At the Academy
On The Web
March 2010
Thursday 4 March 2010
American Academy in Rome Appoints Susann S. Lusnia its Classical Summer School Director for 2011-2014
Photograph: Derek Toten, Tulane UniversityProfessor Susann S. Lusnia, FAAR’96, has been appointed to a three-year term as the Director of the Classical Summer School of the American Academy in Rome, starting in 2011. She will succeed Professor Gregory S. Bucher of Creighton University, Director of the Classical Summer School for the years 2008-2010.
An Associate Professor of Classical Studies at Tulane University, Dr. Lusnia teaches courses in Roman art and archaeology, topography of ancient Rome, architecture of the Roman Empire, Pompeii, and ethics in archaeology. She has excavated at Carthage and Troy.
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February 2010
Tuesday 23 February 2010
A Glimpse into Eileen Ryan's (Roman) Routine
Photograph: Annie Schlechter
Eileen Ryan is the Marian and Andrew Heiskell Pre-Doctoral Rome Prize recipient. Eileen Ryan is using her year at the American Academy in Rome to finish research and begin writing a dissertation on Italian native policies in the Libyan colonies during the 1920s. She is specifically focused on treaties between the Italians and local elites and why they broke down. The majority of these historic documents can be found in a couple of places in Rome and it is at one or the other where Eileen conducts her research.
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Monday 8 February 2010
A Conversation With Corey Brennan
Beginning 1 July 2009, T. Corey Brennan, FAAR’88, was appointed to a three-year term as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor-in-Charge of the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome. In an email conversation, Pamela Hovland, FAAR’06, talked with Corey about his first six months at the Academy, his perceptions of the changes since his fellowship year, his current projects and his stint as a rock star with the Lemonheads.
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January 2010
Friday 22 January 2010
A Glimpse into Richard Wittman’s Day
Photograph: Annie SchlechterRichard Wittman is the 2009-10 Millicent Mercer Johnsen Post-Doctoral Rome Prize winner. He was awarded the fellowship to allow him the time and proximity needed to investigate various aspects of 19th- and early 20th-century architecture and planning in Rome. Recently he led a group of Fellows on a “walk and talk” in EUR and discussed the area’s Fascist-era planning and architecture and its function within Mussolini's dream of creating a new Roman (Italian) Empire. On a typical day, however, Richard can be found writing in his AAR study; his desk faces a tall window overlooking the Cortile where both inspiration and distraction are readily available. As Richard’s research is more about studying texts than the material fabric of buildings, he is often at work in the AAR library, the Archivio di Stato or at the Biblioteca Nazionale.
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Tuesday 5 January 2010
A Glimpse Into Russell Maret's Studio
Russell Maret, a designer, typographer and letterpress printer based in New York City, was awarded the Rolland Rome Prize Fellowship in Design. He arrived in Rome in early September 2009 and quickly settled into a spacious studio overlooking the fountain and a view of the historic center of Rome. For his six month fellowship, he brought with him only a few tools, including a ruler, a protractor and a laptop computer. Russell describes his project in this way: I came to Rome to study vernacular classical lettering styles as source material for new digital typefaces. Since arriving, I have been overwhelmed by the abundance of letterforms scattered throughout the city, particularly the broken private memorials plastered into walls like ersatz public sculpture. As a type designer I operate within microcosmic spaces, editing in thousandths of inches in an effort to minimize the ostentatious characteristics of individual letters. In Rome I am approaching letter design from the opposite direction - making large public letters, emphasizing and celebrating their irregularities.
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December 2009
Thursday 17 December 2009
Auguri/Best Wishes
This beautiful and fascinating image was taken by Architect David Erdman, co-Director of the practice davidclovers, and winner of the 2008-09 Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Leon Polsky Rome Prize in Design. His project, entitled Plasticity Now, explored the idea that plasticity, as a conceptual premise for the genesis of architectural form, was born in Rome. The photograph is taken from a set of images evoking particular sensations in architecture, in this instance luminescence. It reminds us of the enduring importance of Rome for artists and scholars today and of the necessity of the American Academy. As 2009 draws to a close, please consider making a contribution to the Academy's Annual Fund, if you have not done so already.
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Monday 14 December 2009
American Academy in Rome Appoints Christopher Celenza its 21st Director
Historian and Latinist Christopher S. Celenza, FAAR'94, has been named the 21st Director of the American Academy in Rome, it was announced today by Academy President Adele Chatfield-Taylor, FAAR'84. Professor Celenza's 3-year tenure begins in July of 2010. He succeeds Professor Carmela Vircillo Franklin, FAAR'85, RAAR'02, who will step down during the summer of 2010 after a five-year tenure, to return to Columbia University and teaching.
