Students add historical events to a timeline on the Washington Avenue Bridge, part of the Institute for Advanced Study's two-year symposium on time.
Right on time
Institute's timeline project kicks off two years of focused interdisciplinary exploration
By Jim Thorp
Sept. 22, 2006
Pedestrians on the Washington Avenue Bridge were given the chance to rewrite history last Tuesday--with sidewalk chalk. Historic and geologic timelines running the length of the bridge gave passersby a firsthand look at how our perception of time differs based on scale: eras and epochs versus ages and years.
The timeline event kicked off the Institute for Advanced Study's 2006-08 University Symposium, an interdisciplinary look at how we perceive time. According to institute director and history professor Ann Waltner, time was selected to spark discussions between disciplines as diverse as geology, philosophy, physics, history and dance. Throughout the coming year, the University community will be invited to take part in wide-ranging events including:
- "Evolving Wreck," a series of open rehearsals by choreographer Carl Flink and Black Label Movement, which will use serial viewings and revisions to create a new evening-length dance theater piece set in a sunken ship. (Oct. 25, Dec. 6, Jan. 31 and March 7)
- "The Trouble with Time," a look at time as it related to personal memoirs, with writers June Cross, Samuel Freedman and Annette Kobak. (Feb. 1)
- "Mississippi River Over Time," a discussion session incorporating geologists, geographers and Native American scholars, organized by the Telling River Stories IAS Collaborative. (March 8)
- "Still Present Pasts," an exhibit at Intermedia Arts that explores the aftermaths of the Korean War in terms of both adoption and immigration. (April through June)
The idea behind the University Symposium is the concept at the core of the institute: To bring diverse scholars together to interact in ways they wouldn't otherwise. According to Waltner, time itself is one of the factors driving the need for such interdisciplinary activities on campus.
ABOUT IAS
The Institute for Advanced Study:
>> Brings together exciting new work from
across the University community.
>> Provides a place where faculty and
students can meet for presentations, performances and
discussions.
>> Sponsors "Research and Creative
Collaboratives" in which scholars and artists come together to work
on interdisciplinary projects.
For more information on the IAS-sponsored University Symposium,
click here.
As a result, Waltner says that scholars fight a constant battle to define their expertise and distinguish their work from that of more-established or better-known disciplines.
"You see a fair amount of 'patrolling the borders' by people working in these fields, trying to keep people from saying, 'OK, now how is that anthropology?' While that may be good for the discipline, it's not good for knowledge. ... That's why spaces [and programs] like this are so important."
In the past, the University Symposium was a year-long series of events. The institute decided to explore time for two years to facilitate the development of curriculum around the events, as well as to inspire future events. According to Waltner, next year's plans will be informed by the success of--and the questions raised by--this year's activities.