ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
SEEING THE UNIVERSE About the speaker:
Dr. Carter B. Emmart
Carter is the director of Astrovisualization for production and education at the Rose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History. He was one of the original team members at AMNH of the NASA funded Digital Galaxy Project that helped redefine how a planetarium theater can present science to the public. The newly rebuilt Hayden Planetarium dome within the Rose Center is now used as an immersive display that serves to surround its audiences in an accurately visualized 3D data atlas of the universe. Carter directs space show production and oversees software development for interactive use of the 3D universe atlas known as the Digital Universe. Starting astronomy courses at the age of ten in the old Hayden, Carter grew up in a family of artists and got his BA in geophysics from the University of Colorado. He has had careers in architectural modeling, technical illustration and science visualization at NASA Ames Research Center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) prior to joining the staff at AMNH in 1998. In 2006 Carter was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Linkoping University in Sweden for his work in astrovisualization and his mentoring of a graduate masters thesis program from that university at AMNH. The interactive software, Uniview grew out of this program as a viewer for the Digital Universe atlas. The Swedish company SCISS, AB was established in 2004 in order to make Uniview a product.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Wednesday, 19 August 2015
12.30PM to 2.00 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level Join us on an interactive journey through the universe. While the planetarium has traditionally been a demonstration of immersive 2D data visualization by optical mechanical means, computer graphic full dome display enabled 3D data immersion to demonstrate the true layout of the universe and its behavior in context to our planet and ourselves. At AMNH, the Rose Center for Earth and Space which encloses the rebuilt Hayden Planetarium embraced this concept of demonstrating the universe by these new means as a central concept to bring the universe to its very international audience. While natural history museums display physical artifacts, the artifact of astronomy is light itself. At AMNH, we strive to make sense for the public what light tells us about our place in the universe. Central to both production and interactive demonstration, has been the creation at AMNH of the Digital Universe 3D Atlas (DU) from a collection of astronomical catalogs of objects with distances. Digital Universe is maintained by AMNH and licensed for commercial use to vendors. Augmenting DU, NASA’s NAIF SPICE system is used to describe planetary positions and space missions, along with Web Map Service (WMS) distributed planetary surface globe browsing resources. Specific astrophysical simulations are recruited for visualization in space show production. We will also see new open source software which was used to visualize the recent Pluto encounter. This software is available at openspace.itn.liu.se.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-carteremmart
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
AN EXPANDED ECOLOGY: Food, Art and Communities
About the speaker:
Asst Prof Michelle Lim
Michelle has been involved with the art world since the early 2000s. She has worked on research and curatorial projects for institutions such as the Asia Society Museum in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Sculpture Square in Singapore, and the National Museum of Singapore. Exhibitions she has curated include Clang. A Self Portrait (2004) at the Jendela Gallery in Singapore, Visions & Illusions: Reconstruction of a City (2004) at the St James Power Station in Singapore and Undercurrents: Experimental Ecosystems in Recent Art (2011) at The Kitchen Gallery in New York. Michelle has taught at The Cooper Union and CUNY Graduate Center, and also guest lectured at Wellesley College, University of Oregon, Maryland Institute of Contemporary Art. Her writings have been published in Asian Art News, World Sculpture News, Ish magazine and various exhibition catalogues.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Wednesday, 26 August 2015
12.30PM to 2.00 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level Michelle Lim will discuss her research on curated audiences and experiences in her ongoing project, Eat & Crit: An Expanded Ecology. The Eat & Crit series was first initiated in 2009, in collaboration with several New York-based artists, critics, anthropologists and filmmakers. Over a year, a series of pop-up salons took place in various venues in Harlem and Brooklyn, New York, with the final session hosted by the Asia Art Archive in America. This experimental project was designed as a laboratory that examines the complex interconnections between art, food and people, i.e. as a sustainable and organic ecology. Each session was carefully documented through writings, photos and videos by designated guest writers and photographers, and eventually collated on a web-blog designed by Bay Area artist Daniel Gallegos. In June 2015, a new phase of the project Eat & Crit: An Expanded Ecology was launched in Paris as part of the Singapore-France Festival. In this new phase, the collaborators build upon the initial connections that were made in New York, towards exploring how abstract ideas of relational aesthetics, participatory art, community, and sustainable ecology can be developed in a time-based curatorial project.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-michellelim
