©2012 Tang Teaching Museum.
Discussions with guests from Skidmore and surrounding communities on the projects they created about war. A brown bag lunch event series. Coffee and cookies provided. Organized in conjunction with the Tang exhibition Behind Those Planes Are The Stars.
Tang Museum, Fridays, noon-1pm
November 4: Daniel Swift , Assistant Professor of English, Skidmore College
Daniel Swift’s writing has appeared in the Nation, Bookforum, the New York Times Book Review, and the Times Literary Supplement. Swift’s book Bomber County (2010) weaves together his search for two lost histories from World War II: the circumstances regarding his grandfather’s death while in the Royal Air Force and poetry on the War. While tracing these narratives, Bomber County abounds with voices and stories from the War.
November 11: Michael Aikey, Director, New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, Saratoga Springs
Since 2002, Michael Aikey has served as the Director of the New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center. Home to over 10,000 artifacts, the Museum presents changing exhibitions and events related to New York’s military history. Aikey also spearheads the Museum’s Veteran Oral History Program, an ongoing archive of digitally recorded interviews with New York veterans.
November 18: Peter Looker, Ballston Spa activist and owner of anti-war van
Peter Looker’s anti-war van is a staple in downtown Saratoga Springs. Covered with hand-painted slogans, signs, and stickers, Looker’s DIY approach to expressing his discontent about the current wars reaches countless Saratoga residents. His van can currently be found on the corner of Lake Avenue and Circular Street.
December 2: Suzanne Boatenreiter, Glens Falls-based visual artist
Skidmore alumna Suzanne Boatenreiter’s work encompasses performance art, sculpture, drawing, and video. Boatenreiter’s recent work explores the pathos of the War Baby, represented by a character she created and performs named Fu*ma (pr. Foo-mah). Fu*ma inhabits a psychedelic tumultuous world where eastern and western stereotypes and Hollywood-driven fallacies collide.
December 9: Matt Weston, Albany-based musician
Matt Weston plays percussion and electronics, and has performed throughout the U. S. and Europe. His piece "For Alexandros Grigoropoulos" was commissioned by the Greek label A Question Of Re-Entry. Grigoropoulos was a 15-year-old Greek youth whose murder by Athens police in 2008 sparked a wave of protests and street battles with police across Greece.
Behind Those Planes Are the Stars
This exhibition invites visitors to consider why, as nations, we fight and kill, and how the grave decisions of those in power affect our individual lives.
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