Matters of Perception will enhance critical visual skills by intensifying perceptual acuity through theory and praxis. The series is dedicated to the exploration of themes relevant to contemporary art from the vantage points of various disciplines, and to promoting a trans-disciplinary intellectual forum.

The Shape of Time   (2008-2009)

Time provides our fundamental measure and delimits what we do and are, as artists and humans. It involves the most difficult concepts in the lived world and in science as well. The lecture series pursues the visual conceptualizations of time that strive to schematize its shape and render it palpable. It attempts to seek answers to the question “What is the shape of time?” or, literally, “What does time look like?” The inquiry encompasses a wide range of fields of theoretical investigation ranging from astrophysics to archaeoastronomy and from philosophy to art history.

J. Richard Gott: Eminent astrophysicist and Professor of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton University. Proposed building a time-machine by using the antigravitational tension of cosmic strings to deform space and move backwards in time.
Lecture: “Time Travel in Einstein's Universe”
Monday, Sept. 22, 5:15 Nevins Theater

Anthony F. Aveni: Russell Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University. Known for his research into the astronomical history of the Aztec and Maya of ancient Mexico; helped develop and found the field of archaeoastronomy.
Lecture: “Ends of Time: The Maya Mystery of 2012”

Geoffrey Landis: Physicist and researcher working on the Mars missions, plasma energy, and concepts of interstellar propulsion at the NASA John Glenn Research Center. Former Ronald E. McNair Visiting Professor of Astronautics at MIT and winner of the Nebula Award for science fiction.
Lecture: “Einstein and Heinlein: Bending Time in Science and Science Fiction”

Mary Ellen Miller: Master of Saybrook College and Vincent Scully Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Historian of Mesoamerican art and specialist of Mayan art and architecture. Expert on the influential art historical treatise The Shape of Time by George A. Kubler.
Lecture: “The Time Before The Shape of Time”

Sigfried Zielinski: Professor of Media Theory at the Berlin University of the Arts and Editor in Chief of Variontology. Michel Foucault Professor at the European Graduate School, Saas Fee, Switzerland. Founding Director and first Rector of the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Expert on media archaeology and variontology.
Lecture: “Genealogy of Electricity: On some Derivations of Time Based Arts”

Quentin Smith: Professor of Philosophy and University Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Western Michigan University.  Known for his work on the philosophy of time and physical cosmology: currently researching the issue of the beginning of the existence of spacetime from the timeless.
Lecture: “Einstein's Relativity of Simultaneity and the New Evidence That Simultaneity Is Absolute”

Melissa Ragona: Assistant Professor of Art at the School of Art, Carnegie Mellon University. Expert on the work of experimental structural filmmakers Hollis Frampton and Paul Sharits, who rethought notions of duration, negative space, repetition, seriality, order, and perception across time-based media and sculpture.
Lecture: “Organizing Infinity: Cinematic Perceptions of Time”