'Arts & War' offers provocative probe and meditation

Updated 2:30 PM March 21, 2007

'Arts & War' offers provocative probe and meditation

By Frank Provenzano
News Service

From the images of devastation wrought by suicide bombers in a downtown Baghdad marketplace to genocide in Darfur, some say the 21st-century drumbeat of warfare threatens to create anxiety and a sense of inevitability. In this context, the University presents "Arts & War," an innovative exploration of the ways in which the arts shape our experience of war.

Performances will be held from 5:10-6:40 p.m. March 20-21 at the Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre in the Michigan League. The events are free and open to the public, and will be followed by conversations among audience members and selected artists.

"Arts & War" aims to engage audiences with a compelling assemblage of dancers, singers, musicians, writers and artists in video, photography and sculpture, all of whom present creative work about war: Some of it created to mobilize for war, some to protest war, some to dramatize and mourn war's effects.

The event is coordinated and funded by Arts on Earth, a new U-M initiative dedicated to exploring the dynamic relationship between people and arts worldwide. Open-ended and campus-wide, Arts on Earth creates experiential learning events about—and through—the power of the arts. Events include performances, exhibits, screenings, installations, conversations with artists, courses, conferences and more. Most Arts on Earth events are free and open to the public.

The first night of "Arts & War," called "Mobilization & Protest," features art created to mobilize for war and to generate opposition to war once begun. Among the performances:

• William Bolcom and Joan Morris performing patriotic cabaret songs,

• A demonstration by musicologist Jonathan Pieslak's of American soldiers' use of heavy metal and rap to gird for battle in Iraq,

• Tirtza Even's video exploration of the friendship between the Israeli artist and her Palestinian friends.

Other performers include the string ensemble, Time for Three; jazz flugelhornist, Ed Sarath; video artist Heidi Kumao; musicologist Mark Clague; and choreographer and dancer Madhavi Mai. The poet Linda Gregerson hosts the evening and the post-performance discussion.

In a March 21 program titled Testimony, the arts to be performed were created as a means of testifying to and processing the horrors of war. Highlights include:

• Paul Schoenfield's work about the Holocaust, "Sparks of Glory,"

• Iraqi oud player Rahim AlHaj performing his original work, "Dance of the Palms," about the destruction of his country's sacred natural beauty,

• The playwright and performance artist OyamO reading from "My Parents' Bedroom," a story by Nigerian writer Uwem Akpan about Africa's orphans of war.

Other performers March 21 include jazz pianist Geri Allen, poet and video artist Thylias Moss, and choreographer and dancer Amy Chavasse. Artist Glenda Dickerson will moderate the post-performance discussion.

On both nights, a video installation by Carol Jacobsen, kinetic sculpture by Michael Rodemer, and video work by U-M students also will be on display.

For more information, visit the Arts on Earth Web site: www.artsonearth.org.

'Arts & War' offers provocative probe and meditation

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