Scholem that she could never love a state or a political people, but only her friends. For Arendt, “only in misfortune do we find out who our true friends are.” It is our true friends, she wrote, “to whom we unhesitatingly reveal happiness and whom we count on to share our rejoicing.” Arendt prized the humanity of intimate friendships where “friends open their hearts to each other unmolested by the world and its demands.”
As much as she believed in the power of intimate friendship, Arendt also understood what she called “the political relevance of friendship.” The world is not humane simply because it is made by human beings. Rather, the things of this world only become human “when we can discuss them with our fellows.” For Arendt, it follows that in public life, “friendship is not intimately personal but makes political demands and preserves reference to the world.” The common world is thus held together by friendship.
Politics and friendship both are based in the act of talking with others. There are no absolutes in either friendship or politics, where everything emerges from the act of speaking and acting in concert with others. Thus, Arendt insists there is no truth in politics. In politics it is opinion and not truth that matters. Absent truth, what holds the political world together is friendships, our sober and rational love for our fellow citizens.That friendship emerges in conversation and that conversation, and not the revelation of truths from on high, is the source of political consensus. That is why Arendt can say, with Cicero, “I prefer before heaven to go astray with Plato than hold true views with his opponents.” She means that friendship more so than truth is the foundation of a meaningful political world.
Both intimate and political friendships are in crisis today. Studies show that Americans have fewer and fewer friends with whom they can share their joys and sorrows. The crisis of friendship means the loss of a place in the world. And the crisis of political friendship means the loss of spaces and institutions where one can talk honestly and directly with those whom one shares a world amidst disagreements. Such institutions are threatened by echo chambers and algorithms that surround us only with like-minded acolytes.
The Arendt Center conference on Friendship and Politics brings together writers, thinkers, activists, and artists to collectively think about the importance of friendship in our world. We will ask:
What is friendship? And why is it so meaningful?
Is there a crisis of friendship today? And if so, why?
Do identity politics and the culture of individualism stand in the way of friendship?
How can we nurture the intimate and public friendships that allow us to flourish?
Epistolary friendships are an old tradition. What is the possibility of long-distance epistolary friendships in the internet age?
Does social media make possible new types of friendships?
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center; OSUN.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
“I have never in my life ‘loved’ any people or collective... I indeed love ‘only’ my friends.” —Hannah Arendt To Gershom Scholem, 1963
Hannah Arendt, whose thinking is at the heart of our center, was said to have a “genius for friendship.” Known as a political thinker, Arendt wrote to her friend Gershom Scholem that she could never love a state or a political people, but only her friends. For Arendt, “only in misfortune do we find out who our true friends are.” It is our true friends, she wrote, “to whom we unhesitatingly reveal happiness and whom we count on to share our rejoicing.” Arendt prized the humanity of intimate friendships where “friends open their hearts to each other unmolested by the world and its demands.”
As much as she believed in the power of intimate friendship, Arendt also understood what she called “the political relevance of friendship.” The world is not humane simply because it is made by human beings. Rather, the things of this world only become human “when we can discuss them with our fellows.” For Arendt, it follows that in public life, “friendship is not intimately personal but makes political demands and preserves reference to the world.” The common world is thus held together by friendship.
Politics and friendship both are based in the act of talking with others. There are no absolutes in either friendship or politics, where everything emerges from the act of speaking and acting in concert with others. Thus, Arendt insists there is no truth in politics. In politics it is opinion and not truth that matters. Absent truth, what holds the political world together is friendships, our sober and rational love for our fellow citizens.That friendship emerges in conversation and that conversation, and not the revelation of truths from on high, is the source of political consensus. That is why Arendt can say, with Cicero, “I prefer before heaven to go astray with Plato than hold true views with his opponents.” She means that friendship more so than truth is the foundation of a meaningful political world.
Both intimate and political friendships are in crisis today. Studies show that Americans have fewer and fewer friends with whom they can share their joys and sorrows. The crisis of friendship means the loss of a place in the world. And the crisis of political friendship means the loss of spaces and institutions where one can talk honestly and directly with those whom one shares a world amidst disagreements. Such institutions are threatened by echo chambers and algorithms that surround us only with like-minded acolytes.
The Arendt Center conference on Friendship and Politics brings together writers, thinkers, activists, and artists to collectively think about the importance of friendship in our world. We will ask:
What is friendship? And why is it so meaningful?
Is there a crisis of friendship today? And if so, why?
Do identity politics and the culture of individualism stand in the way of friendship?
How can we nurture the intimate and public friendships that allow us to flourish?
Epistolary friendships are an old tradition. What is the possibility of long-distance epistolary friendships in the internet age?
Does social media make possible new types of friendships?
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center; OSUN.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against Clarkson University. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against St. Lawrence University. The game theme is Youth Soccer Day. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Savage States: Settler Governance in an Age of Sorrow
The Inaugural Electa Quinney Lecture of Rethinking Place, Presented by Audra Simpson
Saturday, October 14, 2023 5 pm
Olin Auditorium How is the past imagined to be settled? What are the conditions that make for this imagining, this fantasy or, rather, demand of a new start point? In this piece I consider the slice of this new-ness in recent history—1990 to the near present in Canada. This is a time of apology, and a time in which Native people and their claims to territory are whittled to the status of claimant or subject in time with the fantasy of their disappearance from a modern and critical present. In this piece I examine how the Canadian practice of settler governance has adjusted itself in line with global trends and rights paradigms away from overt violence to what are seen as softer and kinder, caring modes of governing but governing, violently still and yet, with a language of care, upon on still stolen land. This piece asks not only in what world we imagine time to stop, but takes up the ways in which those that survived the time stoppage stand in critical relationship to dispossession and settler governance apprehend, analyze and act upon this project of affective governance. Here an oral and textual history of the notion of “reconciliation” is constructed and analyzed with recourse to Indigenous criticism of this affective and political project of repair.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
Part II - Faculty Recital: Luosha Fang ’11, viola, with Shannon Lee, violin
Works for viola and violin by Martinů, Prokofiev, Saariaho, and Takemitsu
Sunday, October 15, 2023 7–9 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Violinist and violist Luosha Fang ’11 brings her adventurous spirit to music ranging from canonical repertoire to world premieres. She was a member of the Bard Conservatory's very first entering class in 2005, and after graduating in 2011 with a double degree in violin performance and Russian Studies, she went on to study violin and viola at the Curtis Institute and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. Luosha joined the Bard Conservatory violin/viola faculty in 2019.
As a violinist, she has performed as soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra, with whom she gave the US premiere of the Grażyna Bacewicz Violin Concerto No. 5. With the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she recorded George Tsontakis’s double violin concerto "Unforgettable" for release on NAXOS Records. She performed Kurtag Concertantes with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2023. As violist she has performed as soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the TOHO-Gakuen Orchestra, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Noon Concert: Conservatory Students Perform an Hour-Long Program of Short Works
Monday, October 16, 2023 12–1 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Free and open to the public. For more information, call 845-758-6822, or visit https://bard.edu/conservatory.
