Sutapa Biswas will be presenting about her work--the latest being a film titled Lumen--and the legacy of British colonialism in South Asia. Her work includes painting, drawing, film, video, and photography, and draws from art history, literature, and film. Andrew Nairne, the director of the University of Cambridge’s Kettle’s Yard, where Biswas currently has a major exhibition, described her art as “work(ing) through the intuitive, through the poetic, and through the personal.” Please join us online on Thursday January 27 at 2:00 pm EST for this virtual event.

Join Pitt's Daehwa club and ASC for a Seollal (Korean Lunar New Year) celebration on Sunday, January 30, in the Kurtzman Room, WPU from 1-4 pm.

Japanese and English language exchange with Pitt and ELI students

Contemporary Japan seems, so often, to also make us aware of earlier history and traditions. Grandma's furoshiki, once used to wrap andcarry gifts, become chic handbags. Traditional teahouses are rendered in unusual materials like synthetic skin. Pavilions foregroundancient carpentry practices. Abandoned elementary schools become community centers. In the spirit of mottainai (never letting anythinggo to waste) and monotsukuri (making and handicraft), ludic designers sometimes hold on to obsolete objects from the past, stylishlyrepurposing them.

The “What’s in a Name?” series aims to open a doorway to explore issues that affect us every day, and that, ultimately, reverberate through the most intimate aspects of who we are. While we will explore basic tools and name etiquette, with the kindness and respect we all deserve, we intend to reflect about what our names say about us, and how they may be used to define who we are.

Since the early 2000s, the Chinese government has engaged in efforts to control young people’s passion for online gaming, a leisure pursuit commonly referred to as a form of spiritual opium. This past summer the government renewed its commitment to this cause, announcing a new regulation whereby gamers under the age of 18 will be restricted to 3 hours of gameplay per week. Such regulations baffle many. China is home to over 500 million online gamers and considered a leader in the professionalization of competitive gaming, or esports.

In an activity like gaming, which is largely perceived to take place on a virtual or online plane, how might we understand the presence and significance of the human body? How do factors relating to the body – the physical locations in which we play games, the presentation of one’s gender, the invisibility of the body in gaming and esports – impact gaming culture and esports media? Dr. Bae explores these questions through a study of gaming and esports in South Korea and the US. Register here.

Esports have grown exponentially all around the world in the past decade or so. More recently, the pandemic spurred future growth of the game industry and culture especially in East Asian society. The 2022 Asia Pop series—Gamified: Gaming Culture in East Asia starts on Wednesday January 26 at 5 pm EST. The virtual keynote lecture by Dr. Dal Yong Jin, Distinguished Professor at Simon Fraser University will focus on the emergence and transformation of Korean eSports culture from the perspective of the spectators.