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Tuesday 8 December 2009
A Cabaret to Celebrate the Rome Prize Fellowship
The very first American Academy in Rome Cabaret took place on Wednesday 2 December, on New York City’s Lower East Side as a celebration of the Rome Prize fellowship. The event was conceived, curated and carried off by renowned performance artist Laurie Anderson, RAAR’06 and American Academy in Rome Trustee, and included performances by musician Lou Reed, together with other leading and emerging artists, musicians, dancers, and filmmakers – including a number of Academy Fellows and Residents. In welcoming remarks, AAR’s President, Adele Chatfield Taylor, FAAR‘84, described the evening as “one part performance, one part family reunion and one part introduction to a whole new circle of friends.” Over 250 guests attended the cabaret which was held at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, a former 19th century synagogue now used for the creation and diffusion of contemporary art. Films and videos were shown throughout the space and featured recent work by Richard Barnes, FAAR’06, Hisham M. Bizri, FAAR’09, Charles Norman Mason, FAAR’06, Alex Schweder, FAAR’06, Laurie Simmons, RAAR ‘05, Brenda Way, RAAR’09 and Carrie Mae Weems, FAAR’06. Cabaret performers included Derek Bermel, FAAR’02, Molissa Fenley, FAAR’08, Oscar Hijuelos, FAAR’86, Bob Holman, Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed. Net proceeds will benefit the fellowship that is the American Academy in Rome.
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November 2009
Wednesday 11 November 2009
Celebrate and Support the Rome Prize Fellowship with Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and Academy Fellows and Friends
A Facebook group has been set up for the event. Join here.
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On the Web
Society of Fellows Blog
The official weblog of the Society of Fellows of the American Academy in Rome
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Archives
Arthur and Janet C. Ross Library reopened
Roberts Centenary
Ribbon Cutting and Dedication, Arthur & Janet C. Ross Library
The American Academy in Rome announces the 2008-09 Rome Prize Winners
New Andrew W. Mellon Professor
Deadlines Extended to March 1, 2009 for Summer Programs in Archaeology and Roman Pottery
American Academy in Rome Announces 2009–10 Rome Prize Winners
February 2010
Jerome Lecture Series
Kathleen Coleman
Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Poet, Eleven Years Old
Lecture II: Precocity
Thursday 18 February 20106:00 pm
Villa Aurelia
L.go di Porta di S. Pancrazio, 1
In 1871, the funerary altar of Q. Sulpicius Maximus was discovered immured inside the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Salaria. He died in 94 CE at the age of eleven, having worked himself to death. In addition to his epitaph, in Latin, and two funerary epigrams, in Greek, the façade contains the text of a poem in 43 Greek hexameters that he composed for the emperor Domitian’s Greek-style games. These lectures explore Maximus’ social background and the type of education that he received, in order to understand the circumstances of this domestic tragedy and the ambitions that led to it. The series will include a visit to the altar itself after the seminar on Saturday 20 February. Kathleen Coleman is Professor of Latin at Harvard University. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Kathleen Coleman
Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Poet, Eleven Years Old
Seminar III: Symmetry
Saturday 20 February 20109:30am
Lecture Room
Via Angelo Masina, 5
In 1871, the funerary altar of Q. Sulpicius Maximus was discovered immured inside the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Salaria. He died in 94 CE at the age of eleven, having worked himself to death. In addition to his epitaph, in Latin, and two funerary epigrams, in Greek, the façade contains the text of a poem in 43 Greek hexameters that he composed for the emperor Domitian’s Greek-style games. These lectures explore Maximus’ social background and the type of education that he received, in order to understand the circumstances of this domestic tragedy and the ambitions that led to it. The series will include a visit to the altar itself after the seminar on Saturday 20 February. Kathleen Coleman is Professor of Latin at Harvard University. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Kathleen Coleman
Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Poet, Eleven Years Old
Lecture IV: Authority
Tuesday 23 February 20106:00 pm
Villa Aurelia
L.go di Porta di S. Pancrazio, 1
In 1871, the funerary altar of Q. Sulpicius Maximus was discovered immured inside the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Salaria. He died in 94 CE at the age of eleven, having worked himself to death. In addition to his epitaph, in Latin, and two funerary epigrams, in Greek, the façade contains the text of a poem in 43 Greek hexameters that he composed for the emperor Domitian’s Greek-style games. These lectures explore Maximus’ social background and the type of education that he received, in order to understand the circumstances of this domestic tragedy and the ambitions that led to it. The series will include a visit to the altar itself after the seminar on Saturday 20 February. Kathleen Coleman is Professor of Latin at Harvard University. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Kathleen Coleman
Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Poet, Eleven Years Old
Lecture V: Immortality
Thursday 25 February 20106:00 pm
Villa Aurelia
L.go di Porta di S. Pancrazio, 1
In 1871, the funerary altar of Q. Sulpicius Maximus was discovered immured inside the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Salaria. He died in 94 CE at the age of eleven, having worked himself to death. In addition to his epitaph, in Latin, and two funerary epigrams, in Greek, the façade contains the text of a poem in 43 Greek hexameters that he composed for the emperor Domitian’s Greek-style games. These lectures explore Maximus’ social background and the type of education that he received, in order to understand the circumstances of this domestic tragedy and the ambitions that led to it. The series will include a visit to the altar itself after the seminar on Saturday 20 February. Kathleen Coleman is Professor of Latin at Harvard University. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
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March 2010
Lecture
Mary Gibson The Prisons of Rome: Mapping Punishment after Italian Unification
Thursday 4 March 20106:00 pm
Villa Aurelia
L.go di Porta di S. Pancrazio, 1
When Rome became the capital of Italy in 1870, it inherited a disparate system of prisons located in ancient Roman baths, medieval monasteries, early modern workhouses, Renaissance palaces, and aristocratic villas. This lecture will map the geography of Roman prisons and analyze the evolution of policies of punishment toward men, women, and children during the fifty years after unification. Mary Gibson, FAAR’03, is the American Academy in Rome Scholar in Residence (Modern Italian Studies) and Professor of History at John Jay College and the Graduate Center, City University of New York.
