http://artofdeathanddying.blogspot.com/

The University of Houston Libraries, in partnership with the Blaffer Art Museum, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center for the Arts, the Department for Hispanic Studies, the Honors College and School of Art,  will host a three day symposium titled ”The Art of Death and Dying” on October 25-27, 2012.

We welcome scholars in all disciplines to submit paper proposals on literary, visual, and performing arts topics related to death and dying. Topics of the symposium include, but are not limited to:

• Literary, performing, or visual depictions or interpretations of death and dying
• Commemoration of the dead in art and performance
• Artifacts of death and dying as represented in archival or museum collections
• Artistic depictions of the after life
• Cultural death rituals
• Cultural expressions of mourning
• Death and dying in Latin American arts and culture
• Readings of original creative material on the subject
• Performances of material on the subject
• Presentation of visual material on the subject
• Memorial architecture
• Cemetery design
• Analysis of an artist’s, performer’s, filmmaker’s or writer’s work related to the subject
• Depictions of death and dying in film, radio, and television

Proposals related to death in Latin American art and visual culture are encouraged.  The organizers will accept presentations in both Spanish and English.

We welcome proposals from graduate students, as well as advanced scholars.

Papers will be selected based upon the quality of the proposal (including merit of the topic, clarity of expression, and relevance to the conference theme), the proposal’s ability to provoke critical exchange and debate, and opportunities for interaction between participants that will enable attendees to engage in a truly interdisciplinary exchange of ideas and viewpoints.

Presenters will be afforded the opportunity for their symposium paper/presentation to be published in the Texas Digital Library.

Papers will be twenty minutes in length and will be followed by ten minutes of discussion.  Abstracts of no more than 300 words should be submitted on the symposium website.

The deadline for submissions is May 1, 2012.

This exhibit was juried by Susan Sutton, Curatorial Assistant at the Menil Collection, Katherine Veneman, Curator of Education at UH’s Blaffer Art Museum, and Dena Woodall, Assistant Curator, Prints & Drawings at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. The exhibit is curated by the Architecture and Art Library’s Evening Supervisor, Christopher Conway.

The following students’ work was accepted into the exhibit and the Houston-based performance art group Continuum will recreate UH sculptor Hilary Scullane’s work, The Green Blob, a photographic documentation of which is included in the exhibition.

Classroom 10F will be operational starting on Tuesday but will be cordoned off from any other locations. We are working hard to bring 10G back on line but probably another 1 ½ weeks to go.

The shelving office area and basement copier services we are hoping to also have back on-line and available by Tuesday.

Unfortunately the collections in the basement will be inaccessible for a while. Our vendor will be working hard to get us back up and going soon but please be patient.

While the collections in the basement are inaccessible, Interlibrary Loan can be used to obtain journal articles, gov docs, or micro-materials that we own but can’t access.

The Library Administration has granted that request and so we will be shutting off all water which includes closing all restrooms.

We will remain open till 5:45 as planned but again any restrooms will not be available.

We appreciate your understanding and allowing us to address this issue as best as possible.  We hope that tomorrow all areas, with the exception of the basement, will once again be operational like normal.