We invite you to browse panels about the scripts of ancient Egypt, indigenous languages of Central and South America, languages of Southeast Asia, and more – including the English language and language used in graffiti and comics.

This exhibit highlights the possibilities for exploration and discovery within the library’s collections, which are impressive on many levels. The sheer number of materials, including more than 8.5 million volumes in locations all over campus, and access to millions of digital books, journals and images, makes it one of the largest university library systems in the United States. The collection encompasses ancient documents written on papyrus, electronic journals reporting on the latest advances in science and medicine, and materials from nearly every period, culture, and way of thought in between.

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.

Physics Professor Roberto Merlin's talk takes us from the late 1800's, when Abbe published his ground-breaking paper on the limit of resolution of an optical instrument, to the turn of the 20th century, when the field of near-field optics experienced tremendous growth, emphasizing recent work on sub-wavelength focusing using negative-index slabs. In the second half of the talk, he introduces the concept of near-field plates. These are grating-like planar structures, which provide focusing well beyond the diffraction limit, at arbitrary frequencies. The subwavelength electromagnetic-field distributions of the plates closely resemble those of negative-index slabs. Practical implementations of these plates hold promise for near-field data storage, non-contact sensing, imaging, nanolithography and wireless power transfer applications. Experimental results on a microwave near-field plate will be presented, which demonstrate focusing of 1 GHz radiation at a resolution of LAMBDA/20.

Hip Hop Congress will host its 8th Annual Midwest Summit sponsored by the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs. The Summit partners with Detroit’s 5E Gallery and a number of youth education and college access programs like the Center for Educational Outreach, the Office of Academic Multicultural Initiative’s Gear Up Program, Ann Arbor’s Neutral Zone youth center, and Ann Arbor Public Schools’ Rising Scholars Program. The summit brings together a diverse group of individuals and encourages participants to educate themselves on social issues, organize action, and recognize how hip hop can be used to create positive change.

Activities will include workshops, panels, and discussions on hip hop, youth empowerment and education, and women in hip hop.

The conference will be followed by free dinner a film screening of "Ghettophysics" at 6:30pm, and a free concert featuring Tree City, Progress Report, Nae Smiles, Naenk, and more at the League Underground.

All conference events are free. Register at http://uuis.umich.edu/workshop2/workshopdet.cfm?wid=793

Free pre-conference registration available at http://uuis.umich.edu/workshop2/workshopdet.cfm?wid=793

Washtenaw County, Ann Arbor in particular, has hosted a number of notable events in the history of mind- and body-altering substances—Temperance crusader Carrie Nation’s visit, performances by John Lennon and other rock acts in support of John Sinclair’s efforts to legalize marijuana, and the opening (and eventual closing) of a Pfizer research facility—each of which finds its place in the exhibit. Yet the display also shows how Washtenaw County’s history of drugs and alcohol is part of a larger, national story—one where Prohibition closed saloons and led to bootlegging and alcohol raids; where drug stores and pharmacies made big money in the nineteenth century selling “magic cure-alls” that eventually became subject to regulation and professionalization; where smoking, an act that once seemed nearly universal, was recently banned on the University campus; and where D.A.R.E. programs teach kids to “Just Say No.”

In this exhibit you will see medicine bottles from historic local pharmacies, memorabilia from local bars, and recipe books with popular cure-alls, historical photographs, posters, news articles, and documents. Help us collect a record of your favorite local watering holes, past and present and include your own memories of bar culture in the county.

This exhibit is a collaboration with the University of Michigan LSA Research Theme Semester titled: “Hooked: Addiction, Society, Culture” in conjunction with the UM Substance Abuse Research Center and the Washtenaw County Historical Society – Museum on Main Street.

The Hip Hop Congress will host its 8th Annual Midwest Summit (www.hhcmidwest.com) sponsored by the Office of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs at University of Michigan – Ann Arbor from February 3rd to 4th, 2012.

