'My Low-Tech Art'
Cai Guo-Qiang, the Ida Ely Rubin Artist-in-Residence for 2003, will present a public talk on "My Low-Tech Art" on Monday, April 28 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Room 10-250. Cai's talk will be in Chinese, translated into English by an interpreter.
Best known for his site-specific gunpowder events, Cai also incorporates Chinese history and ritual in his installation works, using elements as diverse as feng shui, herbal medicine, socialist realism, Chinese funerary customs, kites and jacuzzis, always investigating humanity's place within the universe.
Cai is one of the most internationally significant Chinese artists to emerge in the 1990s. Born in Quanzhou in 1957, he left China in 1986 and lived in Tokyo from 1988-95 before moving to New York City, where he is currently based.
During his MIT residency, Cai will create a work collaboratively with students and meet informally with students, faculty and staff. He will pursue projects exploring the relationship between art and technology.
'Mr. and Mrs. Iyer'
Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen, Artist-in-Residence at MIT from April 14-18, will present a talk titled "Cinema and Global Violence" in conjunction with the Cambridge-premiere screening of her new film "Mr And Mrs Iyer," tonight (April 16) at 7 p.m. in Room 10-250.
One of very few women filmmakers in Indian cinema, Calcutta-born Sen began her film career as an actress but moved to directing her own films, which focus on topics such as women's issues, politics and socio-cultural change. She will speak about "Mr and Mrs Iyer" and the issues of ethnic, religious and global violence.
Starring Konkana Sen Sharma, Sen's daughter, "Mr and Mrs Iyer" depicts the love story between a Bengali wildlife photographer and a married Tamilian Brahmin woman, set in a backdrop of fundamentalism and violence. Not yet released in the U.S., the film won two awards at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland last summer and the Best Feature award at the Hawaii Film Festival.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on April 16, 2003.