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
About the speaker:
Visiting Prof Alan Price
Alan Price designs and creates real time responsive animation, virtual environments and networked interactive applications. His work is exhibited internationally and is on permanent display in museums of art, technology, science, and history, including an international MUSE award for technology in museums. His background as an animator and filmmaker emphasizes narrative and cinematic structure in his works with immersive and interactive storytelling. His animation and film work has been awarded and exhibited at numerous film festivals including Black Maria, Transmediale, Humboldt, Anima Mundi, and Ann Arbor, among others. His interactive and immersive environment installations have exhibited at venues including Prix Ars Electronica, Deep Space VR Theatre, SIGGRAPH Art Galleries, Baltimore Museum of Modern Art, and the New Mexico Museum of Science and Natural History. Recent projects include collaboration with mobile sound artist Teri Rueb, commissioned by the Center for Contemporary Culture in Montpellier, France. Utilizing real time computer graphics technology and combinations of ready-made and custom hardware, he creates interactive performances, mobile apps and responsive spaces to explore alternative forms of personal expression in time-based digital media. He is currently an Associate Professor of Design at the Advanced Computing Center for the Arts and Design at The Ohio State University.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Works in Real Time Responsive Animation Wednesday, 9 September 2015
12.30PM to 2.00 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level
I will be presenting documentation of projects that have driven my creative research in the area of "real time responsive animation", a form of digital media that relies on my background as an animator and filmmaker. Placing an emphasis on narrative while simultaneously exploring the potential of interaction design and game-play, the work takes the various forms of interactive and immersive environment installations, real time computer animation integrated with live performance, and mobile or networked systems designed to engage multiple participants in a collective experience. Enabled by computer game technology, these projects explore methods for human-computer interaction involving augmented and responsive environments designed for creative output, collaboration, and new forms of cinematic storytelling. Specific areas of focus include designing interfaces as thematic interpretation of narrative or subject matter to investigate how actions and their familiarity, such as taking a photograph, provide a sense of role-play and immersion, and development of autonomous, responsive virtual characters that respond to the actions or presence of participants.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-alanprice
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
About the speaker:
Asst Prof Robert Kreuzbauer I am an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Nanyang Business School. I received training in both marketing and social psychology. My current research is mainly in the area of basic object valuation and the psychology of honest signals within human cooperation especially in the context of market behavior (i.e. actors cooperating for the purpose of exchange). This involves questions such as how objects can be used as honest signals of wealth and status (e.g. art objects, luxury goods) and how they can challenge dominant status norms through countersignals (e.g. ripped jeans). Before joining Nanyang Business School I worked as a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign where I also received Post-Doc training in Social Psychology. After I received my PhD in Marketing from the University of Innsbruck, I worked for several years as a brand consultant and consumer researcher for one of the largest European industrial design firms.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Why There is Art? Towards a Cultural-Psychological Theory of Art
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
12.30PM to 2.00 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level
In this talk I would like to propose an explanation about what makes art a unique human cultural activity. Over the last couple of years my collaborators and I collected data from various psychological experimental studies which focused on questions such as why we care about art authenticity or the fact that an art object is an original. I was furthermore interested into understanding why seemingly counter-intuitive artistic movements such as Pop Art could have evolved and whether there are basic psychological signalling mechanisms that underlie the symbolic systems of art movements. In my talk, I try to unify these findings into a cultural-psychological theory of art. The theory argues that art has evolved because it allowed societies to coordinate social life and to establish social cohesion. When societies became more complex (stage I: invention of agriculture, stage II: industrial revolution and open societies) art symbol systems evolved into means for groups to compete for social influence. I will present some of our experimental findings and explain the theory by applying it to various examples from art history (e.g. modernism - post-modernism) as well as forms of art production (e.g. producing one singular or a series object(s)).