The Summit will bring together a diverse group of individuals encouraging participants to educate themselves on issues, organize action, and recognize how hip hop can be used to create positive change. The goal of this year’s summit is to connect those interested in Hip Hop with youth empowerment, education, social justice and community action. Activities will include concerts featuring renowned Hip Hop artists as well as workshops, panels and discussion on Hip Hop Youth empowerment and education and Women in Hip Hop. Scheduled guests include renowned Hip Hop artists Big K.R.I.T., Narcicyst, Maimouna Youssef, OneBeLo, Tree City, The Foundation All-Stars and more. There will also be workshops teaching Graffiti Art, Breakdancing, DJ’ing, and MC’ing.

The Workshops are in the Michigan Union (12 pm - 6:30 pm) and the following events begin in the Michigan League Basement

The mini exhibit of the Black History 101 Mobile Museum is called "And the Legacy Continues" featuring 50 plus artifacts that celebrate the contributions of Detroit legends Proof and JDilla. www.blackhistory101mobilemuseum.com

Synopsis:

Although it is not the first gay film produced in Korea, No Regret is by far the most successful one and it ignited public discourses on homosexuality in Korea. Screened in only nine theatres in South Korea, No Regret attracted over 40,000 audiences, well exceeding the industry expectation. This film marks the impressive directorial debut by Leesong Hee-il who is also openly gay. Leesong Hee-il provides insight into a gay subculture that most heterosexual directors would have a difficult time conveying. Film critic Adam Hartzel wrote: "one of the best aspects of this film is how we aren't provided the obligatory caricatures of gay 'types' on prime-time sitcoms in the United States... Refusing to follow the path towards Queer liberation espoused by sitcoms, [No Regret] is freed to provide some refreshingly, rip-roaring hilarious moments.”

Warning: Contains frontal adult male nudity and graphic sex.

PROGRAM: Boulanger - Trios Pièces; Honegger - Sonata pour piano et violoncelle; Roger-Ducasse - Romance; Büsser - Trios Pièces, Op. 52; Ravel - Le Tombeau de Couperin; Debussy - Sonata

University Dance Company. Dance #1 by guest choreographer Lucinda Childs along with new dances from faculty members Bill DeYoung, Peter Sparling and Robin Wilson. Tickets available at the League Ticket Office, 734-764-2538.

Sabine Meyer was solo clarinetist with the Berlin Philharmonic, a position she left as she became increasingly in demand as a solo artist. Today, in addition to her recital and concerto appearances, she performs in two chamber ensembles, including the Trio di Clarone, whose other members are her husband and her brother. Trio di Clarone began in part because of their shared interest in the basset horn, a rare instrument in the clarinet family that was used in Mozart’s Requiem and in his five divertimenti written for a trio of basset horns. “The evening was one of those absolute godsends in musical experience that cannot be fathomed — simply a gift.” (Rems Zeitung)

Program · Poulenc : Sonata for Two Clarinets (1918) · Mozart : Three Arias from The Marriage of Figaro (1786) · Stravinsky : Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo (1918) · J.S. Bach : French Suite No. 5 for Two Clarinets and Basset Horn (1723) · Mozart : Divertimento No. 1 for Three Basset Horns, K. 439b (1783) · C.P.E. Bach : Duo for Two Clarinets in C Major, Wq. 142 (b.1714) · Mozart : Four Arias from Cosi fan tutte for Three Basset Horns (1789)

Guest Artist Ning An, piano PROGRAM: Bach - French Suite no. 5 in G Major; Chopin - Andante spinato et grande Polonaise brillante; Polonaise-Fantasie; Liszt - Sonata in B Minor

PROGRAM: Wagner - Siegfried Idyll; Copland - Appalachian Spring Suite

Works performed will all be composer, rehearsed and performed within a 24 hour period beginning at 8PM on February 3. Program includes Composer’s Quilt, a musical work with sections composed by different UM student composers in a collaborative effort. Each composer will compose a section based on the last two measures of the previous section.