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Archives
Jerome Lecture Series
Kathleen Coleman
Q. Sulpicius Maximus, Poet, Eleven Years Old
Lecture I: Spontaneity
Tuesday 16 February 2010In 1871, the funerary altar of Q. Sulpicius Maximus was discovered immured inside the Aurelian Wall at the Porta Salaria. He died in 94 CE at the age of eleven, having worked himself to death. In addition to his epitaph, in Latin, and two funerary epigrams, in Greek, the façade contains the text of a poem in 43 Greek hexameters that he composed for the emperor Domitian’s Greek-style games. These lectures explore Maximus’ social background and the type of education that he received, in order to understand the circumstances of this domestic tragedy and the ambitions that led to it. The series will include a visit to the altar itself after the seminar on Saturday 20 February. Kathleen Coleman is Professor of Latin at Harvard University. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Lecture
Daniel Mendelsohn
The Melancholy of the Classics: Time, Loss, ‘Memory’
Monday 15 February 2010Daniel Mendelsohn, author and critic, is the Andrew and Marian Heiskell Visiting Critic at the American Academy in Rome. The talk is a selection from his new work in progress, “Odysseys: Adventures in Reading the Greeks,” a rumination on the meaning of the classics narrated from within a circumnavigation of the Mediterranean. The talk is a meditation on the fragility of the ancient texts and a chastening reminder of all we do not, in fact, possess.
Lecture
Leonard Barkan
Thinking of the Grapes: Food Culture and High Culture in Early Modern Europe
Thursday 11 February 2010Through several millennia, high culture–poems, paintings, symphonies–has tended to exclude gastronomy from a place at the table. This lecture will explore especially the problematic relations between Renaissance high art and the dinner table, while pursuing the question why, in regard to all the arts, we refer to the highest degree of refined sensitivity as taste. Leonard Barkan is the American Academy in Rome Scholar in Residence (History of Art) and Class of 1943 University Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature at Princeton University.
Concert
Tintinnabulation: Homage to Elliott Carter
Thursday 21 January 2010This concert includes the European premiere of Tintinnabulation for percussion ensemble and the solo piece Figment V by Elliott Carter, FAAR’53, RAAR’63,’69,’80, along with earlier works for solo instruments (Piano Sonata, 90+, and GRA) and the chamber ensemble work The So-Called Laws of Nature by David Lang, FAAR’91. The concert is performed by PMCE – Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble – and presented in collaboration with the Fondazione Musica per Roma as part of the Progetto Calliope.
Lecture and Exhibition
Intolleranza 1960: Luigi Nono e gli Stati Uniti. Un percorso attraverso i documenti dell'Archivio Luigi Nono
Thursday 21 January 2010This exhibition, produced in collaboration with the Fondazione Archivio Luigi Nono (Venice), documents the performance and reception history of the composer’s opera, Intolleranza 1960. The work caused scandal both in its world premiere in Venice in 1961 and its American premiere in Boston in 1965. Nono was denied entrance to the US because of his Communist views until a group of American composers and political figures rose to his defense. This exhibition includes unpublished letters, reviews, FBI and State Department files, and other audio and visual documentation, to provide a window onto the cultural milieu of Cold War international exchange. The exhibition is on view until 27 January 2010 by appointment, tel. 06/5846459.
Claudia Vincis (Director of the Fondazione Archivio Luigi Nono) and Veniero Rizzardi (University of Venice) will discuss the exhibition and hold a conversation with Nuria Schoenberg Nono at 5pm in the Lecture Room.
Concert
Homage to Luigi Nono
Wednesday 20 January 2010The concert will include three works by Luigi Nono: La fabbrica illuminata (1964), for voice and tape, performed by Lisa Bielawa (Frederic A. Juilliard/Walter Damrosch Rome Prize winner); Ricorda cosa ti hanno fatto in Auschwitz (1966), for tape alone; and Post-prae-ludium per Donau (1987), performed by Giancarlo Schiaffini (tuba) and Giacomo De Caterini (live electronics). Brief comments will be made by Nuria Schoenberg Nono. This concert is presented in collaboration with the Fondazione Musica per Roma and the Académie de France à Rome, Villa Medici, as part of the series Controtempo: Festival di musica contemporanea. For tickets, please call 06/67611.
Lecture
Calvin Tsao
A Vocation in Two Acts
Tuesday 12 January 2010Calvin Tsao is the William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome. He is Principal at Tsao and McKown Architects in New York and President of the Architectural League of New York. He will discuss the evolving domain of architecture and design in a polyglottal world.
