Sean B. Carroll will talk about scientist Jacques Monod on Wednesday in a lecture presented by the Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History at UT Dallas. Carroll wrote about Monod in his book Brave Genius: A Scientist, A Philosopher and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize. The lecture will be held at the Dallas Museum of Art.
Two talks this week will kick off the spring semester’s arts events.
On Wednesday, Dr. Sean B. Carroll, vice president for science education of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, will chronicle the adventures of scientist Jacques Monod in a talk presented by UT Dallas’ Edith O’Donnell Institute of Art History as part of the Ad Astra Lecture Series.
Named after the Latin phrase ad astra, meaning “to the stars,” the lecture series hosts emerging and established practitioners from art, science and technology with a goal of expanding the world and practice of the discipline of art history.
Carroll, an award-winning scientist, writer, educator and film producer, described Monod’s emergence as a public figure and leading voice of science in the book Brave Genius: A Scientist, A Philosopher and Their Daring Adventures from the French Resistance to the Nobel Prize.
Carroll’s other books include Remarkable Creatures: Epic Adventures in the Search for the Origins of Species, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for nonfiction; The Making of the Fittest; and Endless Forms Most Beautiful. He also wrote a regular feature, “Remarkable Creatures,” for The New York Times.
The lecture is at 7 p.m. in the Horchow Auditorium at the Dallas Museum of Art. Admission is free and open to the public. Click here for details on the rest of the events in the series.
On Thursday, UT Dallas will host a panel discussion with distinguished figures in contemporary art and art education.
The discussion, titled “Panel Discussion on The Art Effect: Translational Ecology of Contemporary Art,” comes in conjunction with the Loris Gréaud exhibition that opens Saturday at the Dallas Contemporary. The forum aims to achieve an “intellectual investigation of translation, postproduction and relations in the context of contemporary art.”
The discussion will take place from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building main lobby.
The panelists are:
- Nicolas Bourriaud, director of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts in Paris, curator, art critic and theorist. Bourriaud was curator for contemporary art at the Tate Britain in London from 2007 to 2010.
- Éric Mangion, director of the National Centre of Contemporary Art of the Villa Arson in Nice, France, since 2006.
- Loris Gréaud, transdisciplinary artist based in Paris. Gréaud creates transformative experiences that challenge the senses and confront the viewer with otherworldly landscapes.
- Frank Dufour (moderator) digital artist, director of graduate studies for the ATEC program
- Justine Ludwig, senior curator, Dallas Contemporary
- Noah Simblist, associate professor and chair of the Division of Art, Southern Methodist University
- Charissa Terranova, associate professor of aesthetic studies, UT Dallas
The event, supported by the Cultural Service at the French Consulate in Houston, is free and open to the public.