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-robertk
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Ronald Searle Rediscovered:
About the speaker:
Contemporary Animation and Tool Development for 2D Production
Professor Davide Benvenuti Davide Benvenuti is an Assistant Professor of digital animation at NTU ADM School of Art Design and Media Singapore since January 2013. He has started his career in animation in Italy Florence in the mid-1990s. Graduated with master degree in Architecture at Florence University’s with a thesis on: Industrial Design and Computer Animation; his career spans from television, advertising and feature films. He has been engaged with Disney animation, Dreamworks, Nelvana and Ubisoft. Among his credit list: “Assassin Creed Black Flag”, “Assassin Creed III”,” Assassin Creed Revelation”; “Assassin Creed II” (Ubisoft Singapore); “Sinbad Legend of the seven seas”; "Sprit stallion of the Cimarron” with Dreamworks feature animation. He was with Disney animation Australia from 1995 till 2006 where he worked on many direct to DVD titles and feature film including “The jungle Book II”,” Peter Pan Retour to Nederland”, and “Bambi and the great Prince of the forest”. Prior to his engagement in Australia he worked in Italy for many local TV shows and advertising. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0073045/
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Wednesday, 7 October 2015
12.30PM to 1.30 PM
ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level Davide Benvenuti will discuss his ongoing research and the upcoming short film Dracula in Summer (working title). Taking from his background as a traditional 2D animator he will talk and reflect on modern 2D animation making and show some of the artwork and animation that has been produced under his SUG so far. With this project he challenges the actual present aesthetic that are prevailing in contemporary animation practices; practices that seem to forget the graphic roots of classical animation and embrace hyper-real representations that are not filtered enough by the artist mind. The adopted framework is one that goes back in time and study the work of English illustrator and cartoonist Ronald Searle, and examine the work of the many animators and character designers that were heavily influenced by his aesthetics and his peculiar sense of caricature mostly between the 1950s, 60s. He will the discuss modern technology and emerging new ones that often redefine pipelines and methodologies but at the same time challenge the artist and the artistic outcome. During his research he has taken a close look at current practices in 2D animation, aiming to analyze and improve tools with a special eye to research done in NTU, through the CACANi project [http://cacani.org/ ] and with an interdisciplinary collaboration with MAGIC [http://magic.ntu.edu.sg/ ] in NTU as well.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-davideb
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Mobilizing High Impact University Research: The Textile Tales of Pua Kumbu Exhibition
About the speaker:
Professor Harold Thwaites Harold Thwaites is Professor and Advisor to the Faculty of Arts at Sunway University in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. Originally from Canada, he was a tenured Associate Professor in the Communication Studies Department at Concordia University in Montreal for 31 years. Here in Malaysia, he was Dean of the Faculty of Creative Multimedia at Multimedia University, from 2006 to 2012 and at University of Malaya (2012-2015) the Director of the Centre for Creative Content and Digital Innovation. Thwaites served as President of the International Society on Virtual systems and Multimedia (VSMM) 2003-2010. His research and teaching comprise media production, information design, digital heritage, biocybernetic research, and 3D spatial media. He was the first overseas researcher at NHK Science and Technical Research Labs in Tokyo specializing in 3D HDTV, in addition to being the recipient of a Fellowship from the Telecommunications Advancement Organization of Japan. He now continues to share his experience and passion to innovate new projects and fields of research, with staff and students at Sunway University.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Wednesday, 14 October 2015
12.30PM to 1.30 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level This presentation provides an overview of the research-creation process for a groundbreaking exhibition – Textile Tales of Pua Kumbu (TTPK) - to communicate the origins, cosmology and traditions of Pua Kumbu through polysensory and immersive digital media. It was designed to inform the public about this University funded 'High Impact Research' project that documents and virtually preserves the Iban ‘Pua Kumbu’ weaving traditions of Sarawak. TTPK presents transformative research in new and innovative ways through applied digital media technologies including animation, immersive projections, public interactives, storytelling, and a stunning display of cherished physical artefacts – the Pua Kumbu textiles. There is no written documentation of Iban cultural history, thus it is impossible to trace an accurate record of the origin and development of this textile tradition. History is best remembered through oral traditions passed down from generation to generation. This exhibition showcased for the first time, via various forms of digital capture and innovative media communication methods, the intangible culture and heritage of creating this exceptionally beautiful textile craft of East Malaysia
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-haroldt
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Ven
ice
and
Can
nes
F il m F
e s ti v als
Venice and Cannes Film Festivals: About the speaker:
Trends and Influences from the Two Top Festivals
Mr. Federico Grandesso Federico Grandesso currently overseeing the Fellini Film Foundation ( Switzerland ) in EU and Asia. He is also a Brussels-based correspondent of the Xinhua News Agency ( China ). In 1993 he was appointed non-elected member of cultural commission of Padova city council chaired by Professor Luigi Fantelli. After a study period with the Erasmus grant in Maastricht ( The Netherlands ) and Antwerp ( Belgium ), he got his M.D. in Foreign Languages and Literatures ( Dutch, Spanish, English, French ) with a thesis on the Dutch cinema of the 90’. At the same time in 1993, he started going to the Venice Film Festival, first as assistant journalist and from 1996 as international correspondent for national Italian, UK and Belgian media. He was then very much interested in institutional communication and he had opportunity to work for four years as media and communication adviser of the Veneto Region Government Bureau in Brussels, where he organized various expo`s, cultural events and lectures. In 2012 he started working for the Fellini Film Foundation as foreign press responsible and at the same time he started writing about cinema, art and fashion for the Belgian weekly magazine New Europe and occasionally for other Belgian publications like Le Soir Magazine, Together Magazine and Big Book. Apart the Venice Film festival, he regularly cover as international journalist the Cannes Film Festival and other Festivals in Dubai, Rome and Brussels since 2006.
