There is a lot for art lovers to be excited about during this weekend’s Humanities Day at the University of Chicago. Organized by the University’s Division of the Humanities, the day features exhibition tours and more than two-dozen arts-related sessions presented by artists and scholars in a wide range of disciplines. 

With so many options during just three time slots, it’s impossible to catch everything. The best bet is to visit humanitiesday2014.uchicago.edu to plan a day that matches your interests. 

No time to explore? We chose a set of three presentations that offers diverse entry points into the arts at UChicago: an introduction to a unique web-based tool for cinema research, a peek into the process of collaborative creation for the stage, and a roundtable of writers discussing inspiring works of visual art.

Session 1 (9:30–10:30 am)

What Makes Them Run, What Slows Them Down: Cinemetrics Looks at Film History and Culture

Logan Center, Screening Room

Nowadays, as filmmaking goes digital, so do film studies. This presentation features “Cinemetrics,” an online addition to the traditional toolkit of film studies. Some films are slow and pensive; some are fast and furious; some start slowly and run amuck after a while. Much of it depends on film cutting: some movies or sequences are “cuttier” than others. Yuri Tsivian introduces Cinemetrics, a speedometer of cutting, how it works, and why we need it. Register.

Session 2 (2–3 pm)

Collaboration 2.0: Preparing “Jephta’s Daughter” for the Stage

Logan Center, Theater Performance Lab

In July, 2015, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich will present the world premiere of a piece tentatively titled “Jephta’s Daughter,” directed by Saar Magal in collaboration with David Levin. Before its premiere, Magal and Levin are team-teaching a course that serves as a laboratory for the piece’s preparation. In this presentation, Levin and Magal introduce the project and model the process of collaborative creation in a performance laboratory. Register.

Session 3 (3:30–4:30 pm)

Creative Writing and the Sister Arts

Seminary Co-op Bookstore

Three teachers from the Creative Writing program choose a work of visual art or music that has been important to their writing, presenting and discussing it from a writer’s perspective. Listen to novelist Will Boast, poet and translator Amaia Gabantxo, and memoirist Dan Raeburn talk about their choices in a presentation chaired by John Wilkinson, Director of the Committee on Creative Writing. Register.