2008

APPLETON, WIS. — People and places of the rural Midwest and works from the founding artists of the Die Brucke movement of German Expressionism will be featured in the latest exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center galleries. The exhibition runs Jan. 18 – March 9.

Photographers Julie Lindemann and John Shimon, both assistant professors of art at Lawrence, will jointly deliver the exhibition’s opening lecture Friday, Jan. 18 at 6 p.m. A reception will follow the address, which is free and open to the public.

Portraits of everyday people and panoramas of rural landscapes from the Midwest assembled for “J. Shimon & J. Lindemann: Sentimental and Specific” will be exhibited in both the Hoffmaster and Kohler galleries. The exhibition also will include an installation of vintage film projectors and numerous cast-off televisions featuring films and videos of their many and varied subjects.

Collaborators since the mid-1980s, Lindemann and Shimon have focused their cameras on the remote corners of the Midwest, particularly Wisconsin’s Manitowoc County. Among their photographic projects are “Animal Husbandry,” “Midwestern Rebellion” and “Pictures of Non-Famous People.” Their 2004 book, “Season’s Gleamings: The Art of the Aluminum Christmas Tree,” received national media attention, including a segment on “CBS Sunday Morning.”

Prints from Lawrence’s La Vera Pohl German Expressionism Collection will be shown in the Leech Gallery. The display will include the work of painters Erich Heckel, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Hermann Max Pechstein and Karl Schmidt-Rottluff.

Wriston Art Center hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The gallery is closed Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit http://www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston/.

APPLETON, WIS. — Dance, movement, theater, text, live music, contemporary pop songs and improvisation will be incorporated in Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company’s performance of “Balancing Forces” Friday, Jan. 18 at 8 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre.

Tickets for the performance, at $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students, can be purchased at the Lawrence University Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749. The performance is free for Lawrence faculty, staff and students.

The work, which explores the wildly dynamic convergence of balance and the forces that hold or release us from that state, was created through a collaborative process that drew upon choreography and movement concepts from several company dancers.

“I wanted to explore a new process for developing work that would more fully engage company members as choreographers while maintaining an ensemble approach to creating an evening long work” said artistic director Debra Loewen.

“Balancing Forces” features the work of 1998 Lawrence graduate Seth Warren-Crow, who composed several new selections for the project and provides a blend of sampled music and text from various artists with live accompaniment during the performance.

Founded in founded in 1986, Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000. Hailed as “richly imaginative and witty” by the New York Times, Wild Space is known for site-specific works and artistic collaborations.

APPLETON, WIS. — The Tournees Festival returns to Lawrence University in mid-January with its mix of award-winning French cinema. Five films will be shown three times each during the month-long festival, which was made possible with the support of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and the French Ministry of Culture.

The films, in French with English subtitles, will be shown at 7 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium on the Lawrence campus. Admission is $3. An informal discussion session led by a faculty member of the Lawrence French department will be conducted following each Saturday evening screening.

Launched in 1995 by the French-American Cultural Exchange and the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the Tournees festival provides colleges and university access to new French films that are normally only distributed in major cities. Lawrence was awarded a grant to serve as a Tournees film series host institution for the second straight year.

The films and dates are as follows.

Jan 10, 11, 12 “Paris, je t’aime” (“Paris, I Love You”), 2006, 116 min., rated R

A patchwork of 18 short films by major international directors each shot at a different locale in Paris. Featuring such notable actors as Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands, Elijah Wood, Ben Gazzara and Catherine Deneuve, each film explores the fragile relationships that bind people who have recently met as well people who know each other well. Among the various narratives that make up this portrayal of Paris is a man torn between his wife and his lover and a father who grapples with a complex relationship with his daughter.

Jan. 17, 19, 20 (No showing on Jan. 18) — “La Moustache,” 2005, 86 min., Not rated

Winner of the International Critics Award (FIPRESCI Prize) at the Chicago International Film Festival, the film follows the torment of a man who impulsively shaves off the moustache he’s worn his entire adult life. Hoping to surprise his wife and friends, he’s stunned when they insist he’s never had a moustache. While he thinks it’s all a charade, he eventually explodes in frustration. His wife and his friends suspect he’s gone crazy and conspire to have him committed to a psychiatric facility.

Jan. 24, 25, 26 — “Daratt,” 2006, 96 min., Not Rated

Set in Chad following a devastating civil war, the film follows young Atim, whose father was murdered before his birth during the conflict, as he seeks revenge on his father’s killer. Instead of finding a cold-blooded murderer, Atim meets a charitable baker who seeks redemption through religion. Atim can not bring himself to kill the man in cold blood, so he goes to work for him as his assistant, creating a strange and complex relationship. The film received the Special Jury Prize at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

Jan. 31, Feb. 1, 2 — “A tout de suite” (“Right Now”), 2004, 95 min., Not Rated

Lili, an impulsive, 19-year-old living in Paris meets a mysterious, young Moroccan man with whom she falls instantly in love. After learning of his involvement in a botched bank robbery, she flees Paris with him and his two friends, embarking on a cross-continent escape through Spain, Morocco and Greece. As the police close in, Lili is abandoned and left penniless in Athens. She eventually returns to Paris hoping to pick up the pieces of her life, but never quite recovers.

Feb. 7, 8, 9 — “Indigenes” (“Days of Glory”), 2006, 120 min. Rated R

Told through the stories of four courageous men, the film relates the forgotten role of the 20,000 Africans and 130,000 natives of North Africa who were recruited to help liberate France in World War II. Known as “Indigenes,” and often sent to the front lines of the battlefield, the soldiers faced tremendous racism both in the military and French society, forcing them to struggle for equality at every turn. The film received the 2007 Lumiere Award for best screenplay and the Cesar Award for best writing.