Conference (day 3 of 3)
Performing Voices: Between Embodiment and Mediation
Sunday 6 December 2009The qualities attributed to the singing voice range from corporeal presence to ethereal beauty. In fostering a new understanding of the paradox of the singing voice, this conference will bring together singers, scientists, historians, philosophers, and musicologists. It is co-sponsored by the American Academy in Rome and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. Registration is necessary for this conference. Please send an e-mail to: tplokarz@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Conference Program (PDF)
Conference (day 2 of 3)
Performing Voices: Between Embodiment and Mediation
Saturday 5 December 2009The qualities attributed to the singing voice range from corporeal presence to ethereal beauty. In fostering a new understanding of the paradox of the singing voice, this conference will bring together singers, scientists, historians, philosophers, and musicologists. It is co-sponsored by the American Academy in Rome and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. Registration is necessary for this conference. Please send an e-mail to: tplokarz@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Conference Program (PDF)
Conference (day 1 of 3)
Performing Voices: Between Embodiment and Mediation
Friday 4 December 2009The qualities attributed to the singing voice range from corporeal presence to ethereal beauty. In fostering a new understanding of the paradox of the singing voice, this conference will bring together singers, scientists, historians, philosophers, and musicologists. It is co-sponsored by the American Academy in Rome and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin. Registration is necessary for this conference. Please send an e-mail to: tplokarz@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Conference Program (PDF)
Concerts
Music Impura IV
Saturday 21 November 2009As is customary, Nuova Consonanza – Rome’s oldest and largest contemporary music association – is offering their musical marathon in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome. A variety of concerts, installations, exhibitions, and video projections will be featured throughout the Villa Aurelia and its grounds, and will include a number of new works by Italian and American composers. For tickets, please see www.nuovaconsonanza.it.
Lecture
T. Corey Brennan
Lily Ross Taylor's Rome
Wednesday 18 November 2009This presentation aims to contextualize aspects of the life and work of Roman historian Lily Ross Taylor (1886-1969), FAAR’18, on the 40th anniversary of her death (18 November 1969). The focus will be on five of her sustained experiences in Italy: as a young student (1909-1910), a Red Cross worker during the First World War, the first woman American Academy Fellow (1919-1920), and Professor in Charge at the American Academy (1934-1935 and 1951-1955). T. Corey Brennan, FAAR’88, is Andrew W. Mellon Professor in Charge of the School of Classical Studies at the American Academy in Rome.
Lecture
Ronald G. Witt
The Italian Difference: The Two Latin Cultures of Medieval Italy, 800-1250
Thursday 12 November 2009Ronald G. Witt will offer his explanation for the fact that by the mid-twelfth century laymen in Italy largely dominated intellectual life whereas a similar development did not occur in northern Europe until the sixteenth century. Witt, FAAR’97, is the William B. Hamilton Professor of History, Emeritus, at Duke University and Lester K. Little Scholar in Residence (Medieval Studies) at the American Academy in Rome.
Conference
Tradizioni mitiche locali nell'epica greca
Friday 23 October 2009The Academy hosts the second and final day of a conference organized by the Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia of the Università degli Studi Roma Tre, to celebrate the 75th birthday of Prof. Antonio Martina, who held the Chair of Greek Literature at the University until his retirement in 2006. The conference will focus on the relationship between local and panhellenic myths in Greek epic and include speakers from Italy and the United States. Papers will be given in Italian.
Book Presentation
Nancy A. Winter
Symbols of Wealth and Power: Architectural Terracotta Decoration in Etruria and Central Italy, 640-510 B.C.
Tuesday 20 October 2009Nancy A. Winter’s book, Symbols of Wealth and Power, the ninth and latest Supplement to the Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome (Ann Arbor, 2009), is the first definitive study of Etruscan architecture in almost 70 years. Speakers will include the author, T. Corey Brennan, FAAR’88 (American Academy in Rome), and Ingrid Edlund-Berry, FAAR’84 (University of Texas at Austin). The presentation will be followed by a visit to the American Academy’s archaeological study collection.
Concert
Piccola Accademia degli Specchi
Monday 19 October 2009The concert will feature music by American composers Morton Feldman, Philip Glass, and William Susman as well as by the Italian composers Giovanni Sollima, Matteo Sommacal, and Irma Ravinale. This is the closing concert of the 30th edition of the Nuovi Spazi Musicali contemporary music festival.
Book Presentation
Oretta Zanini De Vita
Encyclopedia of Pasta
Saturday 10 October 2009Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta (2009) is a compendium of historical and geographical research on this staple of the Italian diet. It is the latest volume in the University of California Press series California Studies in Food and Culture, which considers food from a range of disciplines and approaches. The author will discuss her methodology in compiling this reference work, with contributions also by Sheila Levine (UC Press), Maureen B. Fant (translator of the book), and Christopher Boswell (American Academy’s Rome Sustainable Food Program).
Lecture
Stephen Greenblatt
Cultural Mobility: The Travels of Shakespeare’s Cardenio
Tuesday 6 October 2009The lecture concerns an experiment in translation and transformation, inspired by a lost play co-authored by Shakespeare and his younger colleague Fletcher. Greenblatt will explore what happens when cultural materials are unmoored from their foundations and set in motion. Stephen Greenblatt is the John Cogan University Professor of Humanities in the Department of English at Harvard University and American Academy in Rome Scholar in Residence (Literature).
Conference (day 2 of 2)
Maritime Technology and the Ancient Economy: Ship-design and Navigation
Wednesday 17 June 2009A two-day conference held at the American Academy on June 16 and at the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” on June 17. The conference aims to tackle a set of technical but intriguing questions about the commercial sea-faring of the ancient Mediterranean. Thousands of ancient shipwrecks are scattered all over the floor of the Mediterranean, and yet we know that from time to time Greeks, Romans, and others thought of better ways of building ships and of keeping them afloat. Which innovations -- if any -- really made the Mediterranean safer for ancient commerce? Scholars from France, Italy, Britain, Austria, and the United States will attempt to resolve this problem. The conference is organized by William V. Harris, RAAR’79,’83 (Columbia University), with the support of the Distinguished Scholar Award received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2008-2011), and by Elio Lo Cascio (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”).