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
Wednesday, 28 October 2015
12.30PM to 1.30 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level I would like to present you with some trends which arose from the Venice and Cannes Film Festivals – the two most important film festivals at this point in time. Looking at both selections the list of nominees and winners, we are going to explore: which are the most dynamic countries in the cinema panorama? Which are the most success full genres at the moment? Are the reactions of the public very different from that of the critics? I will also present some of the recent interviews carried out by me in Cannes and in Venice. At the moment the two iconic festivals are the most influential and prestigious cinema events where cinema lovers can still watch art-house and “engaged’’ films. Festivals are becoming the unique “oasis’’ of discussion for a concept of cinema which is facing increasing competition from big blockbusters. Therefore the role of festivals is important to boost the distribution process but its sometimes irrational multiplication can only water down the quality of the festival`s selection. Documentaries and animation movies are having a more and more solid place in the two top festivals. The Italian Doc Sacro Gra by Gianfranco Rosi won the 2013 Venice`s Golden Lion and this year also in Venice the Animation movie Anomalisa, directed by Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman; landed the Venice Film Festival's Jury Grand Prize. What is then the future of the comedy? Is it still successful in the main festivals’ competitions? My talk will finish then with a short presentation on how actors and moviedirectors are promoting, thanks to well-known publicity agents, their films to the international press and finally which are their priorities related to the distribution in the different territories.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-fgrandesso
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Pompeii (1748-1939) :
About the speaker:
Dr. Adriana Rossi Since 2002, Dr. Adriana Rossi has been teaching “Survey and Graphic Representation" as tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Civil Engineering, Design, Architecture, and Environment of the Second University of Neaples (Italy). Her teaching activities converge into two primary research topics: implementing visual knowledge via geometric description and treasuring of survey analyses for architectural design purposes. She is author of several scholarly publications in the field and attends international conferences. For further information, head to www.dicdea.unina2.it
The Origins of Integrated Information Systems for Urban Representation Wednesday, 9 December 2015
12.30PM to 1.30 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level
Once a thriving and sophisticated Roman city, Pompeii was buried in meters of ash and pumice after the catastrophic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 BC. Near the coast of the Bay of Naples, the site features excavated ruins that visitors can freely explore. But, Pompeii is not only a vast archaeological site in southern Italy’s Campania region, it also represents the earliest and successful attempt to provide an integrated information system for urban representation. With a continuous series of archaeological excavations, the urge was to provide the best documentation system to assure the preservation of the historical information embedded in what was more and more recognized as an exceptional and unique heritage site. Between 1748 and 1939, skilled professionals planned and realized a 3-D model to function as an integrated system of urban information. This experience provided to scholarship criteria still valid for the archaeological survey and conservation of heritage sites.
Sponsored by Italian Cultural Institute in Singapore To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link: Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
bit.ly/admrls-adrianar
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
SENSING NATURE : About the speaker:
Philip Beesley Philip Beesley is a practicing visual artist, architect, and Professor in Architecture at the University of Waterloo and Professor of Digital Design and Architecture & Urbanism at the European Graduate School. Beesley's work is widely cited in contemporary art and architecture, focused in the rapidly expanding technology and culture of responsive and interactive systems. Besides serving as the Director for the Living Architecture Systems Group, and as Director for Riverside Architectural Press, Beesley also heads Philip Beesley Architect Inc., a Toronto-based practice in partnership with the Europe-based practice Pucher Seifert and the Waterloo-based Adaptive Systems Group. The studio's methods incorporate industrial design, digital prototyping, instrument making, and mechatronics engineering.
