Week of September 15, 2024 in UCIS

Sunday, September 15

7:00 pm Film
Fresh Kill (1994)
Location:
Harris Theater
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center along with Pittsburgh Sound and Image
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Co-presented with Pittsburgh Sound + Image and Screenshot Asia

Renowned media artist Shu Lea Cheang arrives in person to present her groundbreaking debut feature, a cyberfeminist eco-thriller, newly restored for its 30th anniversary in a stunning 35mm print.

Coined as an avant-anarcho ecosatire, the film envisions a post-apocalyptic landscape strewn with electronic detritus and suffering the toxic repercussions of mass marketing in a high-tech commodity culture. “Kill” is Dutch for stream, FRESH KILL tells the story of two young lesbian parents caught up in a global exchange of industrial waste via contaminated sushi. The place is New York and the time is now! Raw fish lips are the rage on trendy menus across Manhattan. A ghost barge, bearing nuclear refuse, circles the planet in search of a willing port. Household pets start to glow ominously and then disappear altogether. The sky opens up and snows soap flakes. People start speaking in dangerous tongues. A riveting and densely packed film, FRESH KILL evokes the furious rhythms of channel surfing with its rapid-fire editing style.

ABOUT THE ARTIST: Born in Taiwan and now based in Paris, Shu Lea Cheang is an artist and filmmaker whose work aims to re-envision genders, genres, and operating structures. She began her career as a member of activist media collectives Paper Tiger TV and Deep Dish TV. Later, as a celebrated pioneer of Net Art, her work Brandon (1998–99) became the first-ever web-based artwork commissioned and collected by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Since 1994, she has produced four feature films, FRESH KILL (1994), I.K.U. (2000), FLUIDØ (2017), and UKI (2023), which encompass a new genre she calls “Scifi New Queer Cinema.” In 2019, she represented Taiwan at the Venice Biennale with the mixed media installation, 3x3x6. Over the years, Cheang has participated in many renowned international biennials, including Performa 19, New York; the 11th Taipei Biennial; the 50th and 58th Venice Biennale; and the 1992 and 1994 Whitney Biennials among others. Her works are included in the world’s key permanent collections for contemporary art, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; NTT InterCommunication Center, Tokyo; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and DSL collection, Paris.

Directed by Shu Lea Cheang

Rated NR

Tuesday, September 17

9:00 am Information Session
Global Experiences Office Passport Fair
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub and Global Experiences Office
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Join the Global Experiences Office for a Passport Fair! We are bringing passport processing to you ON-CAMPUS! We have teamed up with the United States Post Office to offer U.S. passport processing for students for this one-day event in the Global Hub.

1:30 pm Student Club Activity
Slovak Conversation Table
Location:
Global Hub
Announced by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies and Global Hub on behalf of
See Details

Come practice your conversational Slovak with your classmates.

5:00 pm Student Club Activity
Hungarian Conversation Table
Location:
Braun Room
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies
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Come practice your conversational Hungarian with fellow students!

5:15 pm Lecture
Gaming Climate Change
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and European Union Center of Excellence along with Department of Germany, Film and Media Studies Program, Mascaro Center for Sustainable Innovation and Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany
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Gaming all night is fun but what about the energy consumption? How is the German gaming industry responding to climate change both in game design and beyond?

Light Refreshments will be served

6:30 pm Student Club Activity
German Club at Pitt
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with German Club
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Join the German Club on Wednesdays during Fall semester to practice speaking German and learn about German culture!

German Club at Pitt will meet on Wednesdays during Fall 2024, EXCEPT on Wednesday, October 1.

Tuesday, September 17 until Wednesday, September 18

5:30 pm Student Club Activity
French Club at Pitt
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with French Club
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Description: Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Fall semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!

French Club at Pitt will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Fall 2024, EXCEPT on Tuesday, October 1 and November 6.

Wednesday, September 18

1:00 pm Cultural Event
ASC Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration/Welcome Back Students
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center and Global Hub
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Join the Asian Studies Center for a celebration of the Mid-Autumn Festival and our Welcome Back Student event in the Global Hub! Snacks and a themed activity will be provided!

4:00 pm Reception
Global Studies Center Welcome Reception
Location:
4303 Wesley W. Posvar Hall (CUE Commons Room)
Sponsored by:
Global Studies Center
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ALL STUDENTS, FACULTY & STAFF ARE WELCOME!

GSC cordially invites you to our Welcome Back Reception in the Center for Urban Education's Commons Room in 4303 Posvar Hall. We will serve light refreshments. Faculty, staff, and students are all encouraged and welcome to attend. Refreshments will be served.

5:00 pm Cultural Event
African Languages Conversation Hour
Location:
Global Hub, Posvar Hall
Sponsored by:
Center for African Studies and Global Hub along with Less-Commonly-Taught Languages Center
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This is an informal time to meet fellow speakers of African languages and practice your skills with a seasoned facilitator! All levels are welcome.