CCS Bard, Classroom 102 Introduced by Sophie Rose, CCS Bard graduate student.
CCS Bard Speaker Series: Each semester CCS Bard hosts a program of lectures by leading artists, curators, art historians, and critics, situating the school and museum’s concerns within the larger context of contemporary art production and discourse. Speakers are selected primarily by second-year graduate students and also by faculty and staff. All lectures are free and open, and are documented through audio recordings that reside in the CCS Bard Library, Archives, and online. For more information, call 845-758-7598, or e-mail [email protected].
Campus Center, Weis Cinema “Do you want to realize your fullest potential? Be your truest self? Act with confidence? Attract abundance? Alleviate anxiety? Experience clarity? Know your purpose? Be the change you want to see? Be truly present? Experience real freedom? Change the world? Be a part of the solution? On some level, we all want to feel this way, but sometimes in our globalized, capitalist, settler-colonial society it feels impossible. Which is why the New Red Order is developing a dynamic system to help our accomplices achieve all of this and more. This sneak peek of our free introductory video, Never Settle, will tell you what you need to know to take control of your life today!”Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts; Studio Arts Program.
Manor CHRA Resident Fellow Juliana Steiner presents an immersive sound installation at the Bard Farm, followed by a talk and food gathering at Manor House. The installation Entre la danza y el Mambeo (In between Dance and Mambeo) is composed of sound recordings made in collaboration with a group of traditional leaders from indigenous communities from the north-east Amazon of Colombia. The recordings were made by the collective Ruak+ Jafaik+ (Spirit of the Song) and informed by conversations with members from the Kanasto de Abundancia (Basket of Abundance) collective. These recordings were made in the ceremonial house of the Tomsatyba Reserve in Sesquilé. These sounds are offerings to the land that function as natural fertilizers for different crops grown in farms and orchards.
This event shares the encounters and findings of a forthcoming book which is part of Ecotone, the curatorial project organized by Juliana in Colombia as part of Common Ground, an international festival on the politics of land and food, initiated by Fisher Center at Bard, and supported by CHRA. The communal food gathering shared with the audience, Envolviendo la Memoria (Wrapping Memory), is based on a recipe featured in the book.Sponsored by: Bard Farm; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts.
Bard GPS Online Info Session for International Applicants — October 2023
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Thursday, October 19, 2023 12–1 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability (GPS) holds online informational webinars specifically for prospective international students. Learn about Bard GPS programs and the admissions process directly from the Bard GPS team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings available to international students
Admissions information, specifically for international students
Prerequisite course information
Funding opportunities and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Tennis team compete in their first conference match this season against Union College. All are welcome to come out and support!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against Ithaca. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Women's Volleyball vs. William Smith (Breast Cancer Awareness - Dig Pink)
Saturday, October 21, 2023 2–4 pm
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against William Smith. They are hosting their Breast Cancer Awareness-Dig Pink game. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Women's Soccer vs. William Smith (Alumni and Senior Day)
Saturday, October 21, 2023 3–5 pm
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Women's Soccer team compete in a conference match against William Smith. It is Alumni and Senior Day for all former and graduating WSOC players. Come out and support Women's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Celebrate the culmination of the Fisher Center’s 20th Anniversary festivities at a one-of-a-kind concert featuring The Orchestra Now, led by Leon Botstein, in a rare performance of Béla Bartók’s The Wooden Prince.
The evening continues with consummate vocalist Ms. Lisa Fischer—known for her work with renowned artists like Sting, Tina Turner, and the Rolling Stones—making her Sosnoff stage debut alongside Grand Baton and The Orchestra Now conducted by James Bagwell, promising an unforgettable and dynamic mix of blues, jazz, classical, and progressive rock.
The concert will be preceded by a public groundbreaking for the new Maya Lin–designed performing arts studio building and a private reception for premium ticket holders.
Reflections from the Outstanding Jewish Pariah: Hannah Arendt on What Went Wrong with the Zionist Project
Monday, October 23, 2023 12–1:30 pm
Arendt Center Arendt’s extraordinary insights on nationalism, federalism, political rebirth, imperialism, and racism originated in her writings on the modern Jewish experience in Europe and on the Zionist project. This talk reviews Arendt’s highly personal and intellectually rich reflections on the promises and perils of Zionism. She took pride in Palestine’s pre-state Yishuv for developing a new Jewish cultural center and socially just institutions, like the kibbutzim. Arendt saw the potential of Zionism to advance Jewish emancipation and contribute to global struggles for a more egalitarian, democratic and peaceful world. Ultimately, however, Arendt lamented the Zionist movement’s embrace of the two dynamics that had proved so deadly to Jews and to the world at large: the nation-state system and imperialism. To realize the promise of Zionism, argued Arendt, the movement would need to overcome two crippling pathologies: a belief in an eternal antisemitism and an attraction to a “tribal” nationalism. Her Zionist writings remain essential for both reflecting upon the grave contemporary crisis of Zionism and inspiring contemporary Jewish pariahs.
Biography of Jonathan Graubart:
Jonathan Graubart is a professor of political science at San Diego State University who specializes in the areas of international relations, international law, Zionism and Jewish dissent, Israel-Palestine, the UN, normative theory, and resistance politics. He received his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002 and his JD from UC Berkeley Law School in 1989. Graubart’s recent book is Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and other Pariahs (Temple University Press 2023). Richard Falk describes it as “An exciting, profound, and humane critical rethinking of Zionism as the ideological foundation of the Israeli state, Graubart’s alternative vision reinforces what Zionism might have become if its leaders had not opted for an exclusivist Jewish state necessitating the continuous repression, exploitation, and discrimination of the Palestinian people in their own homeland. The recent surge to the Israeli far right gives this fine book a timely urgency, especially for liberal Jews, who should be deeply disturbed by what has happened in Israel beneath the banner of Zionism.”
His other publications include “Reimagining Zionism and Coexistence after Oslo’s Death: Lessons from Hannah Arendt” (Arendt Studies Quarterly, 2019), “David in Goliath’s Citadel: Mobilizing the Security Council’s Normative Power for Palestine” (European Journal of International Relations 2016, co-authored with Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi), and “War is Not the Answer: R2P and Military Intervention,” (part of an edited volume by Cambridge University Press on Responsibility to Protect, 2015). In 2008, Graubart published Legalizing Transnational Activism: The Struggle to Gain Social Change from NAFTA’s Citizen Petitions with Penn State University Press.
Translation Made Me: What I Learned from Translating Maturana, Varela, Anzaldúa, Glissant, and Many Others
Keijiro Suga, University of Minnesota/Meiji University
Monday, October 23, 2023 5–6:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 102 I am a poet, but before being a poet, I was a translator, and I still am. Having published translations in the humanities and literature from English, French, and Spanish to Japanese, my verbal matrix of creation has been shaped by translation, through translation. This talk will reveal some of my secrets and ultimately the meaning of Japan's modernity for its language.