ART AND TECHNOLOGY
Wednesday, 20 January 2016
12.30PM to 1.30 PM ADM Library Cinema Room, Mezzanine Level
Known for his immersive installations that connect architecture, interactive design and kinetic functions, artist-architect Philip Beesley’s inter-disciplinary practice is embedded in research and engagement of new technologies, spanning from digital fabrication methods to innovation in textile structures and material crafts. His renown series of works, The Hylozoic Series, have been exhibited widely around the world, including the China Academy of Art, Hangzhou, China (2015), Photography Playground, Berlin, Germany (2014), MMCA, Seoul, Korea (2013), 18th Biennale of Sydney, Australia (2012), DEAF Festival, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2012), the Venice Biennale, Italy (2010). Beesley’s work explores hybrid forms of nature that opens itself to other realms of study, including emotion, romanticism and 20th century spiritualism as alternate qualities in Modernism; alterity and dissociation; chthonian and expanded definitions of space; the archaic, genesis, futures.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link: Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
bit.ly/admrls-philipb
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Interactive Volume Visualization in the Galleries:
About the speaker:
Prof Anders Ynnerman Professor Anders Ynnerman received a Ph.D. in physics from Gothenburg University, Sweden. During the early 90s he was at Oxford University, UK, and Vanderbilt University, USA. From 1997 to 2002 he directed the Swedish National Supercomputer Centre and from 2002 to 2006 he directed the Swedish National Infrastructure for Computing (SNIC). Since 1999 he has held the chair in scientific visualization at Linkรถping University and is the director of the Norrkรถping Visualization Center. Ynnerman is a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences and a board member of the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research. In 2007 Ynnerman was awarded the Akzo Nobel Science award and the Golden Mouse award for Swedish IT-person of the year. In 2009 he received the Athena Award for best medical clinical research in Sweden and in 2010 he received the Swedish Knowledge Award for dissemination of scientific knowledge to the public. In 2011 he received the IVA gold medal from the King of Sweden. He is currently chair of the Eurographics Association and an associate editor of IEEE TVCG. Full contact details of speaker: Professor Anders Ynnerman Department of Science and Technology Linkรถping University 601 74 Norrkรถping Sweden ------------------------------------------------------Email Anders.Ynnerman@liu.se Phone +46-11-363309 Fax +46-11-363270 Cell +46-705- 566638
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
From Martian Meteorites to Mummies Wednesday, 27 January 2016
12.30 PM to 1.30 PM 3D Projection Room (ART 02-15)
In the last decades, imaging modalities have advanced beyond recognition and data of rapidly increasing size and quality can be captured with high speed. This talk will show how data visualization can be used to provide public visitor venues, such as museums, science centers and zoos with unique interactive learning experiences. By combining visualization techniques with technologies such as interactive multi-touch tables and intuitive user interfaces, visitors can conduct guided browsing of large volumetric image data. The visitors then themselves become the explorers of the normally invisible interior of unique artefacts and subjects. The talk will take its starting point in the current state-of-the-art in CT and MRI scanning technology. It will then discuss the latest research on high-quality interactive volume rendering and multi-resolution techniques for large scale data and how they are tailored for use in public spaces and how novel interaction schemes enable intuitive exploration. Examples will then be shown of how the inside workings of the human body, exotic animals, natural history subjects, such as the martian, meteorite, or even mummies can be explored interactively. The recent mummy installation at the British Museum will be shown and discussed from both a curator and visitor perspective and results from a 3 month trial period in the galleries will be presented.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-andersy
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
Globalization and the Diffusion of “New Services” in India Wednesday, 3 February 2016
About the speaker:
Asst Prof Julien Cayla Julien Cayla is a Research Fellow at the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Nanyang Business School (Singapore) and Visiting Professor at Kedge Business School (France). Professor Cayla received his PhD from the University of Colorado (Boulder, United States) where he majored in marketing and minored in cultural anthropology. His dissertation on the Indian advertising world received several national awards, including the MSI Alden Clayton Award and the Sheth Award. In his research, he tries to integrate anthropological theories and methodologies to the study of marketing in the global marketplace. His work has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, Organization Studies and MIT Sloan Management Review. He co-edited the book Inside Marketing: Practices, Ideologies, Devices which was published in 2012 by Oxford University Press. In Organization Studies, James Fitchett called Inside Marketing “one of the most important collections on marketing published to date”.
