New Art, Music to Be Featured at Lafayette College

The exhibit "Mercury Retrograde: Animated Realities", opens
Tuesday, January 28 at Lafayette College's Williams Center Gallery.
Contributed photos

A new art exhibit taking its name from an astronomical optical illusion referred to as "Mercury retrograde" and a musical performance devoted to the ecstatic writings of the Persian poet Rumi are among upcoming programs the public is invited to enjoy at Lafayette College.

The exhibit "Mercury Retrograde: Animated Realities", opening Tuesday, January 28 in the Williams Center Gallery of the college, 317 Hamilton St., features animations by Brian Alfred, Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, Aline Bouvy & John Gillis, eteam, Cliff Evans, Jan Nalevka, and Noah Spidermen and Scott Gelber.

In popular astrology, Mercury retrograde marks intense periods when things go awry, signaling the need for reflection and revision. Mercury's cycle, it has been speculated, is the cause of major course corrections for society; it gives us a chance to grow as humans, to raise critical awareness, and possibly make a movement toward radical change.

Appropriating popular culture images from television, film, web, newspaper, tabloid, and fashion magazines, the artists in the exhibition have manipulated source materials with a variety of aesthetic approaches and montage techniques that offer reflections upon mass media-saturated cultures and an uncertain future. The works grapple with complex topics surrounding spectacle, excesses of consumption, economic and power relations in the era of globalization and interconnectedness, and reveal the artists' simultaneous fascination with and critique of our culture, society, and politics.

The next time Mercury goes retrograde is Feb. 6 and exhibit curators William Heath and Zeljka Himbele will give a talk that day at 4:10 p.m. in room 108 of the Williams Center for the Arts, 730 High St. The public is invited to attend and there is no charge for admission. A reception follows.

Two performances by duoJalal, comprised of violist
Kathryn Lockwood and percussionist Yousif Sheronick,
are scheduled for the first week of February at Lafayette College.

Also upcoming at the college are two performances by duoJalal, husband and wife musical duo comprised of violist Kathryn Lockwood and percussionist Yousif Sheronick in the first week of February.

Michael Newman and Laura Oltman will be joined by Avery Fisher violinist laureate Tim Fain  on Sunday, Feb. 2 at Lafayette College’s Williams Center for the Arts, 730 High St., to be preceded by a performance by duoJalal for a 3 p.m. concert.

Michael Newman and
Laura Oltman will be
joined by Avery Fisher
violinist laureate Tim Fain,
pictured above,
on Sunday, Feb. 2

The main performance will feature a diverse program of music extending from Vivaldi to Philip Glass. Concert-goers will hear the "Winter" section of the Four Seasons, as well as works by Pablo Sarasate and Manuel de Falla. Fain, who plays the violin music for the original movie soundtrack of “12 Years a Slave,” will also perform solo music composed for him by Glass.

Opening for the main concert, duoJalal will perform for the first time "Honey from Alast" by composer Evan Ziporyn. The work was commissioned by Lafayette College in honor of the Peskys, who created the college’s artist-in residence program, now in its third decade.

duoJalal will appear again, performing a program of music devoted to the ecstatic writings of the Persian poet Rumi at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 4 at the Williams Center for the Arts.

Utilizing a wide array of musical instruments and sounds to create a vibrant intercultural experience that crosses the globe and bends genres, the program will focus on the poetry and musical kinships suggested by Rumi, the 13th century Persian poet and includes original commissioned works from "Silk Road" region composers such as Lev "Ljova" Zhurbin, Hafez Nazeri, and Evan Ziporyn, in a world premiere performance.

Ziporyn will give a composer’s chat before the concert at 7 p.m.

Tickets for each concert are $15 per person.

For more information or to purchase tickets, click here or call the box office at 610-330-5009 between the hours of noon to 2 p.m. or 4 to 5 p.m. on weekdays. Tickets will also be available beginning one hour before each performance at the box office.