Keijiro Suga is currently the visiting chair of Asian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is professor of critical theory at Meiji University in Tokyo, where his research focuses on the analysis of cultural production in contemporary global society. The author of ten books of essays and a prolific translator from English, Spanish, and French, he was awarded the prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature in 2009 for his travelogueTransversal Journeys.Sponsored by: Asian Studies Program; Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative; LAIS Program; Spanish Studies; Written Arts Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Women's Volleyball vs. SUNY Cobleskill (Senior Day)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 7–9 pm
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a non-conference match against SUNY Cobleskill. It is Senior Day for all of our graduating WVB players. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a non-conference match against SUNY Cobleskill. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability - Online Info Session
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Thursday, October 26, 2023 12–1 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability holds online informational webinars for prospective students to learn more about graduate school options in our MBA in Sustainability and Center for Environmental Policy programs. Learn about our programs directly from Director Eban Goodstein and the admissions team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings
Alumni success and career outcomes
Admissions information
Prerequisite course information
Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps programs
Financial aid and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Stevenson Athletic Center The Men's and Women's Swimming team open their season with a home opener against SUNY Postdam. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against Skidmore College. It is Senior Day for all of our graduating MSOC players. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Joan Tower • Aaron Copland • Béla Bartók • Duke Ellington
Saturday, October 28, 2023 7–8 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
A concert by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with maestro Leon Botstein celebrating faculty members Joan Tower and Marcus Roberts. The program includes Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ featuring jazz pianist Marcus Roberts with members of his jazz ensemble, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring to round out the program.
The Bard Conservatory Orchestra Leon Botstein, Music Director
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Joan Tower • Aaron Copland • Béla Bartók • Duke Ellington
Sunday, October 29, 2023 2–5 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
A concert by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with maestro Leon Botstein celebrating faculty members Joan Tower and Marcus Roberts. The program includes Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ featuring jazz pianist Marcus Roberts with members of his jazz ensemble, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring to round out the program.
The Bard Conservatory Orchestra Leon Botstein, Music Director
Sex, Cancer, and Other Things My Mother Wishes I Never Had
Artist Presentation by Brian Lobel
Monday, October 30, 2023 6–8 pm
Fisher Center, Resnick Theater Studio Sex, Cancer & Other Things My Mother Wishes I Never Had is a talk, performance, analysis, and meditation on 20+ years living in a body which had cancer, healed from cancer, remained scarred from cancer, kept being questioned about cancer, worked with cancer, lost colleagues to cancer, a body which made cancer friends, lost cancer friends, taught on cancer, and ran away from teaching, living and breathing cancer. Content warning: there will be talk about cancer. But not just cancer, promise.Sponsored by: Bard Theater and Performance Program; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts.
CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art This solo exhibition will spotlight the originality, intelligence, and material pleasure in the singular practice of Brazilian artist Erika Verzutti through a survey of sculpture and wall works from over the past 15 years.
Open Wednesday – Monday, noon – 6:00 pm. Closed Tuesdays.Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies.
CCS Bard Hessel Museum of Art The first major exhibition to center performance as an origin point for the development of contemporary art by Native American, First Nations, Inuit, and Alaska Native artists opens this June at the Center for Curatorial Studies’ (CCS Bard) Hessel Museum of Art. Curated by leading scholar and curator Candice Hopkins (Carcross/Tagish First Nation), Indian Theater traces the history of experimentation that emerged from the Institute of American Indian Arts’ Department for New Native Theater in the late 1960s and continues to inform the practice of Native artists today. The exhibition brings together over 100 works by over 40 artists and collectives, including some new commissions, and performances by Rebecca Belmore (Anishinaabe), Nicholas Galanin (Tlingit/Unangax̂), Jeffrey Gibson (The Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians/Cherokee), Maria Hupfield (Anishnaabek, Wasauksing First Nation / Canada), Kite (Oglala Lakota), and Eric-Paul Riege (Diné).
Open Wednesday – Monday, noon – 6:00 pm. Closed Tuesdays.Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies.
Opening September 8 at Opalka Gallery, Albany, New York
Runs through Saturday, October 14, 2023
Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College in Albany, New York The Experimental Humanities Collaborative Network (EHCN) invites the public to its art exhibition To Be—Named, at Opalka Gallery at Russell Sage College in Albany, New York, with an opening reception on Friday, September 8.
The exhibition was created by EHCN in collaboration with Opalka Gallery in Albany, New York, and is dedicated to the topic of naming and the significance of names for the development or suppression of a person's identity. The exhibit in New York's Hudson Valley is the second station of an international project that includes exhibitions on the same theme in Germany, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, Palestine, Republic of Sakha (online), and the US.
Names can make ancestry and knowledge of one's mother tongue visible. They are something very personal, but they can also be something very political, as the abuse of power can be exercised through naming.
The exhibition consists of six artistic conceptions from the US, which will be shown at all four locations and supplemented by local conceptions. With this approach of bringing together local and international artists, the show aims to promote a dialogue among the participating artists with different experiences and world views, as well as with the audience. In addition, specific discourses on the exhibition theme in the respective countries will also be addressed.
The works of Jenny Irene Miller, Luz María Sánchez, Bently Spang, Keith S. Wilson, Elizabeth Withstandley, Saya Woolfalk, and zhaoyuefan will be shown at all exhibition venues. They deal, among other things, with the loss of identity when names are translated into another cultural context and with the efforts of Indigenous cultures in North America to manifest their claim to cultural identity and attachment to territorial homelands through names and naming.
Through paintings, installations, films and photographs, the artists featured in the Albany exhibit address the traces of colonial history and colonial injustice that have manifested themselves over decades through naming, image appropriation or one-sided forms of historiography.
Featured artists: Aarati Akkapeddi Birding the Future (Krista Caballero and Frank Ekeberg) Jeremy Dennis Ellen Driscoll Jenny Irene Miller Native Land Digital Luz María Sánchez Jean-Marc Superville Sovak Bently Spang Sayo’:klʌ Kindness Williams Keith S. Wilson Elizabeth Withstandley Saya Woolfalk zhaoyuefan
Exhibit location: Opalka Gallery Russell Sage College 140 New Scotland Ave. Albany, NY
Dates: Sep 1 - Oct 14
Exhibit hours: Tuesday–Saturday 12–5pm open late Thursday 12–8 pm
Due to extenuating circumstances, the following performances of Ulysses have been canceled:
• Saturday, September 23 at 8 pm* • Sunday, September 24 at 3 pm • Thursday, September 28 at 8 pm • Friday, September 29 at 8 pm • Saturday, September 30 at 2 pm • Saturday, September 30 at 8 pm • Sunday, October 1 at 3 pm
*The after-party following Saturday evening’s performance has also been canceled.
If you have tickets to any of these performances, we have canceled and refunded your tickets. Members of the Box Office Team will contact you directly to process your refund if we do not have payment information on file.
We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have any questions, please contact 845-758-7900, or email [email protected].