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-julienc
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
12.30PM to 1.30 PM
ADM Library Cinema Room Julien Cayla, Nanyang Business School (Singapore) Michiel Baas, National University of Singapore (Singapore) In this paper, we study the globalization of the service economy in India, by looking specifically at the emergence of what could be described as ‘new service professions’ such as gym trainers and coffee ‘baristas’. While such professions may not necessarily be new in other parts of the world, they are characterized by a certain newness in India, related to their sudden arrival and subsequent rapid ascendency as new professional opportunities for Indian youth. We draw upon ethnographic fieldwork conducted over the period of 2013-2015 which focused on the broader category of gym trainers (e.g. spot boys, floor instructors, personal trainers) and so-called coffee baristas (those working for large coffee chains such as Starbucks or India-owned Café Coffee Day). Our research first illuminates how service interactions, however standardized and codified, are imbued with socio-cultural, historically situated understandings and ways of being, that often predate the idea of “service” as an industry and a profession. For instance, when we look at gym training, we find that the honor or izzat that service workers gain through employment in a profession associated with a specialist type of knowledge, is critical. By demonstrating and evoking this knowledge, gym trainers establish a type of master-disciple or guru-shishya relationship, which pre-dates the service economy as we understand it. Second, across gym trainers and baristas, our work surfaces the crucial importance of English as an important cultural boundary or interface, in helping middle-class service workers access specific jobs, facilitating interactions with clients, and helping service workers build recognition among their peers. In detailing the role of English in the lives of young service workers, we add nuance to existing understandings of the Indian middle-class, and surface the role critical role of language in service interactions. Overall, our work shows that the globalization of services only gives a new shape to existing frames of interaction. In addition, our work is consistent with recent research highlighting how the globalization of the Indian economy amplifies the role of English as a marker of competence and worth, and a driver of social mobility. As part of our fieldwork, we produced a short documentary film on the life of a gym trainer, which we will show as part of this talk, to further reflect on the notion of respect in these new professions.
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
“S
end treet V
ors an
dH
s in t awker
he Pa
rián”
Spanish Manila: About the speaker:
Prof Evelyn Hu-DeHart Evelyn Hu-DeHart is Professor of History, American Studies and Ethnic Studies at Brown University, USA. During AY 2014-15, she is Visiting Professor in the History Programme of HSS. She received her B.A. from Stanford University and her PhD in Latin American and Caribbean history from the University of Texas at Austin. She has written and edited more than 10 books and over 60 articles, in English, Spanish and Chinese, on three main topics: Indigenous peoples of the US-Mexico borderlands; the Chinese and other Asian diasporas in Latin America and the Caribbean; race and ethnicity in the Americas. Her most recent publication is on Latino politics in the U.S., and she has a forthcoming translation of collected works in Chinese from Zhejiang U. Press. While at NTU, she is interested in sharing research interests and scholarship with scholars in Singapore and the rest of Asia; most of all, she hopes to learn about new methods and perspectives, and to delve into new historical archives and materials. At Brown, she is a founder and co-director of the long-term research project on "Asia-Pacific in the Making of the Americas," and with her alma mater Stanford University, she is a founder and principal investigator of the Chinese Railroad Workers of North American Project. Both research projects involve international collaborators from Asia and Latin America, and include strong Public Humanities as well as Digital Humanities components.
Please check out our websites: http://web.stanford.edu/group/ chineserailroad/cgi-bin/wordpress
http://www.brown.edu/conference/ asia-pacific/home
Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
A Trans-Pacific Maritime Enterprise and America's First Chinatown Wednesday, 17 February 2016
12.30PM to 1.30 PM
ADM Library Cinema Room It is commonly thought that meaningful contact between Asia and America did not begin until the 19th century, with the massive arrival of Chinese laborers for gold mining and railroad construction in California. Before that, however, the China trade between New England merchants and Canton merchants had thrived since the 18th century, before and after the American Revolution. But well before that, if we think of "America" hemispherically as "the Americas," then we must go back to the mid-16th century to locate the beginning of sustained contact between Asia and America, in this case, between Manila on Luzon Island in Las Filipinas and Acapulco on the Pacific coast of Mexico, then called New Spain. From 1565 to 1815, for 250 years, one to three galleon ships made the roundtrip trans-Pacific voyage without fail, carrying American silver (mined in Mexico and Peru) to Manila. There, the largely Hokkien traders and settlers in Manila's Chinatown, called the Parián acted as indispensable intermediaries in the trade of American silver for Chinese silk, porcelain, lacquer, ivory carvings, as well as spices and many other precious commodities from the larger Indian Ocean and Nanyang world. Chinese and other Asian goods were also trans-shipped from Mexico across the Atlantic to Spain and Europe. Without the critical role played by the Chinese in Manila, this first truly global trading system could not have happened. Because Spanish Manila was an extension of Mexico in the Americas, should we not consider the Parián in Manila as "America's First Chinatown?"
