Face of Our Time examines more than 100 works by five photographers—Jacob Aue Sobol, Jim Goldberg, Zanele Muholi, Daniel Schwartz, and Richard Misrach—who operate within what Walker Evans referred to as the "documentary style." Sharing an interest in making pictures that capture what the world looks like, they observe the sometimes volatile civil and political transformations facing society and look reflectively at contemporary culture, recording history as it unfolds slowly over time. Aue Sobol's gentle and sculptural pictures reveal the hardships of life in the Arctic; Goldberg's multilayered series includes fragmented narratives from the migration of illegal immigrants from Africa to Europe; Muholi commemorates and celebrates the histories and struggles that black lesbians face in her native South Africa; Schwartz reveals the overlapping narratives between the Silk Route's ancient history and the military and economic power struggles that it faces today; and the Richard Misrach photographs, from his recently published book, Destroy This Memory, are an informal, yet personal collection of pictures taken in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy in New Orleans.

Face of Our Time: Jacob Aue Sobol, Jim Goldberg, Zanele Muholi, Daniel Schwartz, Richard Misrach is organized by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Generous support is provided by Pro Helvetia, Swiss Arts Council.

Face of Our Time at UMMA is made possible in part by the Lois Zenkel Photographic Exhibitions Fund, the University of Michigan Health System, and the University of Michigan Office of the Provost and CEW Frances and Sydney Lewis Visiting Leaders Fund.

Image caption: Jim Goldberg, Making Fire, Democratic Republic of Congo, 2008; chromogenic print; 30 in. x 40 in. (76.2 cm x 101.6 cm); Collection SFMOMA, purchase through a gift of Nicola Miner and Robert Mailer Anderson; © Jim Goldberg

Preeminent American sculptor Mark di Suvero (b. 1933) is best known for his dynamic and monumental works made of industrial steel and salvaged materials that populate museum grounds, landscapes, and urban environments around the world. In addition to countless exhibitions and awards, in March 2011 di Suvero was honored with the National Medal of the Arts by President Obama in a White House ceremony. This exhibition, organized by UMMA and on view exclusively in Ann Arbor, features approximately 15 of di Suvero's rarely exhibited smaller scale pieces, or tabletops, from the 1950s to the present. The tabletops are not maquettes of larger-scale works but an expressionistic and engaging genre all their own, an outlet for exploring ideas relating to the calligraphic nature of form, balance, proportion, and movement. Drawing from numerous private collections as well as the artist's studio, the exhibition offers the opportunity to experience this intimate work in the Museum's ground level, glass-walled Irving Stenn, Jr, Family Project Gallery, adjacent to the two di Suvero outdoor steel sculptures on the Museum's grounds–Orion (2006) and Shang (1984–85).

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Office of the President of the University of Michigan, the University of Michigan Health System, and Laura Lynch and Hugh McPherson.

This is the first part of a two-part exhibition introducing exciting, recently acquired works from UMMA's collections gifted to the museum during the past five years. Recent Acquisitions: Curator's Choice, Part I presents a first look at artworks, mostly prints, drawings, and photographs by artists as diverse as Annie Leibovitz, Edward Steichen, and Rembrandt van Rijn. Carole McNamara, Senior Curator of Western Art, chose works that focus on some of the enduring and compelling themes that have occupied artists in Europe and America. One is the preoccupation with the human form as an expression of ideas, feelings, and sensations. This selection begins with the tradition of the academic nude study and progresses to embrace different genres, from both secular and religious contexts. Another selection-landscapes and cityscapes-are each opportunities for artists to speak to our relationship to the natural world-both in how we experience landscape as well as how we construct our own urban environments.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost.

The tiny dramas that comprise Robert Wilson's Video 50 contain aspects of his hallmark aesthetic: surreal or dream-like imagery, the absence of a linear narrative, the conflation of seemingly unrelated characters and micro-stories, and a mesmerizingly slow pace. Video 50 consists of a randomly arranged set of 30-second "episodes," a few of which feature notable French personalities of the 1970s-perfumier Hélène Rochas stares down a mugger, culture minister Michel Guy struggles to open a dresser drawer-and Wilson thought of these as miniature portraits or character studies. The creator and director of aggressively experimental theater, Wilson first came to prominence with works from the mid-1970s such as The Life and Times of Joseph Stalin (1973) and Einstein on the Beach (1976). These lavish, unusually long productions broke and then redefined every convention of theater. In Video 50 his shorter time-based portraits explore the intersection of narrative and still-life, seductively dissolving the distance between viewer and subject.

Dr. Sapiro attempts to shed some light on how light waves can be aligned to interfere with each other to form a standing wave with a crystal lattice structure. This structure, called an "optical lattice," is a powerful tool that can be used for a wide variety of applications: it can force large microscopic and/or biological particles to form crystals; it can induce unique states of quantum matter; and it can be used to explore fundamental principles of quantum mechanics. An optical lattice can also be used such that the role of light and matter is reversed, with the matter behaving like a wave reflecting and diffracting off the crystal-like light.