James Joyce’s Ulysses has fascinated, perplexed, scandalized, and/or defeated readers for over a century. Building on a rich history of staging modernist works—Gatz, The Sound and the Fury, The Select (The Sun Also Rises)—Elevator Repair Service (ERS) takes on this Mount Everest of twentieth-century literature in their Fisher Center debut. Seven performers sit down for a sober reading but soon find themselves guzzling pints, getting in brawls, and committing debaucheries as they careen on a fast-forward tour through Joyce’s funhouse of styles. With madcap antics and a densely layered sound design, ERS presents an eclectic sampling from Joyce’s life-affirming masterpiece.
Hudson Valley Ramble - Montgomery Place Innovators and Influencers: Downing, Davis, Gilson, and White
Walk/Hike
Sunday, October 1, 2023 10:30 am – 12 pm
Montgomery Place Estate Long before there was online shopping, there were print catalogs; before the internet there were journals; before social media there were social circles; and before podcasts there were dinner parties. Meet some of the visitors and residents who made significant contributions to life at Montgomery Place while also shaping a wider worldview of their special field of interest. Highlighted personalities will include: A. J. Downing, landscape designer and founding journalist; A. J. Davis, architect and A-list invitee; Alexander Gilson, descendent of slaves, businessman, and groundbreaking gardener; Violetta White Delafield, scientist, pioneering mycologist, and outdoor wellness advocate. Walk will be postponed until October 8 only if heavy rain is forecast. Wear comfortable walking shoes and long pants. Difficulty: Moderate. Not suitable for children under age 7.Sponsored by: Bard Arboretum.
Faculty Recital: Yi-Wen Jiang, violin, and Frank Corliss, piano, performing Schubert, Ravel, Paganini, Albéniz, and more
Sunday, October 1, 2023 2–4 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space PROGRAM Franz Schubert: Violin Sonata in A minor, D.385 (Op.137, No.2) Maurice Ravel: Sonata No.2 in G Major Niccolò Paganini: “La Campanella” Franz von Vecsey: Caprice No.2, “Cascade” Moritz Moszkowski: Guitarre, Op.45, No.2 Jean Sibelius: Waltz, Op.81, No.3 Isaac Albéniz: “Sevilla” from Suite Española No.1, Op.47 Franz Waxman: Carmen Fantasie
Free and open to the public. Livestream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9q3BpTlTYsSponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Montgomery Place Tour with the Cultural Landscape Foundation
What’s Out There Weekend: Rhinebeck and the Mid-Hudson Valley
Sunday, October 1, 2023 2–3 pm
Blithewood What’s Out There Weekend Rhinebeck and the Mid-Hudson Valley will illuminate the unique landscape legacy and local character of the region. The event offers two days of free, expert-led tours of some two dozen sites, encouraging participants to discover the little-known design history of places they may pass every day.
Join us for tours of Blithewood Garden on September 30 from 10:00 to 11:00 am, led by Bard College Formal Gardener Bridget Maple ’05, and Montgomery Place on October 1 from 2:00 to 3:00 pm, led by Montgomery Place Garden and Grounds Docent Henry Woods.
Tours are free, but attendance is limited. Please register in advance.
Reem-Kayden Center Laszlo Z. Bito '60 Auditorium On Monday, October 2 at 6 pm in the László Z. Bitó ’60 Auditorium, Reem-Kayden Center (RKC), Isabella Hammad will read from her work. She will be introduced by Middle Eastern Studies Director Ziad Dallal. The reading will be followed by a discussion moderated by Dinaw Mengestu, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Professor of the Humanities and director of the Written Arts Program.
Isabella Hammad is the author of The Parisian and Enter Ghost. She was awarded the 2018 Plimpton Prize for Fiction, an O. Henry Award, the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Palestine Book Award and a Betty Trask Award, and she was a National Book Foundation “5 under 35.” Her work has been supported with fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and the Columbia University Institute for Ideas and Imagination, and she has taught literature and creative writing at NYU, Brown, and Al Quds Bard College. In 2023, she was included in the Granta Best of Young British Novelists list.
Read more about Isabella's work here. Sponsored by: Center for Ethics and Writing, Written Arts Program, and Middle Eastern Studies Program.
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space The opening concert of the sixth annual China Now Music Festival features the NY debut of the Bard East/West Ensemble, an innovative music group combining Chinese and Western instruments to create a new model of cross-cultural performance.
The program features new arrangements of music by Tan Dun, Zhou Long, and Aaron Copland, as well as several new works by outstanding young composers from China, including members of the legendary faculty of the Central Conservatory of Music. Internationally renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man will join the ensemble to perform a new arrangement of Zhou Long’s popular pipa concerto, ‘King Chu Doff’s His Armor’.
THIS EVENT IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Last Tango in Ogygia: Human and Divine in Odyssey 5
Jenny Strauss Clay, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of Classics Emerita at the University of Virginia
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 5–6:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 102 The fifth book of the Odyssey—the first to focus exclusively on the epic’s hero—may in some sense be considered the beginning of the epic proper. Its action constitutes a coherent arc that takes the hero from his captivity on Calypso’s island to the land of the Phaeacians, who will bring him back at last to Ithaca. But in addition to its narrative unity, Book 5 possesses a significant thematic unity, one centering on the issue of mortality and immortality. Although the stage is set by il gran rifituto—Odysseus’ refusal of Calypso’s offer of immortality and his choice to return to Ithaca—the tension between the divine and human in fact permeates the book in ways both obvious and subtle. Calypso’s love for the mortal Odysseus, Hermes’ distaste for his mission, Poseidon’s fury, and the aid of Leocothea, who once was mortal but is now immortal, all ring the changes on the possibilities for, and tensions inherent in, divine-human interactions. They also serve to position the Odyssey at a pivotal moment in the relations between gods and mortals: their previous intimacy is waning, and apotheosis belongs to a bygone era. This central theme not only dominates Book Five from beginning to end, but it offers a framework for the whole poem.Sponsored by: Classical Studies Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Uljana Wolf, Distinguished German Poet and Essayist
Tuesday, October 3, 2023 6:30–8 pm
Hegeman 204A What is a mother tongue, seen by day? Or at night, awake next to a crib? Or when someone changes diapers, performing tasks that interrupt the poem, or the I? Is this then a broken, stuttering language? A muttering tongue? A language never alone with itself, always with room for others? Since her debut collection kochanie ich habe brot gekauft (2005), which was awarded the prestigious Peter Huchel-Preis, Uljana Wolf's poems and essays have been listening to the dissolution of language in the murmur or Mutter of a shimmering multiplicity. Now finally her debut kochanie, today i bought bread has been translated into English by Greg Nissan (World Poetry Books). Simultaneously, Uljana Wolf’s new poetry collection in German, muttertask (kookbooks, 2023) attempts to blend the translingual trajectories of her latest poems with the lyrical beginnings of kochanie.