To register for this talk, scan the QR code or go to this link:
bit.ly/admrls-evelynh
ADM RESEARCH LECTURE SERIES
About the speaker:
Stephen Murphy Curator, Southeast Asia Asian Civilisations Museum Email: Stephen_murphy@nhb.gov.sg
Stephen A. Murphy is curator for Southeast Asia and curator-in-charge for the Tang Shipwreck Gallery at the Asian Civilisations Museum. He holds a PhD from the Department of History of Art and Archaeology, SOAS, University of London (2010). From 2011 – 2013 he was a research associate at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York for the exhibition, Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. This show brought together for the first time ever masterpieces from the National Museums of Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia and Vietnam. He also contributed an essay on early Buddhism in Thailand in the accompanying catalogue. Following this, he was a research fellow for six months at the Asian Civilisations Museum before assuming his role as curator for Southeast Asia in July 2014. Research Interests Dr. Murphy specializes in the art and archaeology of early Buddhism in Thailand and Laos, and to lesser extent Myanmar, Cambodia and Malaysia. His focus is primarily on the first millennium AD and he seeks to understand the rise of early states in Southeast Asia. He is particularly interested in the early kingdoms of Srivijaya in the Thai-Malay Peninsula and Sumatra, the Dvaravati kingdom in Central Thailand and Chenla in Cambodia. He also looks at trade and connections between these Southeast Asian cultures and the wider world of Tang China, India and beyond. He has co-published one edited book volume titled, Before Siam: Essays in Art and Archaeology (Bangkok: River Books & The Siam Society, 2014), a collection of essays on the art and archaeology of early Thailand. He is currently expanding his PhD thesis for publication in book form titled, Buddhism in Northeast Thailand and Central Laos (Bangkok: River Books). He has contributed papers to leading academic journals such as Asian Perspectives and the Journal of the Siam Society as well contributing a paper and editing an upcoming special issue volume of the Journal of Southeast Asian Studies. Nanyang Technological University
School of Art, Design and Media
Art, Design and Media Library (ART-1-03) 81 Nanyang Drive Singapore 637458 Tel: +65 6513 7631 Email: adml@ntu.edu.sg
The Tang Shipwreck, Trade and Commerce along the Maritime Routes of Southeast Asia in the Seventh to Ninth Centuries Wednesday, 9 March 2016
12.30PM to 1.30 PM
ADM Library Cinema Room Southeast Asian cultures of the seventh to ninth centuries were part of a system of extensive maritime trade networks through which goods, ideas, technologies and peoples flowed from as far afield as the Abbasid Empire (modern day Iran/Iraq) to Tang Period China. Evidence from shipwrecks discovered in the region as well as ceramics from terrestrial sites provides some of the best material to reconstruct these trade routes and the role of Southeast Asian cultures in them. The recently uncovered Phanom-Surin Shipwreck from Central Thailand and the Tang Shipwreck recovered nearly two-decades ago from the Java Sea both indicate that Middle Eastern ships were actively trading in the region while the Chau Tan shipwreck from Central Vietnam – a lashed lug type – also indicates that Southeast Asians were participants in this trade. Furthermore, Tang and Middle Eastern ceramics discovered at sites in Cambodia, Thailand, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java all indicate that trade and exchange was actively taking place throughout the region. Taking the Tang Shipwreck as its starting point, this paper discusses the nature and extent of trade in the seventh to ninth centuries. Plotting the distribution of Chinese and Middle Eastern ceramics as well as other forms of material culture such as items in glass and bronze also proves informative in this regard. In conclusion the paper asks whether Southeast Asian cultures were active agents driving sectors of the commerce flowing through the region or were they simply middlemen taking a cut of the profits and facilitating the onward movement of goods. In what directions did these commodities flow and who were the clients driving this market?
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