Arts & Lectures Remains Virtual for Spring Semester
As the Cal State San Marcos campus remains closed because of the coronavirus pandemic, the Arts & Lectures series will be presented in a virtual format this spring for the second semester in a row.
The longstanding series at CSUSM will offer a virtual spring lineup, with all of the events taking place via Zoom. This season boasts a diverse selection of eight events as the university hosts renowned guest speakers and performances.
Attendees can reserve tickets online via the Arts & Lectures website beginning Jan. 25.
Celebrate the Year of the Ox with Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man
Feb. 12, 6 p.m., Zoom webinar
A performance by pipa virtuoso Wu Man not only transcends musical genres, but also takes you on a journey through the centuries. The pipa, a Chinese lute-like instrument, has a history of over 2,000 years, and Wu Man’s performance features music that ranges from traditional folk songs to 19th-century pipa music to contemporary pieces, including her own compositions. She showcases the instrument’s unique tonal qualities and displays her formidable playing skills. A live Q&A will follow the recorded performance.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
Decomposing Dance: A Discourse for Dance Decomposition and Choreographies of Breath
Feb. 18, noon, Zoom webinar
“Decomposing Dance: A Discourse for Dance Decomposition and Choreographies of Breath” is an improvised danced lecture, poem and song that came out of Mayfield Brooks' experience of becoming an anaerobic organism during the COVID-19 quarantine in their tiny apartment in Brooklyn. It also came out of Mayfield's ongoing practices of making compost as an urban farmer, burying themselves beneath over 40 pounds of compost for a work entitled “Viewing Hours,” and writing daily letters to queer ancestor and legendary Black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson. The weight of history, the weight of decomposed-black-life-matter, and Johnson's enchantment with flowers inspires this work.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
Algorithms of Oppression
March 11, 6 p.m., Zoom webinar
Safiya U. Noble is an associate professor in the Department of Information Studies at UCLA. She is the author of “Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism,” a best-selling book on racist and sexist algorithmic bias in commercial search engines. Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all ideas, identities and activities. She argues that data discrimination is a real social problem that leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color. An original, surprising and at times disturbing account of bias on the internet, “Algorithms of Oppression” contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained and disseminated in the 21st century.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
You Don’t Owe Anyone Pretty
March 15, 6 p.m., Zoom webinar
In this powerful storytelling performance, award-winning performer and CSUSM sociology lecturer Kimberly Dark shares stories from her new book, “Fat, Pretty and Soon to be Old,” in order to remind us that “You don’t owe anyone pretty,” and “We are creating the world, even as it creates us.” Drawing from her own experience as a fat, queer, white-privileged, recently disabled, inevitably aging, gender-conforming “girl with a pretty face,” Dark deftly blends storytelling and social analysis to reveal the presence of everyday appearance privilege (and stigma). Join her to explore how the architecture of this social world constrains us and how we might help one another break free.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
How Alcohol Abuse Affects Aboriginal Peoples: An Overview of Treatment Models
March 30, 3 p.m., Zoom webinar
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australian) people are imprisoned at 14 times the rate of other Australians. At 2,209 people per 100,000 population (all Australian prisons, 2018), the rate of imprisonment for Indigenous Australians is even higher than that of African-Americans in the United States at 1,134 people per 100,000 population (U.S. federal and state prisons, 2018). Hazardous use of alcohol and drugs has been identified as a major contributing factor to the high rate of Indigenous Australian imprisonment. Dr. Michael Doyle, an Indigenous Australian, will discuss underlying reasons for alcohol and drug use in this population and ways that some of these issues can be addressed both in prison and in the community.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
Kei Akagi
April 2, 6 p.m., Zoom webinar
Pianist and composer Kei Akagi has been a mainstay of the international jazz world for decades. Akagi has recorded 14 albums as a solo artist and leader. As a sideman and accompanist, he is on more than 60 albums worldwide, including Miles Davis’ last recorded works. Akagi has also written numerous original works for his own and others’ recordings, with over 100 compositions currently in publication. As a professor of music at UC Irvine, he oversees the jazz studies program, teaching jazz history, theory and composition, jazz piano, and performance. This will be a remote solo piano concert, with Akagi playing his original compositions and his interpretations of standard repertoire classics, followed by an interview and audience Q&A.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
Ta La: An Exploration of Male and Female Energies Through Indian Dance
April 7, 10 a.m., Zoom webinar
Anusree Bonnerjee and Nilesh Singha present a thematic, multimedia performance in the Bharatanatyam style, the oldest classical dance practice in India. Ta La uses rhythm and beat to tell the story of the creation of the “Ardhanarishwar,” the masculine and feminine energies within each body, both of which are required to bring about balance and harmonious rhythm in the universe. The unique combination of poetry, music and dance creates an enthralling presentation of traditional dance in a contemporary format.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
A Poets' History of San Diego Spoken Word
April 8, 6 p.m., Zoom webinar
Exploring the rich and dynamic histories of the poetry and spoken word scene in San Diego, four poets and educators perform their work and reflect on how they have used poetry and spoken word as a tool for education, community organizing and social justice. From cafes to community centers to college campuses to barbershops to bars to taco shops to art festivals to protests, spoken word in San Diego has been central to community building and activism. CSUSM poets and professors Lori Walkington (pictured far left, sociology) and Jason Magabo Perez (pictured at left, ethnic studies) join nationally acclaimed and award-winning poets Anthony Blacksher and Karla Cordero for an evening of inspiring performances and vibrant storytelling about the dynamic history of spoken word and social justice in San Diego.
CSUSM students: Free
Community: Optional donation
Faculty/staff/alumni: Optional donation
Media Contact
Brian Hiro, Communications Specialist
bhiro@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7306