Wolf will read from the new translation of kochanie ich habe brot gekauft alongside with German poems rom her new book, muttertask, as well as discuss her essays on translation and translingualism from Etymologischer Gossip.Sponsored by: Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative; German Studies Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Campus Center, Weis Cinema Lukas Dhont's film ‘Close’ is a study of friendship and the expectations of masculinity placed on boys, inspired by the research of psychologist Niobe Way. Way will be a keynote speaker at our Annual Conference, Friendship & Politics.
Men's Soccer vs. RPI (Breast Cancer Awareness - Kick it Pink)
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 7–9 pm
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against RPI. The game theme is Breast Cancer Awareness - Kick it Pink. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard East/West Ensemble with special guest Wu Man – NYC
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 7–8:45 pm
Rose Theater, Frederick P. Rose Hall Jazz at Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, New York, NY The sixth annual China Now Music Festival returns to the Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center for the NY debut of the Bard East/West Ensemble, an innovative music group combining Chinese and Western instruments to create a new model of cross-cultural performance.
The program features new arrangements of music by Tan Dun, Zhou Long, and Aaron Copland, as well as several new works by outstanding young composers from China, including members of the legendary faculty of the Central Conservatory of Music. Internationally renowned pipa virtuoso Wu Man will join the ensemble to perform a new arrangement of Zhou Long’s popular pipa concerto, ‘King Chu Doff’s His Armor’.
The Orchestra Now Celebrates the Music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long
CHINA NOW MUSIC FESTIVAL: The Bridge of Music
Friday, October 6, 2023 7–8 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
Pre-concert talk with composers at 6 pm
The Orchestra Now Jindong Caiconductor
The China Now Music Festival returns to the Sosnoff stage for its sixth season with a concert honoring two of the most influential composers from China working in the US today, Zhou Long and Chen Yi. Led by maestro Jindong Cai, The Orchestra Now (TŌN) will perform US premieres of major symphonic works by this legendary couple and their renowned teacher at Columbia University, Chou Wenchung. With the addition of two pieces by their young protégées Zhou Juan and Li Shaosheng, who now have major careers in China, the program links three generations of composers to highlight the generational bridge that Chen Yi and Zhou Long have built between the country of their birth and the one they now call home — a musical bridge between China and the US that is both strong and enduring.
This concert is presented by the US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music, in collaboration with the Central Conservatory of Music, China, as part of the 6th annual China Now Music Festival: The Bridge of Music. More information about the program and this year’s festival at www.barduschinamusic.org/the-bridge-of-music.
Sponsored by: The Orchestra Now; US-China Music Institute of the Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's soccer team compete in a conference match against Union College. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Asia Society – Panel Discussion / Music Forum: Cultural Diplomacy in the U.S.-China Relationship
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Saturday, October 7, 2023 3–5 pm
Asia Society of New York, 725 Park Avenue, New York, NY, 10021 Enjoy an afternoon of engaging discussion and live music as Asia Society of New York and the US-China Music Institute at Bard College present a panel of experts from diverse perspectives to look towards the future of US-China relations in music.
Over the past 50 years, classical music exchange between the US and China has brought many benefits to both nations and remains one of the bright spots in an otherwise complex relationship. Speakers will share their thoughts, experiences, and vision as to how we can best continue developing this relationship going forward, despite the strained political relationship and other obstacles.
Tickets: $25 ($10 for Asia Society Members and students)
Faculty Recital: Luosha Fang ’11, violin, with Zhenni Li-Cohen, piano
Violin and piano duo performs Bach, Beethoven, Shostakovich, and Stravinsky
Saturday, October 7, 2023 7–9 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Violinist and violist Luosha Fang ’11brings her adventurous spirit to music ranging from canonical repertoire to world premieres. She was a member of the Bard Conservatory's very first entering class in 2005, and after graduating in 2011 with a double degree in violin performance and Russian Studies, she went on to study violin and viola at the Curtis Institute and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. Luosha joined the Bard Conservatory violin/viola faculty in 2019.
As a violinist, she has performed as soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra, with whom she gave the US premiere of the Grażyna Bacewicz Violin Concerto No. 5. With the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she recorded George Tsontakis’s double violin concerto "Unforgettable" for release on NAXOS Records. She performed Kurtag Concertantes with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2023. As violist she has performed as soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the TOHO-Gakuen Orchestra, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.
Zhenni Li-Cohen’s riveting presence and passionate performances have brought audiences to their feet around the world. Hailed for her “torrents of voluptuous sound...Li impresses as an artist of tremendous conviction, who fascinates even as she provokes“ by Gramophone Magazine, “a thrillingly good pianist” by The New Yorker and for her "...big, gorgeous tone and a mesmerizing touch" by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Ms. Li-Cohen has performed in such notable venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and WQXR’s Greene Space in New York, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Performing Arts Center, Washington D.C.’s Smithsonian Museum, San Jose’s California Theater, the Helsinki Music Center in Finland, the Grieghallen in Norway and the Berliner Philharmonie in Germany. After studies at Julliard, Yale University, and McGill University, she began concertizing in earnest, earning worldwide recognition as the winner of the 2017 New York Concert Artists Worldwide Debut Audition, Astral Artist’s 2016 National Auditions, the Grieg International Competition in Norway, and the unanimous 1st Prize at the Concours Musical de France.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
The Orchestra Now Celebrates the Music of Chen Yi and Zhou Long – NYC
China Now Music Festival – The Bridge of Music
Sunday, October 8, 2023 3–5 pm
Rose Theater at Frederick P. Rose Hall Jazz at Lincoln Center, Columbus Circle, New York, NY The sixth annual China Now Music Festival closes with a symphonic concert in honor of the 70th year of two extraordinary Chinese American composers, Chen Yi and Zhou Long.
The Orchestra Now and conductor Jindong Cai perform major works by the legendary couple, along with pieces by their mentor and teacher Chou Wen-chung and two of their acclaimed students, Zhou Juan and Li Shaosheng.
The Art of Friendship: A Student Exhibition & Community Dinner Party
Wednesday, October 11, 2023
Campus Center Art of Friendship Student Exhibition Submission Deadline: October 1
Starting the night before our 2023 Annual Conference on Friendship & Politics, the Hannah Arendt Center invites you to explore a diverse collection of student artworks, all inspired by the spirit of friendship. These pieces offer a variety of perspectives, all through different mediums, on the nature of human connection. As you explore, take note that selected artworks are available for purchase, supporting our talented student artists. Submit your artwork here!
We especially encourage students who do not study art formally, and thus don't have as many opportunities to exhibit their work, to submit something. We want your poems, paintings, photos, prints, drawings, knits, crochet pieces, and whatever other artwork you have made that you feel captures the spirit of friendship. If your artwork is accepted into the exhibition, there will be an option to sell your piece. Pieces unfortunately must be limited to art that can be hung on a wall, and artists are responsible for obtaining a physical piece to be hung in the exhibit.
The exhibition will run from October 11-November 17. Location: Campus Center
Art of Friendship Community Dinner Party
To kickoff the exhibit we are holding a special community dinner party at MPR, Campus Center at 5:30 pm RSVP to join us here.
