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(02/25/14 4:57pm)
Assistant curator Kelly Kivland held a Brown Bag discussion on Friday, Feb. 21, in partnership with the International Sculpture Center that focused around a few of their projects that have had significant impacts.
When people think of art on display, they generally think of museums and galleries. Looking to support artists who may not have found support otherwise, the Dia Art Foundation was established in 1974. The foundation works in partnership with artists to help bring their visions to life largely through landscapes.
“Our goal is to illustrate the preserving of work in public space,” Kivland said. “That means somewhere you can access at any point in time.”
The first project discussed was Walter De Maria’s “Vertical Earth Kilometer,” located in Friedrichsplatz Park in Germany. It is a one–kilometer long rod placed in the gound, and a square redstone plate adorns the sumberged rod.
The project was originally met with a lot of negative press at its unveiling in August of 1977, but was kept open to the public and is currently still preserved by Dia.
In the 1980s, an idea belonging to Joseph Beuys, called “7,000 oaks,” became a reality and one of the first powerful social sculptures. He gathered 7,000 trees, each accompanied by a tall rock, and lined them up along streets in an attempt to raise ecological awareness.
In an area closer to home, Robert Smithson engineered the “Spiral Jetty” on the northeast of the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Smithson’s idea of “earth sculpting” required 7,000 tons of black basalt rock to be moved with the help of construction builders into a spiral shape that extends out 1,500 feet into the lake for people to walk on when the water level was low enough.
According to Kivland, microbes in the surrounding water occasionally causes it to turn a reddish color and create a unique site. Dia acquired the jetty in 1999 to make sure others could still enjoy it years after its completion.
The last piece of artwork that Kivland brought to attention was the “Gramsci Monument.” After 42 communities denied artist Thomas Hirschorn help with his project, a community in the Bronx embraced his ideas with open arms and helping hands.
The monument was made with everyday utilitarian objects, such as wooden crates, and served as a place for the community to gather and learn. There was a stage, café/bar, open mic nights, a bridge, art classes and more.
It may have only been up for 77 days, but the impact it had on the community will last for years to come.
“The heart of our mission really is to, and it has been since 1974, commission work for the artists as they envisioned the environment to which it was presented,” Kivland said. “It is entirely opposite from most museums today. It’s original.”
(12/03/13 11:40pm)
The Dean’s Advisory Council co-sponsored an event on Wednesday, Nov. 20 with the Career Center and Alpha Kappa Psi. Debra Klokis, employer relations specialist at the College’s career center, helped welcome two College graduates to a question and answer panel to share their professional tips on giving presentations and acting your best during interviews.
These panelists were Rich Minevich, an ’08 graduate who works for Johnson & Johnson and is active within the co-op recruiting program at the College, and Susan Villanova, a 1994 graduate and the Human Resources manager at Bloomberg’s Global Data Business Unit.
The presentation began with a YouTube clip from the 2013 Georgia Tech Convocation Speech, which featured a student giving one of the most memorable welcome speeches, complete with the famous score from “2001: Space Odyssey” playing in the background. The panelists used the student’s confidence and presentation skills to segway into their own experiences and tips.
Klokis proposed a number of topics to the panel, including what they believe key elements are to remember when presenting to clients, what common mistakes people make, how to handle individual presentations versus group presentations, ways to incorporate technology into your presentation, what to wear to interviews, the difference between aggressive and assertive, how conversational to be and how much is “too much.”
“Know your audience, whether in a business or classroom setting and find out who’s going to be there so you can tailor your objectives to the audience,” Villanova said. “Have key bullet points. Keep them simple so the audience can say, ‘Got it. I know exactly what’s going on here.’ In a business setting, work in some acceptable jargon. And keep in mind the time factor.”
“Also use the academic setting to hone your skills for the business setting,” Minevich added. “It’s more lax where they probably won’t cut you off. Use this to learn about time management skills and going off on tangents. That way in a business setting, you can be more concise and avoid putting yourself in a situation where you’ll become nervous.”
One of the overall points that the panelists made was that you’re going to experience nerves no matter what, and one of the best ways to handle them are by practicing out loud to friends and to a video camera to make sure you prepare yourself. Villanova quoted author Mark Twain in saying that there are two types of people: those who are nervous and those who are liars.
“One thing I’m going to take away from this is that repetition is really important in practicing,” junior management major Dave Plishka said. “The more you do it, the better you’ll get.”
Minevich added that he is on campus often recruiting students who can exemplify the kinds of tools that were discussed.
“I encourage all the students to take advantage of all these events, you know?” he said. “I didn’t as a student and it took me a lot longer to build a lot of the skills.”
(09/10/13 5:00am)
With the world watching anxiously, the United Kingdom made the quick decision to stay out of the chaos by not offering international response to Syria’s chemical weapon pandemonium. Prime Minister David Cameron had previously vowed to remain diplomatically involved, so Parliament’s near immediate decision may have come as a surprise to some, according to BBC.
Cameron was unsuccessful in gaining support from Parliament to stand behind Obama’s plan for military strikes against Bashar Hafez al-Assad. The White House response to this rejection was less than friendly. They were “bungled by Cameron” and this was “embarrassing for Cameron,” Parliament told The New York Times.
Without Britain’s support, Obama may end up unintentionally isolating himself, if the decision goes sour, according to BBC.
Even though Cameron voted in favor of using force, he made a statement saying the overall decision of Parliament was only one of regret, but not of rethinking.
“I won’t be bringing back plans for British participation in military action,” Cameron told BBC.
Group of Twenty, a group of 20 finance ministers and bank governors from the world’s 20 major economies, met Thursday, Sept. 6, for the summit of world leaders in St. Petersburg. The dominating topic was Obama and French President Francois Hollande’s united push for “limited military strikes against the government of President Bashar al-Assad.” But aside from France, no other country agreed to give military support, according to Fox News.
With America’s usual British partner-in-force out of the running, it is unclear how things will progress. Many fear that this strike will only lead to inevitable conflict that ends up dragging in Western countries anyway.
Whether the UK has made the right decision cannot yet be determined, and it is becoming hazy as to wonder whether America is going in the right direction either. Which side is better to support? On the one hand the rebels are killing Christians and prisoners and on the other, Assad is using chemical weapons. Technically, neither side is a friend nor is there significant national interest served in either case worth expending resources.