Click here to view event program (PDF download)
Conference (day 1 of 2)
Maritime Technology and the Ancient Economy: Ship-design and Navigation
Tuesday 16 June 2009A two-day conference held at the American Academy on June 16 and at the Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” on June 17. The conference aims to tackle a set of technical but intriguing questions about the commercial sea-faring of the ancient Mediterranean. Thousands of ancient shipwrecks are scattered all over the floor of the Mediterranean, and yet we know that from time to time Greeks, Romans, and others thought of better ways of building ships and of keeping them afloat. Which innovations -- if any -- really made the Mediterranean safer for ancient commerce? Scholars from France, Italy, Britain, Austria, and the United States will attempt to resolve this problem. The conference is organized by William V. Harris, RAAR’79,’83 (Columbia University), with the support of the Distinguished Scholar Award received from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (2008-2011), and by Elio Lo Cascio (Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza”).
Click here to view event program (PDF download)
Concert
Fellows’ Annual Concert
Saturday 30 May 2009This concert will present works by the 2008-2009 Fellows in Musical Composition, Keeril Makan and Kurt Rohde. Keeril Makan is the Luciano Berio Rome Prize Fellow. Kurt Rohde is the Elliott Carter Rome Prize Fellow. The concert is made possible by The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Fromm Music Foundation, Herman Goldman Foundation, Estate of Kent W. Kennan, FAAR’39, and Janice and George Scantland.
Reading
Fellows’ Annual Reading
Friday 29 May 2009The 2008-2009 Fellows in Literature, Brad Kessler and Dana Spiotta, will read from their work. Brad Kessler is the recipient of the John Guare Writer’s Fund Rome Prize, a gift of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Dana Spiotta is the recipient of the Joseph Brodsky Rome Prize, a gift of the Drue Heinz Trust/American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Open Studios
Fellows’ Annual Open Studios
Wednesday 27 May 2009The open studios offer a first-hand look at the Academy’s laboratory environment and the work of the 2008-2009 Rome Prize Fellows in the fields of Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, Landscape Architecture, and Visual Arts. The Open Studios are made possible in part by a grant from The Cowles Charitable Trust.
Lecture
Brenda Way
Chasing the Unfashionable
Tuesday 19 May 2009A discussion and video sampling of Brenda Way’s choreography, focusing on sources and her unabashed love of movement, form, and the narrative vein. How have the innovations of the 1970’s in American dance transformed over the decades in the eye and on the body? Way is the Donald and Maria Cox Artist in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Artistic Director of the Oberlin Dance Company in San Francisco.
Lecture
Helen Nagy
Paris, Menelaos and Helen, Reflections of the Saga in Etruscan Mirrors
Thursday 14 May 2009Women’s burials in Etruria have yielded thousands of bronze mirrors with incised images on their reverse. Currently an international effort is under way to publish all extant examples of these objects in the Corpus Speculorum Etruscorum. Two decorated mirrors from West Coast (USA) collections are the primary focus of this lecture. One represents the “Judgment of Paris,” a common theme on Etruscan mirrors, the other shows Menelaos threatening Helen after the capture of Troy. These depictions, the before and after in the story of Helen and Paris, provide an insight into the Etruscans’ interpretation of Greek mythology. The mirrors also serve as examples of the technical, scientific, and iconographic analysis applied to Etruscan mirrors as part of this collaborative research. Helen Nagy, FAAR’86, is the Lucy Shoe Meritt Scholar in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Professor Emerita of Art History at The University of Puget Sound.
Lecture
Judith Di Maio
Perception and Inspiration: Overlaps in 16th-Century Italian Architecture and Painting
Tuesday 12 May 2009The lecture discusses the similarities between the structural/formal content in early/mid-sixteenth century ‘Mannerist’ Italian architecture and painting. Judith Di Maio will show how these overlaps and strategies of compositional structure have inspired her own architectural work. Di Maio, FAAR’78, is the Colin Rowe Designer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Dean of the School of Architecture and Design at the New York Institute of Technology.
Lecture
Alexander Stille
The Force of Things: A Work in Progress
Tuesday 5 May 2009Alexander Stille is working on a memoir which braids together the story of two families -- one a family of Jews from Russia that begins the 20th century in Moscow, and lives through the twenty years of fascism in Italy; the other an American Protestant family from Chicago. It traces their trajectory through the fascist period in Italy and World War II to the two families’ intersection in 1948, in the form of Stille’s parents’ meeting and marriage. It is a microhistory of a much larger historical movement, the exile and dislocation of a large segment of European intelligenzia that was uprooted by fascism in the 1930s and transplanted in the United States. It is also an experiment in narrative and a reflection on historical and personal memory. Stille is the Andrew and Marian Heiskell Visiting Critic at the American Academy in Rome and San Paolo Professor of International Journalism at Columbia University.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Flavio De Marco (visual arts)
Wednesday 22 April 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Mauro Covacich (literature)
Wednesday 8 April 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Exhibition Opening
The Buffer Zone
Friday 3 April 2009The Buffer Zone invites artists to investigate the role of art in creating or identifying communities within an institution and asks the artists to consider the American Academy in Rome to be a context rather than a location. The exhibition includes American artists in residence at the Academy and Italian artists. It is curated by Cecilia Canziani and Lexi Eberspacher and can be visited by appointment at 06/5846459 until 3 June 2009.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Alberto Fiori (music)
Wednesday 25 March 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Concert
Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic - Concert III
Sunday 22 March 2009Three concerts performed by the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, featuring music by the Fellows of the American Academy in Rome and the American Academy in Berlin. The concerts will include recent compositions by Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, FAAR’54, RAAR’63, ’69, ’80, Hans Werner Henze, Keeril Makan (Luciano Berio Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Kurt Rohde (Elliott Carter Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Daniel Visconti (Lenore Annenberg Music Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin), and chamber works of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert.