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against Vassar. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability - Online Info Session
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Wednesday, October 11, 2023 7–8 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability holds online informational webinars for prospective students to learn more about graduate school options in our MBA in Sustainability and Center for Environmental Policy programs. Learn about our programs directly from Director Eban Goodstein and the admissions team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings
Alumni success and career outcomes
Admissions information
Prerequisite course information
Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps programs
Financial aid and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
“I have never in my life ‘loved’ any people or collective... I indeed love ‘only’ my friends.” —Hannah Arendt To Gershom Scholem, 1963
Hannah Arendt, whose thinking is at the heart of our center, was said to have a “genius for friendship.” Known as a political thinker, Arendt wrote to her friend Gershom Scholem that she could never love a state or a political people, but only her friends. For Arendt, “only in misfortune do we find out who our true friends are.” It is our true friends, she wrote, “to whom we unhesitatingly reveal happiness and whom we count on to share our rejoicing.” Arendt prized the humanity of intimate friendships where “friends open their hearts to each other unmolested by the world and its demands.”
As much as she believed in the power of intimate friendship, Arendt also understood what she called “the political relevance of friendship.” The world is not humane simply because it is made by human beings. Rather, the things of this world only become human “when we can discuss them with our fellows.” For Arendt, it follows that in public life, “friendship is not intimately personal but makes political demands and preserves reference to the world.” The common world is thus held together by friendship.
Politics and friendship both are based in the act of talking with others. There are no absolutes in either friendship or politics, where everything emerges from the act of speaking and acting in concert with others. Thus, Arendt insists there is no truth in politics. In politics it is opinion and not truth that matters. Absent truth, what holds the political world together is friendships, our sober and rational love for our fellow citizens.That friendship emerges in conversation and that conversation, and not the revelation of truths from on high, is the source of political consensus. That is why Arendt can say, with Cicero, “I prefer before heaven to go astray with Plato than hold true views with his opponents.” She means that friendship more so than truth is the foundation of a meaningful political world.
Both intimate and political friendships are in crisis today. Studies show that Americans have fewer and fewer friends with whom they can share their joys and sorrows. The crisis of friendship means the loss of a place in the world. And the crisis of political friendship means the loss of spaces and institutions where one can talk honestly and directly with those whom one shares a world amidst disagreements. Such institutions are threatened by echo chambers and algorithms that surround us only with like-minded acolytes.
The Arendt Center conference on Friendship and Politics brings together writers, thinkers, activists, and artists to collectively think about the importance of friendship in our world. We will ask:
What is friendship? And why is it so meaningful?
Is there a crisis of friendship today? And if so, why?
Do identity politics and the culture of individualism stand in the way of friendship?
How can we nurture the intimate and public friendships that allow us to flourish?
Epistolary friendships are an old tradition. What is the possibility of long-distance epistolary friendships in the internet age?
Does social media make possible new types of friendships?
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center; OSUN.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
“I have never in my life ‘loved’ any people or collective... I indeed love ‘only’ my friends.” —Hannah Arendt To Gershom Scholem, 1963
Hannah Arendt, whose thinking is at the heart of our center, was said to have a “genius for friendship.” Known as a political thinker, Arendt wrote to her friend Gershom Scholem that she could never love a state or a political people, but only her friends. For Arendt, “only in misfortune do we find out who our true friends are.” It is our true friends, she wrote, “to whom we unhesitatingly reveal happiness and whom we count on to share our rejoicing.” Arendt prized the humanity of intimate friendships where “friends open their hearts to each other unmolested by the world and its demands.”
As much as she believed in the power of intimate friendship, Arendt also understood what she called “the political relevance of friendship.” The world is not humane simply because it is made by human beings. Rather, the things of this world only become human “when we can discuss them with our fellows.” For Arendt, it follows that in public life, “friendship is not intimately personal but makes political demands and preserves reference to the world.” The common world is thus held together by friendship.
Politics and friendship both are based in the act of talking with others. There are no absolutes in either friendship or politics, where everything emerges from the act of speaking and acting in concert with others. Thus, Arendt insists there is no truth in politics. In politics it is opinion and not truth that matters. Absent truth, what holds the political world together is friendships, our sober and rational love for our fellow citizens.That friendship emerges in conversation and that conversation, and not the revelation of truths from on high, is the source of political consensus. That is why Arendt can say, with Cicero, “I prefer before heaven to go astray with Plato than hold true views with his opponents.” She means that friendship more so than truth is the foundation of a meaningful political world.
Both intimate and political friendships are in crisis today. Studies show that Americans have fewer and fewer friends with whom they can share their joys and sorrows. The crisis of friendship means the loss of a place in the world. And the crisis of political friendship means the loss of spaces and institutions where one can talk honestly and directly with those whom one shares a world amidst disagreements. Such institutions are threatened by echo chambers and algorithms that surround us only with like-minded acolytes.
The Arendt Center conference on Friendship and Politics brings together writers, thinkers, activists, and artists to collectively think about the importance of friendship in our world. We will ask:
What is friendship? And why is it so meaningful?
Is there a crisis of friendship today? And if so, why?
Do identity politics and the culture of individualism stand in the way of friendship?
How can we nurture the intimate and public friendships that allow us to flourish?
Epistolary friendships are an old tradition. What is the possibility of long-distance epistolary friendships in the internet age?
Does social media make possible new types of friendships?
Sponsored by: Center for Civic Engagement; Hannah Arendt Center; OSUN.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against Clarkson University. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
Indigenous Research Methods & Practice: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality
Rethinking Place Conference 2023
Thursday, October 12, 2023 – Saturday, October 14, 2023
Bard College will host the second annual conference of Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck from October 12 through 14. The conference, “Indigenous Research Methods and Practice in the Liberal Arts: Refusal, Creation, and Intersectionality,” explores the topic of “research” within the humanities. Building on last year’s conference surrounding methods, viewpoints, and experiences of archives within Native American and Indigenous Studies and African-American Studies, this conference explores historically marginalized epistemologies of social sciences and arts research. This is the second of three annual conferences supported by Rethinking Place: Bard-on-Mahicantuck, part of the Mellon Foundation’s Humanities for All Times initiative. For more information, call 845-758-6822, e-mail [email protected], or visit https://rethinkingplace.bard.edu/conference2023.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against St. Lawrence University. The game theme is Youth Soccer Day. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Savage States: Settler Governance in an Age of Sorrow
The Inaugural Electa Quinney Lecture of Rethinking Place, Presented by Audra Simpson
Saturday, October 14, 2023 5 pm
Olin Auditorium How is the past imagined to be settled? What are the conditions that make for this imagining, this fantasy or, rather, demand of a new start point? In this piece I consider the slice of this new-ness in recent history—1990 to the near present in Canada. This is a time of apology, and a time in which Native people and their claims to territory are whittled to the status of claimant or subject in time with the fantasy of their disappearance from a modern and critical present. In this piece I examine how the Canadian practice of settler governance has adjusted itself in line with global trends and rights paradigms away from overt violence to what are seen as softer and kinder, caring modes of governing but governing, violently still and yet, with a language of care, upon on still stolen land. This piece asks not only in what world we imagine time to stop, but takes up the ways in which those that survived the time stoppage stand in critical relationship to dispossession and settler governance apprehend, analyze and act upon this project of affective governance. Here an oral and textual history of the notion of “reconciliation” is constructed and analyzed with recourse to Indigenous criticism of this affective and political project of repair.
