For release: Oct. 23, 2012
For more information, contact Kimberly Rogers (901) 678-4164.

The Department of Art at the University of Memphis will host a public lecture, “Alternative Nows and Thens To Be: Art, New Media, and Envisioning the Future by Rewriting the Past,” on Thursday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m. in 310 of the Art and Communication Building, 3715 Central Ave. The event will open with a reception at 6.

During the lecture, current Dorothy Kayser Hohenberg Chair of Excellence Edward Shanken will discuss the effects of writing and rewriting the history of art. While not denying the facts, Shanken argues that art history is written based on the perspective of what is happening currently and can shape the image of the future.

In addition to his COE appointment at the U of M, Shanken is a member of the Media Art History faculty at the Donau University in Krems, Austria and core visiting tutor at Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam. An accomplished author, Shanken’s most notable work is Art and Electronic Media originally published in 2009. For more information about Shanken and his work, go to www.artexetra.com.

The Department of Art is under the umbrella of The College of Communication of Fine Arts at the U of M and is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design and by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

For more information about the event or the Department of Art, call 678-2216, email art@memphis.edu.