Concert
Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic - Concert II
Saturday 21 March 2009Three concerts performed by the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, featuring music by the Fellows of the American Academy in Rome and the American Academy in Berlin. The concerts will include recent compositions by Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, FAAR’54, RAAR’63, ’69, ’80, Hans Werner Henze, Keeril Makan (Luciano Berio Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Kurt Rohde (Elliott Carter Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Daniel Visconti (Lenore Annenberg Music Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin), and chamber works of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert.
Concert
Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic - Concert I
Friday 20 March 2009Three concerts performed by the Scharoun Ensemble of the Berlin Philharmonic, featuring music by the Fellows of the American Academy in Rome and the American Academy in Berlin. The concerts will include recent compositions by Luciano Berio, Elliott Carter, FAAR’54, RAAR’63, ’69, ’80, Hans Werner Henze, Keeril Makan (Luciano Berio Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Kurt Rohde (Elliott Carter Rome Prize Fellow in Musical Composition at the American Academy in Rome), Daniel Visconti (Lenore Annenberg Music Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin), and chamber works of Beethoven, Brahms, and Schubert.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Carola Spadoni (visual arts)
Wednesday 18 March 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Lecture
Daniel P. Jordan
The Future of the Historic House in America
Monday 9 March 2009Even before the current recession, “at risk” describes many of America’s historic homes, large and small, that are open to the public. The lecture will provide insight into the importance of these historic properties, an analysis of the problem, and some options for the future. Daniel P. Jordan is James Marston Fitch Resident in Historic Preservation at the American Academy in Rome. He is President Emeritus of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation and Vice Chairman of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
Lecture
Joan La Barbara
My Experience
*EVENT CANCELLED*
Thursday 5 March 2009As a performer and composer, Joan La Barbara has profoundly affected the development of the American avant-garde. She has worked with many artists, including John Cage, Morton Feldman, Judy Chicago, and Bruce Nauman. La Barbara will speak about her pioneering work in the development of experimental music and extended vocal techniques. This lecture is offered in collaboration with Musica per Roma Fondazione.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Caterina Bonvicini (literature)
Wednesday 25 February 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Jerome Lecture Series
Henner von Hesberg
New Forms of Civilization in the Northwestern Provinces of the Empire (Lecture V: New Forms of Communication)
Monday 23 February 2009The year 2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the battle of the Teutoburg forest. German historiography has interpreted this battle as signifying the failure of Roman conquest in this area, which consequently did not extend past the Rhine. By contrast, the Romans were in military and political terms very successful in subduing these peoples, so that in the end they held the northwestern provinces for more than 400 years. Mainly based on archaeological evidence, the lecture series will demonstrate why the Romans were so successful. Henner von Hesberg is the Director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Henner von Hesberg
New Forms of Civilization in the Northwestern Provinces of the Empire (Seminar IV: A New Concept of Society, Romans and Provincials)
Saturday 21 February 2009The year 2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the battle of the Teutoburg forest. German historiography has interpreted this battle as signifying the failure of Roman conquest in this area, which consequently did not extend past the Rhine. By contrast, the Romans were in military and political terms very successful in subduing these peoples, so that in the end they held the northwestern provinces for more than 400 years. Mainly based on archaeological evidence, the lecture series will demonstrate why the Romans were so successful. Henner von Hesberg is the Director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Henner von Hesberg
New Forms of Civilization in the Northwestern Provinces of the Empire (Lecture III: Victorious Pictures – the Roman Gods)
Friday 20 February 2009The year 2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the battle of the Teutoburg forest. German historiography has interpreted this battle as signifying the failure of Roman conquest in this area, which consequently did not extend past the Rhine. By contrast, the Romans were in military and political terms very successful in subduing these peoples, so that in the end they held the northwestern provinces for more than 400 years. Mainly based on archaeological evidence, the lecture series will demonstrate why the Romans were so successful. Henner von Hesberg is the Director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Henner von Hesberg
New Forms of Civilization in the Northwestern Provinces of the Empire (Lecture II: The Construction of a Civic World)
Wednesday 18 February 2009The year 2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the battle of the Teutoburg forest. German historiography has interpreted this battle as signifying the failure of Roman conquest in this area, which consequently did not extend past the Rhine. By contrast, the Romans were in military and political terms very successful in subduing these peoples, so that in the end they held the northwestern provinces for more than 400 years. Mainly based on archaeological evidence, the lecture series will demonstrate why the Romans were so successful. Henner von Hesberg is the Director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Jerome Lecture Series
Henner von Hesberg: New Forms of Civilization in the Northwestern Provinces of the Empire (Lecture I: Entering in Dialogues – the Roman Conquest)
Monday 16 February 2009The year 2009 marks the 2000th anniversary of the defeat of Quintilius Varus in the battle of the Teutoburg forest. German historiography has interpreted this battle as signifying the failure of Roman conquest in this area, which consequently did not extend past the Rhine. By contrast, the Romans were in military and political terms very successful in subduing these peoples, so that in the end they held the northwestern provinces for more than 400 years. Mainly based on archaeological evidence, the lecture series will demonstrate why the Romans were so successful. Henner von Hesberg is the Director of the Deutsches Archäologisches Institut Rom. The Thomas Spencer Jerome Lecture Series is jointly administered by the University of Michigan and the American Academy in Rome.
