LENOX, Mass. — Julie Wosk, Author and Professor Emerita of English, Art History, and Studio Art at State University of New York, Maritime College will speak at Ventfort Hall on Thursday, Aug. 8 at 4 pm. 

 

A tea will be served after the presentation.

 

According to a press release 

 

In America's Gilded Age and in Europe, clockwork female dolls decorated fashionable parlors.  These mechanical wonders came in many guises---from demure women with their parasols to a dying Cleopatra in her harem outfit.  Today there is a burst of fascination with simulated females, as seen in films, novels, art, and AI-enhanced dolls. They appear as companions, pleasure dolls, healthcare aides, artificial friends, and even fictional duplicates of deceased loved ones.  Drawing on her new book Artificial Women, Berkshire author Julie Wosk highlights these lifelike copies of real human beings.

 

Julie Wosk is the author of several books including "Women and the Machine: Representations from the Spinning Wheel to the Electronic Age;" "My Fair Ladies: Female Robots, Androids," and "Other Artificial Eves;" and her most recent book "Artificial Women" (2024).    

 

She is also an artist, photographer, and an independent museum curator whose exhibit "Imaging Women in the Space Age," first shown at the New York Hall of Science, is now on view at the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield through September 8, 2024.  An exhibit of her own photographs and paintings will be at the Art on Main Gallery in West Stockbridge from August 15-25. 

 

Tickets are $40 for members and with advance reservation; $45 day of; $22 for students 22 and under. Ticket pricing includes access to the mansion throughout the day of this event from 10 am to 4 pm. Reservations are strongly encouraged as seats are limited. Walk-ins accommodated as space allows. For reservations visit https://gildedage.org/pages/calendar or call(413) 637-3206.  Note that all tickets are nonrefundable and non-exchangeable. The historical mansion is located at 104 Walker Street in Lenox.