Lecture to revisit Skidmore's
Professor of Art John Cunningham will discuss "Walk Like an Egyptian," about an art performance he coordinated at Skidmore in 1987, in a presentation scheduled for 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, in Gannett Auditorium, Palamountain Hall. Admission is free and open to all.
The 1987 event demonstrated the technology for raising and moving heavy loads, emulating the process the Egyptians may have used in constructing the pyramids. Taking inspiration from Cunningham's performance, an invitational exhibition titled "The Resolution of the Arts and Sciences," will take place in the Schick Art Gallery on the second floor of the Saisselin Art Building from Oct. 27 through Dec. 4, 2011.
The show will celebrate the relationship between the arts and sciences, something that can be hard to find in a world dominated by specialized interests where the mind and hand seem seldom to overlap. It was only a few hundred years ago that the artist was a scientist! Art can communicate or document scientific ideas, and technology can enable new ideas or discoveries in art.
Cunningham, Skidmore's Robert Davidson Professor of Art, is a great example of the intersection between art and science. He earned a B.A. degree in physical chemistry at Kenyon University and B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees in studio art at Yale University. A sculptor whose work recently exhibited in a yearlong show of monumental sculpture at Texas A & M University, Cunningham has published in Nature magazine and holds numerous patents on devices for vibration isolation and earthquake-resistant systems.