Scale 1: “Atomic Waste(s)”
Monday, September 16, 2019
DePaul University
Student Center, Suite 120
2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago

6:30–7:00 p.m. The Atomic Gallery (Interactive Exhibit)
7:00–9:00 p.m. Lectures and Performances

An investigation of the ethical, political, and literal filth of living in the atomic age, this evening examines the legacy of the bomb and the atomic age in general—featuring lectures on radiation and discrimination in Hiroshima and Fukushima; how Italy’s literary and artistic landscape has changed due to the atomic age; and the storage of atomic waste on sacred Native American Indian lands—complete with live Butoh dance as well as an interactive “atomic” gallery where audience members can learn about the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, view artifacts from the U.S military personnel involved with the dropping of the bombs in Japan, learn about the science and the ethics of “splitting the atom,” investigate atomic scales, and use a working Geiger counter to test the radiation levels of several items on display.

Yuki Miyamoto Associate Professor of Religious Studies, DePaul University; DHC Fellow, working on “Translating Filth: Disease, Discrimination, and Drama in the Atomic Age”

Maria Anna Mariani Assistant Professor of Modern Italian Literature, University of Chicago; DHC Visiting Fellow, working on “Italy and the Bomb”

Oguri Dancer and Choreographer from Japan, currently residing in Los Angeles where he co-founded Body Weather Laboratory; influenced by, and continues to be an influence within the world of, Butoh dance

 

 

Scale 2: “The 50th Anniversary of Woodstock” 
Monday, October 7, 2019
DePaul University
Student Center, Suite 120
2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago

7:00–9:00 p.m. Lectures and Performances

The DHC convenes “An Aquarian Exposition: Two Hours of Peace and Music...and the Humanities” to celebrate the spirit and the ethos of the iconic 1969 concert at Max Yasgur’s farm. In this event, commemorating the golden anniversary year of the festival, local musicians perform their own covers of songs featured at the concert, and special guests who were originally on stage, in the audience, and have studied Woodstock as an historic and cultural touchstone offer lectures on their experiences and the meaning of Woodstock then and today. Free tasty gift to the first 100 guests in attendance!

Robert A. Leonard Performed at Woodstock; founding member of Sha Na Na; Professor of Linguistics, Hofstra University

 

 

Scale 3: “The 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11”
Monday, October 14, 2019
DePaul University
Student Center, Suite 120
2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago

6:00–7:00 p.m. The Lunar Gallery (Interactive Exhibit)
7:00–9:00 p.m. Lectures and Performances 

The science that made the 1969 moon-landing possible was an incredible human achievement—but it also took the arts and humanities to shape a dream of that scale. The DHC celebrates the golden anniversary year of Apollo 11 with an evening of lectures and an interactive “Apollo Gallery” with more than twenty exhibits in which attendees can experience walking in moon-gravity, pilot a lunar lander simulator, eat “astronaut food,” get a take-home photo of their shoe-print in “lunar soil,” encounter a real moon rock, view various pieces of authentic NASA technology used in the Apollo missions, and generally learn about—and experience—the science, art, and humanities related to the moon and the Apollo program.

Susan G. Finley NASA—Jet Propulsion Laboratory; currently one of NASA’s longest-serving women; working as a “human computer” in the 1950’s and ‘60’s, her mathematical calculations helped make spaceflight, and the moon-landing, a reality

Mia Fineman Curator, The Metropolitan Museum of Art; Curator of the exhibit, Apollo’s Muse: The Moon in the Age of Photography

Rick Houston Author of Go, Flight!: The Unsung Heroes of Mission Control, 1965–1992, a celebration of the scientists, engineers, and NASA staff that made the moonshots possible

 

The Horror of the Humanities VII: “Hereditary”
Monday, October 28, 2019
DePaul University
Student Center, Suite 120
2250 N. Sheffield, Chicago

5:00–5:30 p.m. Avant-Garde Haunted House (Interactive Halloween Exhibit)
5:30–5:45 p.m. Humanities Séance
5:45–7:50 p.m. Screening of the film, Hereditary (2018)
7:50–9:00 p.m. Ari Aster (writer/director of Hereditary) in conversation with DHC director, H. Peter Steeves

The DHC’s seventh annual Halloween event features a screening and celebration of Ari Aster’s contemporary masterpiece, Hereditary. As always, the avant-garde “Haunted House” will have nearly two dozen exhibits, including, this year, stations where guests can have their tarot cards read, meet a “real” ghost, take home a free silhouette portrait of their shadow self, have horrific poetry written on-the-spot on a topic of their choosing, encounter our animated exorcist, and generally learn about the horrors of everyday life as well as those within the history of the humanities. New this year is a séance stage-show in which a spirit of a great humanist from the past will be conjured, manifesting and interacting with audience members in Student Center 120. King Paimon demands: Come for the sacrificial beheadings; stay for the free candy!