The School of Art and Design History and Theory offers a rich menu of public programs this Fall.

Fashion in Film: Melodrama | Tuesdays, 7:30-9:30pm | Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street

In exploration of the fashion that influences and embodies melodramatic cinema, the second annual Fashion in Film Series presents Imitation of Life, Lili Marleen, and The 10th Victim.  The series joins in the reevaluation of “camp” films currently booming in film studies.  Previously, films labeled as “camp” were dismissed academically, and plagued to be cast aside as trivial.  There has been recent emergence in recognition of these films as cinematic masterpieces, in which styling and fashion drives plot and enhances ideas about social and political issues and taboos.  The series features celebrated names from the fashion and film worlds to speak on a variety of topics revolving around these rediscovered melodramas, such as actress Susan Kohner, performer John Epperson, director Tom Kalin, and author Evan Calder Williams.

This series has been devised in tribute to the repertory film culture that once had such an expansive presence in New York City.  With the Fashion in Film program, The School of Art and Design History and Theory at Parsons invites The New School and all of New York to keep this culture alive.

For a complete schedule, please follow this link: http://www.newschool.edu/fashioninfilm

Global Issues in Design and Visuality in the 21st Century: Culture | Tuesdays, 6:00pm | Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street

Organized by Assistant Professor Susan Yelavich, this lecture series examines the capacities of design and art to re-shape cultural values in response to the radical changes brought about by globalization.  This series views the cultural cross-fertilizations and collisions that characterize global flows as sources of new understandings, not just as catalysts for conflict. In addition to short lectures on relevant theory by Professor Yelavich, the course features guest speakers whose design and art practices take on critical issues of social and environmental sustainability, national and postnational identities, community-driven design, and the affects of technology on social relations.  In the Fall of 2010, guest speakers will present such topics as sustainable architecture and fashion, relational design, Brazilian design in a globalized context, design and biotechnology, and graphic design and community practice.

For a complete schedule, please follow this link: http://adht.parsons.edu/global-issues-lecture-series/

Insights Brown Bag Lecture Series | Mondays, 12-1pm

Incorporating speakers from both within and beyond the School of Art and Design History and Theory, this lecture series presents broad perspectives on diverse topics in art and design.  On a variety art-related studies, talks will be presented by Louis Casteñada, an emerging scholar and PhD candidate from NYU, Joanna Merwood-Salisbury, Assistant Professor of Architectural History and Theory at Parsons, and Marilyn Cohen, Lecturer from ADHT’s MA Decorative Arts program in collaboration with the Cooper-Hewitt.  Organized by Jeffrey Lieber, participants from Parsons, The New School, and the public are encouraged and invited to attend these presentations to engage with our speakers about their current and ongoing research.

For a complete schedule, please follow this link: http://adht.parsons.edu/uncategorized/2010/09/miraculous-mexico-and-the-hyperbolic-paraboloid/

Pathways Lecture Series | Thursdays, 6-7:15pm

This new lecture series, organized by Jeffrey Lieber, features major scholars who work within art history, design studies, fashion studies, spatial design, and visual culture: the pathways defined by the School of Art and Design History and Theory.  Presenters will speak about their recent work, exploring one or bridging many of these pathways.  This Fall, art historian Juliet Koss will talk about the photography of architectural models meant to deceptively convince the public of Soviet achievement in the 1920s. Also presenting will be Inés Rae, an exhibition- and publication-based artist whose photographs uncover concepts about representation, femininity, and consumer culture.

For a complete schedule, please follow this link: http://adht.parsons.edu/uncategorized/2010/09/monumental-snapshots-of-a-soviet-future/

-Rebecca Nison & Susan Yelavich