Award-winning author, professor in the arts at Bard, and Fisher Center Advisory Board member Neil Gaiman has an astonishingly broad career: from journalism to graphic novels; fiction for adults and children; and writing for film, television, and theater. Over three nights this fall, Gaiman continues a series of lectures on writing in which he will explore his creative strategies, sharing stories and offering advice—live and in-person at the Fisher Center.
Signed books from the author will be available for purchase.
Part II - Faculty Recital: Luosha Fang ’11, viola, with Shannon Lee, violin
Works for viola and violin by Martinů, Prokofiev, Saariaho, and Takemitsu
Sunday, October 15, 2023 7–9 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Violinist and violist Luosha Fang ’11 brings her adventurous spirit to music ranging from canonical repertoire to world premieres. She was a member of the Bard Conservatory's very first entering class in 2005, and after graduating in 2011 with a double degree in violin performance and Russian Studies, she went on to study violin and viola at the Curtis Institute and the Escuela Superior de Música Reina Sofía in Madrid. Luosha joined the Bard Conservatory violin/viola faculty in 2019.
As a violinist, she has performed as soloist with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Atlantic Symphony, the Louisville Orchestra, the West Virginia Symphony, the Bay-Atlantic Symphony, and the American Symphony Orchestra, with whom she gave the US premiere of the Grażyna Bacewicz Violin Concerto No. 5. With the Albany Symphony Orchestra, she recorded George Tsontakis’s double violin concerto "Unforgettable" for release on NAXOS Records. She performed Kurtag Concertantes with The Orchestra Now at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2023. As violist she has performed as soloist with the New Japan Philharmonic, the Nagoya Philharmonic Orchestra, the TOHO-Gakuen Orchestra, the Hiroshima Symphony Orchestra, the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra.Sponsored by: Bard College Conservatory of Music.
Noon Concert: Conservatory Students Perform an Hour-Long Program of Short Works
Monday, October 16, 2023 12–1 pm
Bitó Conservatory Building, Performance Space Free and open to the public. For more information, call 845-758-6822, or visit https://bard.edu/conservatory.
CCS Bard, Classroom 102 Introduced by Sophie Rose, CCS Bard graduate student.
CCS Bard Speaker Series: Each semester CCS Bard hosts a program of lectures by leading artists, curators, art historians, and critics, situating the school and museum’s concerns within the larger context of contemporary art production and discourse. Speakers are selected primarily by second-year graduate students and also by faculty and staff. All lectures are free and open, and are documented through audio recordings that reside in the CCS Bard Library, Archives, and online. For more information, call 845-758-7598, or e-mail [email protected].
Campus Center, Weis Cinema “Do you want to realize your fullest potential? Be your truest self? Act with confidence? Attract abundance? Alleviate anxiety? Experience clarity? Know your purpose? Be the change you want to see? Be truly present? Experience real freedom? Change the world? Be a part of the solution? On some level, we all want to feel this way, but sometimes in our globalized, capitalist, settler-colonial society it feels impossible. Which is why the New Red Order is developing a dynamic system to help our accomplices achieve all of this and more. This sneak peek of our free introductory video, Never Settle, will tell you what you need to know to take control of your life today!”Sponsored by: Center for Curatorial Studies; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts; Studio Arts Program.
Manor CHRA Resident Fellow Juliana Steiner presents an immersive sound installation at the Bard Farm, followed by a talk and food gathering at Manor House. The installation Entre la danza y el Mambeo (In between Dance and Mambeo) is composed of sound recordings made in collaboration with a group of traditional leaders from indigenous communities from the north-east Amazon of Colombia. The recordings were made by the collective Ruak+ Jafaik+ (Spirit of the Song) and informed by conversations with members from the Kanasto de Abundancia (Basket of Abundance) collective. These recordings were made in the ceremonial house of the Tomsatyba Reserve in Sesquilé. These sounds are offerings to the land that function as natural fertilizers for different crops grown in farms and orchards.
This event shares the encounters and findings of a forthcoming book which is part of Ecotone, the curatorial project organized by Juliana in Colombia as part of Common Ground, an international festival on the politics of land and food, initiated by Fisher Center at Bard, and supported by CHRA. The communal food gathering shared with the audience, Envolviendo la Memoria (Wrapping Memory), is based on a recipe featured in the book.Sponsored by: Bard Farm; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts.
Bard GPS Online Info Session for International Applicants — October 2023
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Thursday, October 19, 2023 12–1 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability (GPS) holds online informational webinars specifically for prospective international students. Learn about Bard GPS programs and the admissions process directly from the Bard GPS team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings available to international students
Admissions information, specifically for international students
Prerequisite course information
Funding opportunities and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Tennis team compete in their first conference match this season against Union College. All are welcome to come out and support!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against Ithaca. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Women's Volleyball vs. William Smith (Breast Cancer Awareness - Dig Pink)
Saturday, October 21, 2023 2–4 pm
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a conference match against William Smith. They are hosting their Breast Cancer Awareness-Dig Pink game. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Women's Soccer vs. William Smith (Alumni and Senior Day)
Saturday, October 21, 2023 3–5 pm
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Women's Soccer team compete in a conference match against William Smith. It is Alumni and Senior Day for all former and graduating WSOC players. Come out and support Women's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Celebrate the culmination of the Fisher Center’s 20th Anniversary festivities at a one-of-a-kind concert featuring The Orchestra Now, led by Leon Botstein, in a rare performance of Béla Bartók’s The Wooden Prince.
The evening continues with consummate vocalist Ms. Lisa Fischer—known for her work with renowned artists like Sting, Tina Turner, and the Rolling Stones—making her Sosnoff stage debut alongside Grand Baton and The Orchestra Now conducted by James Bagwell, promising an unforgettable and dynamic mix of blues, jazz, classical, and progressive rock.
The concert will be preceded by a public groundbreaking for the new Maya Lin–designed performing arts studio building and a private reception for premium ticket holders.
