Residents extend stay courtesy of Arts Institute

Although he will be the first, Nick Cave will not be the last semester-long interdisciplinary artist-in-residence the Arts Institute will coordinate this year.

In spring, students will have a chance to take a course on the history of photography from UW–Madison alumnus John Szarkowski, former director of photography at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Szarkowski, author of the new book, “The Failure of Photography in the 20th Century,” will offer a preview of his course in a free public lecture Sept. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in L160 of the Elvehjem Museum of Art. In his book, Szarkowski contends the ubiquitous nature of the medium has prevented museums and other important art venues from taking photography seriously.

“The work of (photographer) Alfred Stieglitz is less fully preserved and less well-known than that of Rembrandt, done three centuries earlier,” he observes.

Szarkowski served as director of photography at MoMA from 1962-1991. A native of Ashland, he earned an undergraduate degree in art from the UW in 1948. The departments of Art and Art History, the State Historical Society of Wisconsin and the Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research will join in offering his class.

Cameras of the motion-picture variety will be the focus of Stuart Gordon’s course, Acting for the Camera, offered through the departments of Communication Arts and Theatre and Drama. As a UW student in the 1960s, Gordon directed a production of “Peter Pan.” Now a Hollywood director, producer and writer, Gordon also will conduct a workshop on motion picture production during his residency here.

For more information about these or future interdisciplinary residencies in the arts, contact Ken Chraca at the Arts Institute, 263-4086.