The University's Arts community strives to hold insightful, informative, and interesting symposiums and conferences that are open to University and community members alike. Please check back for information regarding upcoming symposiums and conferences.

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Why not plastic forms in motion?

Not a simple translatory or rotary motion but several motions of different types, speeds and amplitudes composing to make a resultant whole. Just as one can compose colors, or forms, so one can compose motions.

– Calder, 1933

Alexander Calder (1898–1976) transformed the history of art by capturing real movement using unconventional materials and the ideal beauty of abstract forms. The artist's work is the point of departure for this transdisciplinary conference exploring art, science, and innovation at U.Va.

Participants included: Alexander S.C. Rower, President, Calder Foundation; Arnauld Pierre, Professor, Art History, Université de Paris - Sorbonne (Paris IV); Peter Steinberg, Physicist, Brookhaven National Laboratory; Žilvinas Kempinas Kempinas, artist; Mark Mitton, magician; Elizabeth Hutton Turner, Vice Provost for the Arts; Thomas C. Skalak, Professor of Biomedical Engineering & Vice President for Research; Hilary Bart-Smith, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering; Ricky Patterson, Senior Scientist, Department of Astronomy; Petra Reinke, Associate Professor, Materials Science & Engineering; Silvia Salinas Blemker, Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering; LaVahn Hoh, Professor & Associate Chair, Department of Drama; Rose Beauchamp, Lecturer in Dance; Jody Kielbasa, Director, Virginia Film Festival; Matthew Affron, Associate Professor, Department of Art & Curator of Modern Art and Academic Curator.

Image: Alexander S. C. Rower, president of the Calder Foundation, demonstrates Calder's Small Sphere and Heavy Sphere, 1932/1933, during the interdisciplinary conference Calder: Capturing Movement.

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Coinciding with the exhibition, Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculptures from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University, and held at the University of Virginia Art Museum, Cultural Crossings: China and Beyond in the Medieval Period combined an international conference with a workshop on digital projects to investigate exchanges between China and neighboring cultures during the medieval period (third–tenth centuries) from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives. More >

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The two-day symposium of leading and emerging scholars from several disciplines explored the art and architecture of Thomas Jefferson, Andrea Palladio and the development of architecture at the University of Virginia including the work of McKim, Mead & White. The topics considered included architecture, decorative arts, landscape, and art. The symposium served as the key program for two major exhibitions: Thomas Jefferson's Academical Village: the Creation of an Architectural Masterpiece, held at the University of Virginia Art Museum, (September 12, 2009 - January 4, 2010), and From Village to Grounds: Architecture after Jefferson at the University of Virginia, (September 15, 2009 - May 31, 2010) displayed in the main gallery of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, and Mary and David Harrison Institute for American History, Literature, and Culture. More >