Exhibition Opening II
Lo Sguardo di Giano
Thursday 12 February 2009Inspired by the figure of two-faced Janus, symbol of the American Academy in Rome and of the relationship between past and future, the exhibition reflects upon the different aspects of the double image. The juxtaposition of works by eleven artists explores the sometimes contradictory figure of Janus and helps us question the meaning and value around the construction of the double image. Residents of the American Academy in Rome will join the exhibition with the second opening on 12 February. The exhibition is curated by Francesco Stocchi. It is open every morning from Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 12:30pm and by appointment, tel. 06/5846459 until 3 March 2008.
Lecture Series
Natura morta con autore: Teatrino Clandestino (theater)
Wednesday 11 February 2009This lecture series invites artists from different fields to present themselves through three “objects” (book, film, record, painting, etc.) that have been fundamental to their artistic development. The lecture series will be moderated by Flavio De Marco. It will also take place in Bologna at the Teatro San Leonardo and in Milan at Assab One.
Lecture
George Hargreaves
Landscape Alchemy
Thursday 5 February 2009The lecture will feature selected projects by Hargreaves Associates, illustrating the transformative aspects of landscape architecture. George Hargreaves is Mercedes T. and Sid R. Bass Landscape Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Design Director/ Senior Principal at Hargreaves Associates.
Exhibition Opening I
Lo Sguardo di Giano
Tuesday 27 January 2009Inspired by the figure of two-faced Janus, symbol of the American Academy in Rome and of the relationship between past and future, the exhibition reflects upon the different aspects of the double image. The juxtaposition of works by eleven artists explores the sometimes contradictory figure of Janus and helps us question the meaning and value around the construction of the double image. Residents of the American Academy in Rome will join the exhibition with the second opening on 12 February. The exhibition is curated by Francesco Stocchi. It is open every morning from Monday to Friday from 9:30am to 12:30pm and by appointment, tel. 06/5846459 until 3 March 2008.
Concert
Why Is this Night Different from All Other Nights? A Tribute to Alvin Curran
Thursday 22 January 2009This concert marks composer Alvin Curran’s 70th birthday. Since 1965, when he co-founded the radical music collective Musica Elettronica Viva, Curran has been a musical force in Rome. The first performance of his music in the city was held at the American Academy in Rome 43 years ago. The concert will feature works dating from 1965 to 2008 performed by a number of friends and colleagues, including members of the Alter Ego and Ars Ludi ensembles. The concert is offered in collaboration with Musica per Roma Fondazione.
Lecture
Guy J. P. Nordenson
Engineering Ephemera
Wednesday 14 January 2009Some things take forever to get built and the ruins remain well beyond their time. This talk will begin by ranging over a number of projects from the Tor Tre Teste Jubilee Church (renamed when the Church of the Year 2000 ran late) to built projects at MIT and at the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art that all partake of the concrete theater of slow construction. This will lead into a brief account of Palisade Bay, a proposal by a collective of architects, engineers, and landscape architects for the gradual transformation of the New York / New Jersey Upper Harbor to mitigate the effects of sea level rise due to climate change. Guy J. P. Nordenson is William A. Bernoudy Architect in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Professor of Structural Engineering and Architecture at Princeton University.
Film Screening
Laurie Simmons
The Music of Regret
Wednesday 17 December 2008Visual artist Laurie Simmons, RAAR'05, will present her film The Music of Regret (U.S.A., 2006), a mini-musical in three acts starring Meryl Streep, Adam Guettel, and the Alvin Ailey Dancers. This film, which grew out of Simmons' photographic work, includes vintage child-craft puppets that enact the pain and regret that erupt between two feuding families.
Conference
Leptis Magna: The City and Surrounding Territory
Wednesday 10 December 2008The conference is intended to provide an overview of the extensive research activities conducted at Leptis Magna by the Università di Roma Tre: investigating inhabitation patterns in the city's surrounding territory; analyzing the typologies of countryside villas and their impressive decorative programs; recovering important funerary contexts; examining vast quantities of epigraphic evidence; and studying the use of imported marbles in the construction and decoration of the unique architectural complexes of the city. Speakers will include: Luisa Musso, Università di Roma Tre, Gianni Ponti, Archeology Liaison at the American Academy in Rome, Ginette Everard-Di Vita, La Sorbonne, and other members of the archeological team working at Leptis. Presentations will be in English and Italian.