Reflections from the Outstanding Jewish Pariah: Hannah Arendt on What Went Wrong with the Zionist Project
Monday, October 23, 2023 12–1:30 pm
Arendt Center Arendt’s extraordinary insights on nationalism, federalism, political rebirth, imperialism, and racism originated in her writings on the modern Jewish experience in Europe and on the Zionist project. This talk reviews Arendt’s highly personal and intellectually rich reflections on the promises and perils of Zionism. She took pride in Palestine’s pre-state Yishuv for developing a new Jewish cultural center and socially just institutions, like the kibbutzim. Arendt saw the potential of Zionism to advance Jewish emancipation and contribute to global struggles for a more egalitarian, democratic and peaceful world. Ultimately, however, Arendt lamented the Zionist movement’s embrace of the two dynamics that had proved so deadly to Jews and to the world at large: the nation-state system and imperialism. To realize the promise of Zionism, argued Arendt, the movement would need to overcome two crippling pathologies: a belief in an eternal antisemitism and an attraction to a “tribal” nationalism. Her Zionist writings remain essential for both reflecting upon the grave contemporary crisis of Zionism and inspiring contemporary Jewish pariahs.
Biography of Jonathan Graubart:
Jonathan Graubart is a professor of political science at San Diego State University who specializes in the areas of international relations, international law, Zionism and Jewish dissent, Israel-Palestine, the UN, normative theory, and resistance politics. He received his Ph.D. in political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2002 and his JD from UC Berkeley Law School in 1989. Graubart’s recent book is Jewish Self-Determination beyond Zionism: Lessons from Hannah Arendt and other Pariahs (Temple University Press 2023). Richard Falk describes it as “An exciting, profound, and humane critical rethinking of Zionism as the ideological foundation of the Israeli state, Graubart’s alternative vision reinforces what Zionism might have become if its leaders had not opted for an exclusivist Jewish state necessitating the continuous repression, exploitation, and discrimination of the Palestinian people in their own homeland. The recent surge to the Israeli far right gives this fine book a timely urgency, especially for liberal Jews, who should be deeply disturbed by what has happened in Israel beneath the banner of Zionism.”
His other publications include “Reimagining Zionism and Coexistence after Oslo’s Death: Lessons from Hannah Arendt” (Arendt Studies Quarterly, 2019), “David in Goliath’s Citadel: Mobilizing the Security Council’s Normative Power for Palestine” (European Journal of International Relations 2016, co-authored with Arturo Jimenez-Bacardi), and “War is Not the Answer: R2P and Military Intervention,” (part of an edited volume by Cambridge University Press on Responsibility to Protect, 2015). In 2008, Graubart published Legalizing Transnational Activism: The Struggle to Gain Social Change from NAFTA’s Citizen Petitions with Penn State University Press.
Translation Made Me: What I Learned from Translating Maturana, Varela, Anzaldúa, Glissant, and Many Others
Keijiro Suga, University of Minnesota/Meiji University
Monday, October 23, 2023 5–6:30 pm
Olin Humanities, Room 102 I am a poet, but before being a poet, I was a translator, and I still am. Having published translations in the humanities and literature from English, French, and Spanish to Japanese, my verbal matrix of creation has been shaped by translation, through translation. This talk will reveal some of my secrets and ultimately the meaning of Japan's modernity for its language.
Keijiro Suga is currently the visiting chair of Asian Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is professor of critical theory at Meiji University in Tokyo, where his research focuses on the analysis of cultural production in contemporary global society. The author of ten books of essays and a prolific translator from English, Spanish, and French, he was awarded the prestigious Yomiuri Prize for Literature in 2009 for his travelogueTransversal Journeys.Sponsored by: Asian Studies Program; Bard Translation and Translatability Initiative; LAIS Program; Spanish Studies; Written Arts Program.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Women's Volleyball vs. SUNY Cobleskill (Senior Day)
Tuesday, October 24, 2023 7–9 pm
Stevenson Athletic Center The Women's Volleyball team compete in a non-conference match against SUNY Cobleskill. It is Senior Day for all of our graduating WVB players. Come out and support Women's Volleyball! Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a non-conference match against SUNY Cobleskill. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability - Online Info Session
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.
Thursday, October 26, 2023 12–1 pm
Online Event Bard Graduate Programs in Sustainability holds online informational webinars for prospective students to learn more about graduate school options in our MBA in Sustainability and Center for Environmental Policy programs. Learn about our programs directly from Director Eban Goodstein and the admissions team. There will be a time for questions at the end of the session.
WHAT WE COVER:
Overview of graduate program offerings
Alumni success and career outcomes
Admissions information
Prerequisite course information
Peace Corps, and AmeriCorps programs
Financial aid and scholarships
Tips for a standout application
A $65 application fee waiver is available to those who participate in the webinar.Sponsored by: Bard Center for Environmental Policy; Bard MBA in Sustainability.
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Stevenson Athletic Center The Men's and Women's Swimming team open their season with a home opener against SUNY Postdam. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Lorenzo Ferrari Soccer Complex The Men's Soccer team compete in a conference match against Skidmore College. It is Senior Day for all of our graduating MSOC players. Come out and support Men's Soccer!Sponsored by: Bard Athletics.
Joan Tower • Aaron Copland • Béla Bartók • Duke Ellington
Saturday, October 28, 2023 7–8 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
A concert by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with maestro Leon Botstein celebrating faculty members Joan Tower and Marcus Roberts. The program includes Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ featuring jazz pianist Marcus Roberts with members of his jazz ensemble, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring to round out the program.
The Bard Conservatory Orchestra Leon Botstein, Music Director
Friday, October 27, 2023 – Sunday, October 29, 2023
We look forward to welcoming parents, family members, and alumni/ae to campus for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend from Friday, October 27 – Sunday, October 29, 2023. The schedule will be packed full of activities, showcasing just about every program on Bard’s 1,000-acre campus.
Online registration for Family and Alumni/ae Weekend will open in the fall. Please contact [email protected] with any questions.
More InformationSponsored by: Office of Development and Alumni/ae Affairs.
For more information, call 845-758-6822, or e-mail [email protected].
Joan Tower • Aaron Copland • Béla Bartók • Duke Ellington
Sunday, October 29, 2023 2–5 pm
Fisher Center, Sosnoff Theater
A concert by the Bard Conservatory Orchestra with maestro Leon Botstein celebrating faculty members Joan Tower and Marcus Roberts. The program includes Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman and Duke Ellington’s New World A-Comin’ featuring jazz pianist Marcus Roberts with members of his jazz ensemble, and Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra and Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring to round out the program.
The Bard Conservatory Orchestra Leon Botstein, Music Director
Sex, Cancer, and Other Things My Mother Wishes I Never Had
Artist Presentation by Brian Lobel
Monday, October 30, 2023 6–8 pm
Fisher Center, Resnick Theater Studio Sex, Cancer & Other Things My Mother Wishes I Never Had is a talk, performance, analysis, and meditation on 20+ years living in a body which had cancer, healed from cancer, remained scarred from cancer, kept being questioned about cancer, worked with cancer, lost colleagues to cancer, a body which made cancer friends, lost cancer friends, taught on cancer, and ran away from teaching, living and breathing cancer. Content warning: there will be talk about cancer. But not just cancer, promise.Sponsored by: Bard Theater and Performance Program; Center for Human Rights and the Arts; OSUN; OSUN Center for Human Rights and the Arts.
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