sensing place symposium

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2016
CONFORTI PAVILION, CLARK CENTER

Sensing Place and its accompanying programs are generously supported by Herbert A. Allen, Jr. The symposium is supported by the Bafflin Foundation.

Developed from the central themes of the Clark’s special exhibition Sensing Place: Reflecting on Stone Hill, this symposium explores the question of place in art, literature, philosophy, cultural geography, and environmentalism. Participants will engage in a cross-disciplinary dialogue that will explore the importance of place for personal and social identity, and consider the local, national, and international implications of the loss of place.

PROGRAM

WELCOMING REMARKS
Olivier Meslay, Felda and Dena Hardymon Director of the Clark

KEYNOTE ADDRESS 

Moving Ancient Boulders in the Digital Age
Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

Using Michael Heizer's sculpture Levitated Mass at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art as a starting point, this talk considers how our present network media age presents enormous opportunities to create a sense of place.

SESSION ONE: POETICS OF PLACE  

Dis(-)placement
Mark C. Taylor, Professor of Religion, Columbia University

Where are you in "real time" and virtual reality? When everywhere becomes nowhere it is impossible to know who you are because you cannot know where you are.

Place and Home
Jamaica Kincaid, Novelist, Essayist, and Professor of African and American studies at Harvard University

In this talk, Jamaica Kincaid will discuss her thoughts on the meaning of place and home as it relates to her work.

The Contemplation of Landscape
Kevin Hart, Edwin B Kyle Professor of Christian Studies, University of Virginia, Charlottesville

Mark Taylor's Recovering Place is in part a contemplation of nature. What are the roots of this tradition? And what are the best ways today in which we can contemplate nature? In this talk, Kevin Hart will read a selection of his poems (some quoted in Taylor's book) and point out how they connect with the task of recovering place.

DISCUSSION AND OPEN Q & A

SESSION TWO: ENVIRONMENTAL GEOGRAPHY OF PLACE

The Ecology and Ethology of Place
Henry W. Art, Robert F. Rosenburg Professor of Biology & Environmental Studies, Williams College

Focusing on the literal grounding of place at the ecosystem and landscape ecology levels, Henry W. Art will discuss the components that make Stone Hill such a unique place and talk about his own interactions with this place.

Working Through the 'Wall of Green:' Four Dimensions of Place
Brian Donahue, Associate Professor of American Environmental Studies, Brandeis University, Boston

Brian Donahue’s talk will focus on understanding the past and envisioning the future of New England farms and woodlands, and how engagement changes one’s perception of place.

Place, Landscape, and Cultural Memory
Nicolas C. Howe, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies, Williams College, Williamstown

Using the cultural and environmental geography of Stone Hill as his lens, Howe will explore the complicated and sometimes tense relationship between the concepts of place and landscape. He will discuss how different forms of memory and perception shape our understanding of places, like Stone Hill, that embody both specific local identities and universal aesthetic ideals.

DISCUSSION AND OPEN Q & A

PARTICIPANT BIOS 

Henry W. Art co-curated Sensing Place and is the Robert F. Rosenburg Professor of Biology & Environmental Studies at Williams College. He has taught biology and environmental studies at Williams College since 1970 when he rejuvenated the Hopkins Memorial Forest as a field research site. His research centers on the impacts of past land uses on the successional patterns, growth rates, and ecosystem functions of a landscape typical of western New England.

Brian Donahue teaches courses on environmental history, sustainable farming and forestry, and conservation. He received his MA and PHD from Brandeis University where he now serves on the faculty. Brian’s talk will focus on understanding the past and envisioning the future of New England farms and woodlands, and how engagement changes one’s perception of place.

Michael Govan has served as CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) since 2006, where he has overseen the transformation of its 20-acre campus with buildings by Renzo Piano and monumental artworks by Chris Burden, Michael Heizer, Barbara Kruger, and others. Previously he was president and director of Dia Art Foundation in New York, where he spearheaded the creation of Dia:Beacon, and was the deputy director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Prior to that Govan helped found MASS MoCA while at Williams College, where he studied art history and fine art.

Kevin Hart is Edwin B. Kyle Professor of Christian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia where he also holds Professorships in the Departments of English and French. His most recent scholarly books are Kingdoms of God (Indiana University Press, 2014) and Poetry and Revelation (Bloomsbury, 2017), and his most recent book of poems is Wild Track: New and Selected Poems (Notre Dame University Press, 2015).

Nicolas C. Howe is Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Williams College, where he is also affiliated with the American Studies Program and the Department of Anthropology and Sociology. His work examines the cultural and religious dimensions of American environmental thought from the perspective of human geography. He is the author of Landscapes of the Secular: Law, Religion, and American Sacred Space (University of Chicago Press, 2016) and coauthor of Climate Change as Social Drama: Global Warming in the Public Sphere (Cambridge University Press, 2015). He is the recipient of fellowships from the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History at Harvard University, the Charlotte W. Newcombe Foundation and the National Science Foundation.

Jamaica Kincaid is an Antiguan-American novelist, essayist, gardener, and gardening writer. She was born in St. John’s Antigua, and now lives in North Bennington, Vermont. She is professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. Her most recent books include: See Now Then (2013); Among Flowers, A Walk In The Himalaya (2004); Mr. Potter (2002) and Poetics Of Place (1999).

Mark C. Taylor co-curated Sensing Place and is Professor emeritus at Williams College and Professor of Religion at Columbia University. He has written extensively on subjects ranging from religion, philosophy and literature to art, architecture, technology, and financial markets.  More recently, he has started translating his philosophical ideas into works of art.