Lecture
Elizabeth Bartman
Lessons from Ince
Thursday 4 December 2008Like many other "Grand Tour" collections, the ancient marbles belonging to Henry Blundell at Ince have in recent times been dismissed as over-restored and artistically worthless. By using them as a platform for exploring issues of Roman art theory, production, and reception, this lecture demonstrates why their poor reputation deserves rehabilitation. Elizabeth Bartman, FAAR'83, is an Independent Scholar and James S. Ackerman Scholar in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
Presentation
Paul D. Miller / DJ Spooky
Sound Unbound
Wednesday 3 December 2008Introducing his book Sound Unbound, Paul Miller (aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid) will explore the theme of sound in contemporary art, digital media, and composition. Sound Unbound (MIT Press, 2007) is a collection of thirty essays: reports from the front lines on the role of sound and digital media in an information-based society.
Lecture
Carroll Dunham
Recent Work
Monday 24 November 2008As the critic Ken Johnson has recently written in the New York Times, Carroll Dunham's paintings "deliver an uncommonly potent combination of formal punch, narrative intrigue and metaphorical resonance." In this presentation, Dunham will discuss examples of his recent work. He is the Roy Lichtenstein Artist in Residence at the American Academy in Rome.
Lecture
Claude Baker
"Aus Schwanengesang" for Orchestra
Thursday 20 November 2008Through the discussion of a single symphonic composition, Claude Baker will illustrate those stylistic traits that have been most prevalent in his music during the past two decades. Baker is the Paul Fromm Composer in Residence at the American Academy in Rome and Class of 1956 Chancellor's Professor of Composition at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, Bloomington.
Concerts
Musica Impura III
Sunday 16 November 2008As is customary, Nuova Consonanza — Rome's oldest and largest contemporary music association — is offering their musical marathon in collaboration with the American Academy in Rome. A variety of concerts, installations, exhibitions, and video projections will take place throughout the Villa Aurelia and its grounds and will include a number of new works by Italian and American composers. For tickets, please see www.nuovaconsonanza.it.
Lecture
Jeanne Marie Teutonico
Heritage Conservation in Practice: A Critical Reflection on the Work of the Getty Conservation Institute
Monday 3 November 2008The lecture will present a critical reflection on the work of the Getty Conservation Institute and discuss how changes in approach and emphasis reflect the evolving nature of heritage conservation practice. Case studies from the Institute's work in Egypt, China, and Tunisia will be used to illustrate the presentation. Jeanne Marie Teutonico is the William A. Bernoudy Resident at the American Academy in Rome and Associate Director, Programs, Getty Conservation Institute.
Lecture
Lewis Kaplan
Bach, God and Numbers
Monday 27 October 2008The renowned violinist, Lewis Kaplan, will perform J.S. Bach's Partita in D minor for unaccompanied violin and discuss the importance of numbers, numerology, and religion in this cornerstone of the violin repertory. Kaplan teaches at The Juilliard School, The Mannes College of Music, and the Summer Academy at the Mozarteum, Salzburg, Austria. This year Kaplan was appointed Visiting Professor of Violin at the Royal College of Music in London. He is Director of the Bowdoin International Music Festival.
Concert
Paul Bowman, guitarist
Harvey Sollberger, flutist
Thursday 16 October 2008Two virtuoso American performers, on the faculty of the University of California at San Diego, guitarist Paul Bowman and flutist Harvey Sollberger, will perform a program of contemporary works, including pieces by American composers Milton Babbit, Kirsten Broberg, Yotam Haber, FAAR'08, and Harvey Sollberger, RAAR'89, as well as by Italian composers Paolo Cavallone, A. Ciccaglioni, S. Corbett, and Franco Evangelisti. This concert is offered in cooperation with Nuovi Spazi Musicali.
A two-part event
Welcome: A Celebration of Contemporary Art
Monday 6 October 2008A two-part event: 1) a group exhibition on the theme of Rome; and 2) a sampling of Italian art through films about Italian artists. Curated by Raffaele Gavarro.
Film - Tales of Italian Art
5pm, Lecture Room
Via Angelo Masina, 5
Eight films about Italian artists from different generations directed by Alessandra Populin and Ignazio Agosta. The projections will be preceded by a brief introduction by the directors and conclude with an opportunity to meet some of the artists featured in the films.
Monday 6 October
Jannis Kounellis by Alessandra Populin
Stefano Arienti by Alessandra Populin
Tuesday 7 October
Fabio Mauri by Alessandra Populin
Giacinto Cerone by Ignazio Agosta
Wednesday 8 October
Mimmo Paladino by Ignazio Agosta
Vedovamazzei by Alessandra Populin
Thursday 9 October
Pietro Fortuna by Alessandra Populin
Giulio Paolini by Alessandra Populin
Exhibition - Remembering
6:30pm-8pm
Gallery
Via Angelo Masina, 5
A group exhibition dedicated to memory and to Rome that will explore the capacity of art to make the past an element of our continuous present. Each evening two artists, one from a foreign academy in Rome and one Italian, will show a piece of work. After 9 October and until 31 October 2008, the exhibition will be open by appointment (tel. 06/5846459).
Monday 6 October
Rosa Casado Arroyo (Spain) & Mike Brookes (Great Britain) – Giuseppe Stampone (Italy)
Tuesday 7 October
Elke Zauner (Germany) – Alice Schivardi (Italy)
Wednesday 8 October
Luzia Hurzeler (Switzerland) – Diego Valentino (Italy)
Thursday 9 October
John Kelly, FAAR'07 (U.S.A.) – Alterazioni Video (Italy)