Space & Culture

Tom Gieryn is Distinguished Visiting Speaker this week at University of Alberta. His talk on Truth Spots argued that from Delphi to the 8th St. New York of the Abstract Exressionists, places have served to lend credibility to scientific and religious claims. They agglomerate diverse actors and provide resources, distance others and competing distractions, and allow meaning to be stabilized concretely in an environment.

Schedule of talks this week:

Monday March 13, 2006
Truth-Spots: How Place Lends Legitimacy in the Arts and Sciences (mp3 of talk)
Fine Arts Building room 2-20

What are the connections between place and production of culture? How do specific places make scientific claims credible and artistic works authentic? Two case studies will be explored: the transits of Linnaeus from field-site to laboratory to a Foucauldian “center of display,” and the settlement of abstract expressionist painters along Eighth Street in lower Manhattan, New York. The story begins at the mother of all truth-spots: the oracle at Delphi…

Tuesday March 14, 2006
Can Museums Lie?: Emplacing Authenticity
Sociology Conference Room (Tory 5-15)

How should sociologists think about “place?” Does the concept of place have utility beyond the specific subfields of urban and rural sociology? Can place become pertinent for the production and consumption of culture–and how? I use the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Los Angeles as a point of departure for a discussion of how place secures meaning.

Wednesday March 15, 2006
Could Be Anywhere?: Making Downtown Unique (Or Not)
Co-sponsored by MADE in Edmonton, The Works, and H.M. Tory Chair Rob Shields
Art Gallery of Alberta 7:00-8:30 pm. Free admission & Reception following lecture

In this lecture, Thomas F. Gieryn will explore the diverse factors that make downtowns different from each other—in spite of strong pressures to become exactly identical. Why is it that some downtowns are widely acknowledged to be successes, while others seem chronically to fail? Gieryn will suggest that we, as city residents, can intervene in the development of a uniquely designed and fully satisfying urban core. Join us to keep the conversation going at the reception to follow.

Thursday March 16, 2006
Tomorrow’s Laboratory: Credibility, Materiality, Virtuality
2:30-4:00 pm Engineering Teaching and Learning Complex (ETLC) E1-008

The laboratories where science happens are not simply “stages” for the production of natural knowledge, but vital elements for the interactive culture of scientists and for the cultural authority of science in society. As scientific practice has changed historically, so has the design of laboratories–and these changes are not always steered by narrow concerns for “efficiency.” The laboratory is a place where the instrumentalities of scientific research are shaped and where the credibility of scientific claims is secured. These themes will be considered via a study of the new Clark Center at Stanford University, home to its “Bio-X” initiative.

This entry was posted Wednesday, March 15th, 2006 at 9:12 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.