The Daily Collegian Students bring ‘hell’ to stage By Hannah Rishel COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER This weekend, 111 Forum will be transformed from a lecture hall into hell. No Refund Theater performed “No Exit” last night. The show will run again Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. in the same room for free admission. Donations are accepted to fund NRT’s future productions. The play, written by Jean-Paul Sartre and directed by Andrew Jen, is about three characters who end up in hell after their deaths. But Garcin (Ryan Bergman), Inez (Lauren Gigliotti) and Estelle (Laura Herrmann) are not dropped into a world of fire and brimstone. Instead they are doomed to spend the rest of eternity togeth er in a plain room with only three couches and a bronze statue. They cannot blink or sleep. There are no mirrors and the door is locked. The only means of con tacting someone beyond the walls is a bell, but the Valet (Adam Bouc) who brings each of them into the room, cautions them not to rely on it. While Garcin is confused about the hell he is in and Estelle is sure there must be some mistake in sending her there, Inez is the first to realize the reason why ‘Daring’ curator educates crowd on contemporary art By Lindsay Cryer COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER When it comes to art, curator Hamza Walker said that he likes to see the good, the bad and the ugly. In other words, he enjoys seeing art that may be outside of his own tastes. Walker, the Director of Education for The Renaissance Society at the University of Chicago, spoke to an audience of about 35 as part of the Department of Art History’s lec ture series. His lecture was called “Value, Finitude and Abstract Paintings by Three Jewish Lesbians." The Renaissance Society is one □ LEAD □ FOLLOW □ GET OUT OF THE WAY WHICH ONE ARE YOU? U.S. AIR FORCE jriiTijngnnrri | 4 BRING IN THIS AD & ! | GET 1% OEE FOR EACH POINT \ PENN STATE BEATS KENT STATE BY! \ UP TO 25% OFF !^g£jp *<i bS Valid for Sat & Sun, the 18th and 19th, only Not valid on quarts or larger containers ; WWW.HAPPYVAUEYRITAS.COM j Cast members of the No Refund Theater perform a scene from No ‘Exit,” a play about three characters stuck in an unusual hell with each other. The play will be performed again tonight and Saturday. they were sent to that particular room together. “Each of us will act as torture to the others,” she tells the other two. She also tells them that it’s no accident the three of them were chosen to be together in the afterlife, although none of them had met on Earth. NRT member Melissa Zabell, who came to provide support for the cast and crew, said that it was “an interesting, dramatic way to see hell." Initially each of the characters is able to see and hear things that are happening to their friends and family back on Earth. But slowly these images and sounds fade away and the characters are forced to deal with the sins they committed in their past life, each prompted by the other two. Garcin sums up the play one of of the only non-collecting muse ums in the country devoted to showcasing contemporary art. Walker has written articles and reviews for multiple publications and has been referred to by the New York Times as one of the most influential curators of con temporary art. Laura Collado (graduate-art history) said that Walker’s lecture was worth going to for its interest value. “It exposes us to what other uni versities are doing,” Collado said. “What he’s doing is daring.” Sarah Rich, associate professor of art history, said that Walker is one of the most important cura tors in Chicago and elsewhere. 1-800-423-USAF airforce.com ROSS INTO TH? BIOS EAVERAVE 231-1366 Sartre’s most famous lines: ' Hell is other people." Zabell (senior-public relations) said Estelle was her favorite character because she found it interesting the way her character used “sexuality as a weapon." Allen Engasser (senior-electri cal engineering) and Rachel Day (senior-kinesiology) both loved the character of Inez because of her pleasure in tortuiang Garcin and Estelle. “Her faces were fan tastic," Day said. “She just kept staring at them, analyzing." She added that the play defi nitely made her think. “It was generally strange, but very well done,” Engasser said. To e-mail reporter: hmrso27@psu.edu Sarah Olah contributed to this article Rich, who scheduled Walker's lecture, added that he is one of the few people who is able to think about specific exhibits in contrast to other exhibits around the coun try. Throughout his entire lecture, Walker displayed a slide show of various exhibits that his venue has held. For one specific exhibit that consisted of bare white walls with random objects placed on the walls and on the floor. Walker had something to say. “I like to consider this show... it will keep you young if you let it,” Walker said. “You could become salt-and-peppery before your very eyes.” Artist’s work exposes employment inequality By Karina Ylicel COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Maureen Connor’s newest exhibit, “Personnel,” took her 10 years to complete. Thursday night, she spoke at the Palmer Museum of Art about how she came to create it. In “Personnel,” Connor used art to call attention to problems that were happening in the workplace, visiting museums to get a first hand experience of those prob lems. There are many people that work in museums, but except for artists and curators, most of them don't get much credit, Connor said. The Institute for Wishful Thinking, a collaborative group of artists of which Connor is a mem ber. traveled to different museums and asked employees there to write down three wishes: a practi cal one, an outrageous one, and an anonymous one that would mostly be used for complaints. While the Institute couldn’t ful fill everyone’s wishes, they aimed to give the workers a more equal atmosphere and make things more accessible to them. In one museum, wdLkers felt that they weren't treated as equal ly as they should be. To fulfill their wish for more equal treatment, the Institute asked every museum employee to dress formal wear for one day to put everyone on the same playing field. The day after, everyone had Immediately after, he showed a picture of an exhibit containing colorful art from wall to ceiling. Other exhibits that he present ed ranged from photography to murals to standalone pop art. The exhibits presented art that was fixated on the walls, laid on the floor or even positioned on the ceiling. Walker added that he enjoys speaking about various types of art but added that he is not a lone soul in the Windy City. “Everyone in Chicago is sort of that way," he said. Brian Giniewski said that he was happy to come to the lecture because of Walker’s notoriety in his field. Giniewski, assistant pro Friday, Sept. 17, 2010 I 9 to wear his or her pajamas, which aimed to relax the work atmos phere. On the third day, everyone wore normal business attire again. Connor documented the entire experiment on surveillance cameras, and footage from those three days was eventually used in the “Personnel” exhibit. “Clothing as a social art form communicates to people whether you’re in a position of power or not,” Connor said. “With everyone dressed the same, there was more respect toward others.” At the end of the lecture, Connor spoke about how she entered a competition to design a new headquarters for the War Resisters League, a pacifist organization. The group wasn’t looking for realistic designs —just a way to get the word out about the their group and the work they were doing, Connor said. Connor’s design involved mov ing a decommissioned cruise ship onto land and converting it into a building. “As an architect, I found that her last piece was the most relatable to my field,” Benjamin Fehl (grad uate-art) said. Paul Chidester, associate pro fessor of art, said Connor's ship design was “a new way for artistic interdisciplinary problem solving and innovation.” “As a creative artist, she was using her training to work with alternative materials,” he said. To e-mail reporter: kzysols@psu.edu fessor of ceramics, said that he wished that more students would have attended. “I told my students to come here,” Giniewski said. “I was hop ing for a younger turnout.” In reference to the lecture title. "Abstract Paintings by Three Jewish Lesbians" is the title of the venue’s upcoming exhibit. He said that topics such as race, sexual orientation, and gender and any clashes between them deserve an occasion. “I don't want to do an abstract painting exhibit, just Jewish or just lesbian,” Walker said. “You have to do it together.” To e-mail reporter: Ibcl46@psu.edu
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