~~Animating Anthropology: Audiovisual Experiment in Ethnographic Practice

A Symposium in Honor of Robert Ascher

April 17th – 18th, McGraw Hall, Room 165, Cornell University. 

April 17

3:30 Welcome/ Introductions (Diana Allan/ Fred Gleach)

3:45 Kathryn Ramey

4:05 Screening of Robert Ascher’s films

Cycle (5 mins, 1986) Bar Yohai (6 mins, 1987) Blue, A Tinglit Odyssey (6 mins, 1991) The Golem (4 mins, 1995)

4:30 Lynn Tomlinson

4:50 Jason Livingston

5:15 Q & A

5:45 Student Films

6:45 Refreshments

Saturday, April 18th

9:30 am Continental breakfast

10:00 Introductions (Diana Allan)

10:15 Screening of Manakamana (2013) directed by Stephanie Spray and Pacho Velez

12:45 Lunch

2:00 Screening of film trilogy The Garden of Earthly Delights, directed by Ben Russell

4:00 Screening of Yumen (2013) directed by JP Sniadecki

5:45 Closing comments

This two day symposium (April 17-18, 2015) in honor of Robert Ascher will include screenings of Robert Ascher's films and presentations from the following:

Lynn Tomlinson (Cornell ’88, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Media and Film at Towson University)

Kathryn Ramey (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Emerson College)

Jason Livingston (Lecturer in Cinematic Arts, University of Iowa)

Ben Russell (media artist and curator)

JP Sniadecki (Assistant Professor in Performance Arts, Cornell University)

Stephanie Spray (anthropologist and filmmaker, Film Studies Center, Harvard University)

Robert Ascher was a professor in the Anthropology Department at Cornell from 1960-2002. Bob distinguished himself early in his career by making important contributions that advanced the application of scientific methods to archaeology. His work on the use of ethnographic analogy and the design of archaeological experiments raised the standard for testing hypotheses about past human behavior and expanded the range of problems to which experimental methods could be applied.

Later in his career he shifted his exceptional creativity and prodigious energy to visual anthropology, focusing on sculpture and film, where he once again distinguished himself. He developed a superior method of cameraless animation and employed it masterfully in producing award winning films such as Cycle, Bar Yohai, and Blue, A Tlingit Odyssey. These films are in the permanent collections of major institutions around the world. Bob's work was featured in an international symposium ("New Visions: Experimental Film, Art and Anthropology") held at musée du quai Branly, Paris, France in March of 2012.

Bob passed away January 8, 2014.

This event is offered in honor of Bob Ascher and is co-sponsored by the Anthropology Department, Performance and Media Arts Department, and Cornell Cinema.