Curricular Connections

INITIATIVE

ART AND ENGINEERING

SPRING 2020

Malcolm MacIver, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering continued his ongoing partnership with artist Dario Robleto. Robleto serves as the McCormick School of Engineering and Block Museum of Art Artist-at-Large. Robleto connected remotely with MacIver’s students to discuss his ongoing artistic work around the idea of empathy in scientific and medical narratives.

“Artists are provocateurs. They are people who expand your thinking, transform, reveal, provoke. In our work with Dario Robleto we wanted someone curious. As scientists, Dario is our Socrates, challenging us to go beyond and ask different questions.” – Julio M. Ottino, dean of Northwestern Engineering

Dario Robleto

PARTNERSHIP

CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY TRANSFORMATION

SPRING 2020

Melissa Simon, Director of the Northwestern Center for Health Equity Transformation, and a Northwestern Medicine Obstetrician and Gynecologist, has been caring for pregnant patients infected with the Covid-19 virus. In spring 2020, The Block began working with her team to develop a series of summer discussions for student health equity fellows using works of art from the Block’s collection focused on art and healing.

“I believe in the power of coming together as a museum and a Center located in a medical school to heal our city through conversations stimulated by works of art and with artists”

– Melissa Simon, Director of the Northwestern Center for Health Equity Transformation

Zoom teaching slide

PARTNERSHIP

TEACHING SUPPORT

SPRING AND SUMMER 2020

Throughout the 2020 closure, The Block Museum continued to reach out to Northwestern faculty to offer support for remote teaching using works of art from the museum’s collection. Services included selection and consultation of databases and images, Block staff joining classroom digital discussions, and online lectures or workshops. Faculty also made use of The Block From Home web portal offering expanded visibility for the museum’s rich archived content. Visitors were invited to explore highlights from The Block’s audio, video and publication program from home or from the digital classroom.

Some units supported in Spring 2020: • Art History • McCormick School of Engineering • Center for Leadership • Linguistics • French • Anthropology • OLLI

“At the Center for Leadership, we often use images to help people explore and deepen what they know about leadership, teamwork and mentoring others. People expect to see and talk about Abraham Lincoln. But what about art that is co-created by an artist working through others? This can speak to the subtle nature of how leadership and followership is less of a position or title and more of shared action. What about an image that upends who we think of as a leader or that sparks dialogue about a leader’s worst impulses? These conversations are possible because of our relationship with The Block. They brought art to our voice, selecting images and stories from their collection that speaks to these and so many other ideas. It is a signature that makes our work more effective and certainly unique.” – Adam Goodman, Director, Northwestern Center for Leadership