Clark Art Lecture on Stuart Hall

Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — On Tuesday, Feb.25, the Clark Art Institute's Research and Academic Program presents a talk by David Scott (Columbia University / Clark Fellow) examining the career of Stuart Hall and the publication of Hall's landmark book, "The Popular Arts."

This free event takes place at 5:30 pm in the Manton Research Center auditorium.

According to a press release:

Influenced by Hoggart's The Uses of Literacy (1957) and Raymond Williams's Culture and Society (1958), this much-neglected book helped to inaugurate the study of contemporary popular culture as well as contemporary media studies. Engaging television and cinema, audience and institutions, critics and young people, the book was wide-ranging in its attempt to offer an analytical frame for rethinking the old distinction between "high" and "low" culture. The talk contextualizes The Popular Arts and discusses its importance both in the evolution of Stuart Hall's thinking in the 1960s, and in the making of Cultural Studies.

David Scott is the Ruth and William Lubic Professor in the department of Anthropology at Columbia University in New York. He is the author of a number of books, including "Stuart Hall's Voice: Intimations of an Ethics of Receptive Generosity" (2017) and "Irreparable Evil: An Essay in Moral and Reparatory History" (2024). The founding editor of Small Axe, Scott is director of the Small Axe Project. Currently at work on a biography of Stuart Hall, Scott will devote his time at the Clark to examining Hall's work in the 1970s. 

Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413 458 0524. A 5 pm reception in the Manton Research Center reading room precedes the event. For more information, visit clarkart.edu/events. Admission to the Clark is free January through March 2025.

 


Tags: Clark Art,   

If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Williamstown's Milne Library Opens Makerspace on Thursday

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The David and Joyce Milne Public Library still is the best place in town to borrow a book.
 
But it is getting to the point where the word library itself is inadequate to describe all the Milne has to offer.
 
On Thursday, the Main Street library will hold a grand opening for Studio 1095, the Milne's new makerspace, where patrons will have access to creative tools ranging from sewing machines to soldering tools to jewelry-making supplies to creative software like Photoshop and Illustrator to green screen capability to a podcast studio.
 
It marks the latest step in the evolution of the town's library into a full-service community center.
 
"I think Studio1095 is very much part of that broader evolution," Milne Director Angela Zimmermann said last week. "Libraries are continuing to provide those core services people have always relied on — books, information, technology, research help, and a place for learning — while also becoming places where people can create, connect, explore, and participate in their community, a sort of community creative and learning space. 
 
"The Thingdom and Sensory Space are good examples of that same evolution — both of which just happened at the Milne in the last couple of years. They recognize that a library can meet community needs in ways that go beyond traditional collections. And Studio1095 builds on that idea by giving people access to equipment, technology, creative tools, and opportunities they might not otherwise have access to."
 
The Thingdom is the Milne's lending center where cardholders can check out such "non-book" items as a fondue pot, a leaf blower, a paper shredder, a snow sled or an electric drum kit.
View Full Story

More Williamstown Stories