Arts
Busking brilliance
A chance encounter has lead to a new band performing at
the University’s Lakeside Theatre this month.
The lunchtime concert by Rubinstein Trunk came about after the
University’s Theatre Manager, Pasco-Q Kevlin, heard the group busking in
Colchester. Pasco explains: ‘I was walking down Eld Lane when I heard this
wonderful music and stopped to listen, glad of a respite from shopping! I
hadn't paid attention to the instruments as I was lost in the sound; it
was only as I stepped forward to drop a few coins that I realised their
instruments were handmade, so the violin had an incredible fragility and
the cello was an old packing case, which sounded as robust as it looked!
Rubinstein Trunk were talented musicians but now my interest was further
aroused as there was a distinct visual aesthetic and unique sense of
craftsmanship in their work, which only enhanced the charm of their
performance.'
The trio, who recently formed in Colchester after studying elsewhere in
the UK, will perform at 1pm on 31 May. Doors open at 12.30pm and tickets
are £3 (free to Essex students). For more information, telephone 01206
873261 or e-mail arts@essex.ac.uk
Essex hosts early cinema conference
The University, in collaboration with the British
Comparative Literature Association, hosted a major international
conference during March.
Entitled Cinematicity 1895: Before and After, this attracted
delegates from the UK and beyond, including Japan, China, Canada, Turkey,
and the US.
Presentations outlined the cultural, technical, and aesthetic
implications of cinematic technologies and modes of viewing, both
preceding and postdating the Lumière Brothers’ filmmaking and projection
machine, the Cinématographe, in 1895.
Keynote speakers were Tom Gunning of the University of Chicago and
Marina Warner of the Department of Literature, Film, and Theatre Studies (LiFTS)
at Essex.
Organised by Karin Littau and Jeffrey Geiger, both of LiFTS, the
programme included the premiere of an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The
Man of the Crowd produced by undergraduates on film courses and directed
by LiFTS student Kay Pervaiz.
An edited collection of conference proceedings will appear as a special
issue of the journal Comparative Critical Studies.
Pioneering student project
First year undergraduates from the Department of Art
History entered the culminating phase of a unique and exciting new group
project last month.
Instead of the usual run of essays, students have been engaged in field
work around Colchester and in London in order to present course projects
to a board of assessors and their peer group.
Each project group was responsible for organising and presenting their
research to the board, as well for maintaining a budget for field work
expenses.
The project work, specifically designed by Dr Georgie Roberts,
first-year tutor on this course, is intended to develop and enhance key
skills which can be used to demonstrate achievement and potential to
prospective employers and other academic intuitions.
First year Art History undergraduate students involved in the group
presentations are pictured here with their tutor
and course designer Dr Georgina Roberts (far left)
Also in the printed May edition of Wyvern:
- Milestone for new cultural building
- New art on display