Children ages 4-7 are invited to hear a story in the galleries. UMMA Student Docents will bring art to life as they read stories related to the art on display and invite responses from our youngest patrons. Parents must accompany children. Siblings are welcome to join the group. Meet at the information desk.

$28 UMMA and AAAC members and UM students/$35 non-members; lab fee $15, materials included. Advance registration required by Wednesday, January 25. Register online at annarborartcenter.org.

Work as a family to make your own comics story! In this hands-on workshop you'll learn how a cartoonist uses shape, size, and line to write with images. Then each family will divide up into a team consisting of a writer, artist, and letterer, switching between jobs with every page. The result is an improvisational cartoon story you create together. Cartoonist and teaching artist Jerzy Drozd's comics work has been published nationally and has taught comics classes all around Michigan and beyond. Price includes three family members (two adults or one adult and one child) and supplies for one shared project. No children under five years of age, all children must be accompanied by an adult.

PROGRAM: Pärt - Fratres for Violin and Piano; Messiaen - Thème et Variations for Violin and Piano; Radiohead - Pyramid Song; Paranoid Android; Penderecki - Sonata no. 2 for Violin and Piano

The Percussion Ensemble, directed by Professors Joseph Gramley and Jonathan Ovalle, presents a special evening devoted to the work of U-M\&##39;s own Sydney Hodkinson (DMA, 1968), who returns to Ann Arbor in the spring semester as the U-M William Bolcom Guest Professor of Composition. Hodkinson has been described by the American Record Guide as "a composer with an absolutely unique and fascinating musical language," and has been honored by the Guggenheim Foundation, the Canada Council and the National Endowment for the Arts. Drawing from Hodkinson\&##39;s vast repertoire, the PE\&##39;s concert will feature percussion ensemble pieces, solos and mixed chamber pieces, including Night Moves (1990) and three sets from the composer\&##39;s "Drawings" series.

PROGRAM: Prokofiev - Sonata no. 8 in B-flat major, Op 84; Chopin - Scherzo no. 4 in E Major, Op. 54; Scherzo no. 3 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 39, Scherzo no. 2 in B-flat Minor, Op. 31

Featuring:

EMMYLOU HARRIS GLEN CAMPBELL NANCI GRIFFITH JOE HENRY SARAH JAROSZ CARAVAN OF THIEVES SETH GLIER HEYWOOD BANKS, MC

Buy Tickets for both nights in one transaction!

Complete Festival Lineup:

Friday (Night 1)

RYAN ADAMS DEVOTCHKA DAWES CARBON LEAF ELEPHANT REVIVAL SUNNY WAR DAVID WAX MUSEUM HEYWOOD BANKS, MC

Saturday (Night 2) EMMYLOU HARRIS GLEN CAMPBELL NANCI GRIFFITH JOE HENRY SARAH JAROSZ CARAVAN OF THIEVES SETH GLIER HEYWOOD BANKS, MC

PROGRAM: Verdi - La seduzione; Il poveretto; Lo spazzacamino; Massenet - Nuit d’Espagne; Chanson Andalouse; Bizet - Ouvre ton cœur; Foster - If You\&##39;ve Only Got a Moustache; Bowles - The Piper; Cipullo - Flames; Ives - The Circus Band; Beethoven - An die ferne Geliebte, Op. 98

The chamber orchestra Les Violons du Roy borrows its name from the renowned string orchestra of the court of the French kings. Based in Québec City, the 15-member group was brought together in 1984 by music director Bernard Labadie. They specialize in the vast repertoire of music for chamber orchestra, performed on modern instruments in the stylistic manner most appropriate to each era. The ensemble appeared with countertenor David Daniels for a Chamber Arts concert in St. Francis church in 2001; now it returns with Swiss recorder virtuoso Maurice Steger, a “wonderfully deft player, with absolute clarity of note and line, even in the most virtuosic variations.” (Fanfare)

Program · Handel : Concerto grosso in B-flat Major, Op. 6, No. 7 “Hornpipe”, HWV 325 · Telemann : Suite in a minor for Alto Recorder, Strings and Basso Continuo, TWV 55: a2 · Sammartini : Concerto in F Major for Soprano Recorder and Strings · Geminiani : Concerto grosso in d minor “La Follia” (after Arcangelo Corelli) · Geminiani : Concerto in F Major for Flute, No. 10

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Beta Eta Chapter will celebrate its 80th anniversary this year. Paint It Black is our annual themed party and step show. Please join us for this historic event as it was started in response to several Civil Rights initiatives in 1968. Door prizes will be given out to most creative mask and we will also have masks for sale at the event. All proceeds will go towards our annual scholarships. Please come out for a guaranteed good time!