Monthly schedule -

1st Wednesday: Arabic & Wolof
2nd Wednesday: Swahili & Amharic
3rd Wednesday: Yoruba & Akan/Twi
4th Wednesday: Haitian Creole

5:30 pm Student Club Activity
French Club at Pitt
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with French Club
See Details

Join the French Club on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during Fall semester for conversational meetings and to practice French speaking and listening skills and create a francophone community on campus!

French Club at Pitt will meet twice weekly, on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, during Fall 2024, EXCEPT on Tuesday, October 1 and November 6.

Thursday, September 19

10:30 am Cultural Event
Chinese Kun Opera
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center, Center for Ethnic Studies Research, Center for African Studies, Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies, European Studies Center, Global Studies Center, Global Hub, Nationality Rooms and Intercultural Exchange Programs, Office of International Services and Global Experiences Office along with School of Education; International Student Peer Network, Office of the Provost of the University of Pittsburgh and Chinese Students and Scholars Association
See Details

Join the International Student Peer Network for a professional Chinese Kun Opera group performance, storytelling, open discussion, and the opportunity to try on traditional costumes and makeup.

12:00 pm Lecture
Asia Now Tristan Brown
Location:
David Lawrence Hall 211
Sponsored by:
Asian Studies Center along with Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA)
12:30 pm Student Club Activity
Tavola Italiana
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Department of French & Italian
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Mangia con noi! Bring your lunch and chat with us! Pitt students only, all levels welcome!

1:00 pm Performance
Vagonar USA Tour
Location:
In front of the Cathedral of Learning
Sponsored by:
Center for Russian East European and Eurasian Studies along with Slovak Studies Program
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A wonderful group of 33 talented young dancers, singers, and musicians will deliver a dance workshop for our students.

2:30 pm Lecture
Fall Speaker Series: Professor Mireya Loza
Location:
4130 Posvar Hall
Sponsored by:
Center for Ethnic Studies Research and Center for Latin American Studies
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Short Bio: Mireya Loza is an Associate Professor in the Department of History and the American Studies Program at Georgetown University and a curator in the Division of Work and Industry at the
National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution. Loza is a public historian who contributed oral histories, trained communities, and helped amass over 800 oral histories with bracero communities featured in the Bracero History Archive. These oral histories became a cornerstone of her book, Defiant Braceros: How Migrant Workers Fought for Racial, Sexual and Political Freedom (UNC Press). Her first book won the Theodore Saloutos Book Prize awarded by the Immigration and Ethnic History Society and the Smithsonian Secretary’s Research Prize.

Title: Beyond Braceros: How Temporary Labor Shaped Industrialized Agriculture in California,1942-1965

Abstract: As the largest employer of Mexican guest workers during the era of the Bracero Program, California growers stand center stage in this talk about race and food production in America.
Beyond braceros, growers relied increasingly, but not exclusively, on Mexican undocumented workers and actively recruited laborers from Japan and Puerto Rico. California growers’
global search for cheap labor challenges long-held assumptions that Mexican workers were the logical, if not inevitable, ideal farmworker. This talk will explain the lobbying efforts, political reach, and racial meaning-making of California growers as they handpicked their most coveted farmworker and explain how the contemporary reality in American agriculture was not inevitable but created by design through policy and grower influence.

This event is co-sponsored by CESR and CLAS, and is part of Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month!

4:00 pm Reception
ESC 40th Anniversary Celebration
Location:
Alumni Hall, 5th Floor
Sponsored by:
European Studies Center and European Union Center of Excellence
See Details

Please come celebrate with us! Make sure you RSVP by 9/13/2024

5:00 pm Panel Discussion
Cultura Negra no Atlantico (CULTNA)
Location:
Zoom
Sponsored by:
Center for Latin American Studies
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Jeremias Brasileiro: Sincretismo NÃO! Coexistência cultural religiosa e ancestral, SIM!

This event will be in Portuguese.

Free and open to the public

5:00 pm Student Club Activity
GOSECA World Nomad Games 2024
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Graduate Organisation for the Study of Europe and Central Asia
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Join the Graduate Organization for the Study of Europe and Central Asia for a screening of the World Nomad Games 2024. Included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List, World Nomad Games is an international sport competition dedicated to ethnic sports practiced in Central Asia. It is like the Olympics with 84 nations, including the US. Learn more about the World Nomad Games at https://worldnomadgames.kz/en.

Friday, September 20

4:00 pm Student Club Activity
Kya Baat Hai!
Location:
Global Hub
Sponsored by:
Global Hub along with Kya Baat Hai!
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Join undergraduate Pitt students for a conversation hour to practice speaking in Hindi and Urdu and connect over shared cultural experiences.

Kya Baat Hai will meet weekly, on Fridays, during the 2024-2025 academic year, EXCEPT on the following dates:
September 27
December 20
December 27
January 3