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Author: arybin
Assistant Director, Visual Resources Collection, University of Chicago
THATCamp Organizer
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PBS Arts Website
PBS recently introduced a beta version of its new arts website which covers theater, dance, visual art, film and music. Four virtual exhibitions are among the site’s initial offerings; one of these, called Ruin & Revival, explores creativity in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. It includes works from the series “Storm Cycle” by artist Thomas Mann.
Another area of the website encourages viewers to contribute digital photographs of artwork to the PBS Arts Flickr group and tag works with keywords, grouping them into collaborative virtual exhibitions.
The first issue of the Trans-Asia Photography Review – a peer-reviewed, open access online journal devoted to the discussion of photography from Asia – is now viewable at http://tapreview.org. It features commentaries or articles by many distinguished scholars, including University of Chicago’s Wu Hung.
Between 1909 and 1912, “photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook a photographic survey of the Russian Empire with the support of Tsar Nicholas II. He used a specialized camera to capture three black and white images in fairly quick succession, using red, green and blue filters, allowing them to later be recombined and projected with filtered lanterns to show near true color images. The high quality of the images, combined with the bright colors, make it difficult for viewers to believe that they are looking 100 years back in time – when these photographs were taken, neither the Russian Revolution nor World War I had yet begun.”
These images are now owned by the Library of Congress, which acquired the glass plates in 1948. Digital reproductions are available online.
Via Boston.com’s Big Picture photography blog.
Northwestern University Libraries and Departments of Gender Studies and English in partnership with The University of Chicago Division of the Humanities and The Newberry Library are pleased to announce the first THATCamp Chicago. THATCamp Chicago 2010 will be held on Saturday, November 20 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Applications will be accepted until October 1, 2010.
Over the past few years, the Center for History and New Media has been helping to organize a series of “unconferences” called THATCamp (“The Humanities and Technology Camp.”) These unconferences are based on the idea that some of the most productive work of conferences happens in the hallways and in more informal gatherings. With this in mind THATCamp is based on conversations and not the delivery of papers. They are “lightweight” and are paid for, in part, by attendee donations.
The structure of the conference is decided when everyone arrives, and applications do not include a paper proposal. Instead, applicants explain why they want to attend and explain current projects on which they might like to collaborate. In addition, some THATCamps include a “Bootcamp,” which is a series of workshops that teach concrete tools or skills. These workshops are designed for beginners, and the hope is that attendees leave with something new to tinker with. THATCamp Chicago is planning a Bootcamp that may include workshops on Processing, Omeka, Geographic Information Systems, and Design Tools for the Digital Humanities.
Find out more at http://thatcampchicago.org.
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Cheers to the Weekend
Get caffeinated this weekend with a camera lens coffee mug. Just be sure not to mistake it for your actual camera lens!
Earlier this month, ARTstor released updated and redesigned subject guides. These tools, in PDF format, provide subject-specific search strategies for twenty-two areas: African and African American Studies; American Studies; Anthropology; Architecture and the Built Environment; Asian Studies; Classical Studies; Design; Decorative Arts; Fashion and Costume; History of Medicine and Natural Science; Languages and Literature; Latin American Studies; Maps and Geography; Medieval Studies; Middle Eastern Studies; Music History; Native American Studies; Photography; Religious Studies; Renaissance Studies; Theater and Dance; and Women’s Studies. You can view and download these subject guides here.
As reported by NPR:
Archaeologists have uncovered the site of Britain’s oldest house, the waterside home of nomad hunters dating back about 11,000 years.
The dwelling, which has lake views, a thatched roof and very original features, predates the country’s famous Stonehenge monument by around 6,000 years and was built at a time when Britain was still connected to continental Europe.
Video footage captured at the site is available from BBC News.
If you’ve tried a Google image search over the past week, you might have noticed some changes. Google recently launched a “new dense tiled layout,” with larger thumbnails and the ability to scroll through up to 1,000 images on a single page. If you click on a thumbnail, you’re now brought to a “hover pane,” showing the image as it “hovers” above the original website (and thus how the image might look in its original context).
There are other less visible changes, too: more sophisticated technology powers both the “similar images” tool and “similar colors” tool. You can read more about these changes on the Official Google Blog.
University of Chicago’s Theaster Gates currently has an installation in the Milwaukee Art Museum titled To Speculate Darkly: Theaster Gates and Dave the Potter. During Fall 2009, the Art History Department’s lantern slide collection was relocated to Gates’ Dorchester Project house for “reuse as performance material, research and speculation.” Part of that reuse includes the To Speculate Darkly installation, with the glass ceiling entrance as pictured above. For more information about the installation, see this article recently published by the Wisconsin Gazette.