Jamie Manser

Free talk on Reclaiming Conversation in a Digital Age

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“Reclaiming Conversation: The Power of Talk in a Digital Age”
A free public lecture by MIT professor Sherry Turkle
Friday, Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m. | UA’s ENR2 Rm N120, 1064 E. Lowell St.

 

“A generation has grown up feeling that “it would rather text than talk,” along with believing that it is possible to share our attention during almost everything we do. What are the costs of a “flight from conversation” in personal life, among one’s family and friends? What are the costs in the work world? And, most importantly, what can we do about it?

Professor, author, consultant and researcher Sherry Turkle has spent the last 30 years studying the psychology of people’s relationships with technology. She is the Abby Rockefeller Mauze Professor of the Social Studies of Science and Technology in the Program in Science, Technology and Society at MIT, as well as the founder and current director of the MIT Initiative on Technology and Self.

Referred to by many as the “Margaret Mead of digital culture,” Professor Turkle has investigated the intersection of digital technology and human relationships from the early days of personal computers to our current world of robotics, artificial intelligence, social networking and mobile connectivity. Her New York Times best-seller, “Reclaiming Conversation™: The Power of Talk in the Digital Age” (Penguin Press, October 2015), focuses on the importance of conversation in digital cultures, including business and the professions.

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“Hystorical Narratives” art talk at Playground Bar & Lounge

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UA Professor Alfred Quiroz
UA Professor Alfred J. Quiroz
 Show & Tell @ Playground: “Hystorical Narratives” 

Art & Commentary on Presidential Controversies
Presented by Alfred J. Quiroz on Wednesday, Nov. 16, 6 p.m.
A collaboration between the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry
and The University of Arizona Museum of Art

 “UA Art professor Alfred J. Quiroz shows arts works that are not included in his current University of Arizona Museum of Art show and discusses his sensational, satirical and meticulously-researched paintings in an interactive Show & Tell @ Playground presentation.

 While “The Presidential Series: Paintings by Alfred J. Quiroz” exhibit features bright colors, caricaturesque qualities and sensational subject matter that seems humorous on the surface, the artist layers the paintings with historical references that comment on the many controversies surrounding the Commanders-in-Chief.

 “The work encompasses presidents that I have depicted that correlated to pertinent contemporary issues. My aim in this series was to depict the immoralities of our ‘elected’ leaders of this country,” explains Quiroz.

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Museum Curator Olivia Miller, who brought the exhibit to the Museum, says “Quiroz’s paintings are overwhelming to see. Not only does their sheer size and brilliant use of color entrance the viewer, but they are also meticulously constructed and embedded with layer upon layer of complex symbolism.”

Quiroz’s work has been exhibited internationally and featured in publications such as Art in America, Artforum, and Art Week.

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Barrio Stories Project at The Playground

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The Playground Bar & Lounge is at the SW corner of N. 5th Avenue and E. Congress St. in downtown Tucson.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jamie Manser
jlmanser@email.arizona.edu, 621-0599
Show & Tell @ Playground: Barrio Stories Project
Wednesday, Feb. 10, 6 p.m.
278 E. Congress St.
“In the late 1960s, a culturally diverse, 80 acre residential and business district in downtown Tucson was demolished as a consequence of urban renewal and the construction of the Tucson Convention Center complex.
Over 100 years of historically significant and irreplaceable cultural spaces, shops, homes, restaurants and entertainment venues, notably La Plaza Theatre, were wiped out.
Through the work of University of Arizona faculty, Borderlands Theater and the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology, the Barrio Stories Project is reviving the history of this neighborhood in several public events this spring.
“The Barrio Stories Project offers an innovative approach to disseminating history and will inform audiences about an important chapter that vastly altered downtown Tucson’s physical and ethnic landscape,” said Lydia R. Otero, a UA Mexican American studies professor.
The free February Show & Tell @ Playground event is a preview and overview of “Barrio Stories” and its upcoming March 5-6, 2016 performances, which features Borderlands Theater actors bringing to life the oral histories of the residents whose homes were lost to the construction of the convention center
Otero received a 2015 Faculty Collaboration Grant from the Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry to help realize the Barrio Stories Project, and is working in partnership with Elaine Romero, an assistant professor at the UA School of Theatre, Film, and Television.

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Global Human Rights Direct preview at Playground Bar & Lounge

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confluence

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jamie Manser
jlmanser@email.arizona.edu, 621-0599

Show & Tell @ Playground: Global Human Rights Direct
Preview an activist website
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 6 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
278 E. Congress St.

“It doesn’t take more than a quick glance at news headlines to see a terrible fact: human rights are compromised in every part of the globe. But, behind these headlines, there are groups of people working to stop human rights abuses. They are survivors, activists, scholars, translators, and policymakers from around the world who want to build connections, share their knowledge and create solutions.

Inspired by his work in the classroom and his activism around the globe addressing human rights abuses, UA Associate Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies Bill Simmons is launching a website that aims to revolutionize how human rights is taught and globally communicated, with an eye on defending those rights and to ultimately find achievable solutions to ending abuses.

Funded by a Confluencenter “Innovation Farm” grant, the website – GlobalHumanRightsDirect.com – is set to launch in January. It will be previewed at Confluencenter’s Jan. 13 Show & Tell event. During the presentation, Dr. Simmons will showcase the features of Global Human Rights Direct (GHRD), which allows members to: video conference with human rights experts, connect with individuals and groups interested in similar human rights issues, learn more about important human rights’ topics, publicize human rights causes/organizations, and become educated in ways to contribute to stopping abuses.

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UA Confluencenter Showcase on April 21

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UA Confluencenter for Creative Inquiry Research Showcase Tuesday, April 21: 2-5:30 p.m. Memorial Student Union South Ballroom, 1303 E. University Blvd. in Tucson.

Download an app to learn Nahuatl on your smartphone; watch scenes from a new documentary to learn how “play” shapes the lives of social mammals like gorillas, dogs and dolphins; find out why some songs get stuck in your head, and more, at Confluencenter’s first Research Showcase.

During an afternoon of presentations, exhibits and a reception, the public can interact with several interdisciplinary projects that the center has funded since its inception in 2011. The UA faculty and graduate funding recipients – from the Colleges of Fine Arts, Social and Behavioral Sciences, and Humanities – will be available to discuss their work.

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