Things to Do, May 22-29

Cornell's Plaster Cast Collection
Provided
A history of rejection and defacement of objects in Cornell's Plaster Cast Collection is highlighted in “Firing the Canon," on temporary display May 21-23 at the Weinhold Chilled Water Plant next to Toboggan Lodge.

Embraced, defaced, dethroned

Visitors coming to campus for Commencement weekend can explore the creative, often violent, history of Cornell’s collection of plaster cast reproductions of Greco-Roman sculpture in a temporary exhibition.

“Firing the Canon: The Cornell Casts and Their Discontents,” first displayed last fall, is open to visitors May 21-23 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Weinhold Chilled Water Plant, 26 Forest Home Drive.

One of the largest such collections in North America, the casts were originally on view in McGraw Hall in the latter decades of the 19th century and were moved to Goldwin Smith Hall in 1906. By the mid-20th century, they were devalued as mere copies of the originals and packed away in a warehouse near the Tompkins County Airport, but their status has improved as the original statues have weathered and worn.

About 500 or so pieces remain in the collection, and 20 of the casts – in damaged, deteriorated and vandalized condition – are on display, juxtaposed among the aging mechanical works of Cornell’s former cooling plant, located across from Martha Van Rensselaer Hall and next to Toboggan Lodge. Entrance to the exhibition is from below, next to the Beebe Lake footbridge.

Sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Department of Classics, the exhibition was curated by Annetta Alexandridis, associate professor of the history of art and visual studies, and Verity Platt, associate professor of classics, who intend to restore as many of the casts as possible.

'150 Ways'

See Cornell’s charter, memorabilia of campus life through the decades, and examples of how the idea of “any person, any study” shaped the university’s history on the Ithaca campus and beyond, in “150 Ways to Say Cornell,” through Sept. 30 in the Hirshland Exhibition Gallery in Kroch Library.

The display highlights original documents, photographs and artifacts are arranged in cases devoted to Cornell’s founding and other aspects of its history and campus life – women, international and minority students, protest movements, Cornell and the military, athletics and the library, which was first wired for electricity in 1885.

The sesquicentennial exhibition was curated for Cornell University Library by University Archivist Elaine Engst and staff in the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections.

Time to tango

Tango on campus at the last Argentinian Tango Practice of the 2014-14 school year, Thursday, May 28 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. in the Physical Sciences Building’s Baker Portico. The public is welcome; no previous dance experience or partner necessary. A free introductory class is led by experienced dancers 7:30-8:30 p.m.

Tango is a fully improvised social dance – no choreography, no counting beats. Sponsored by the Cornell student organization Ithaca Tangueros, the weekly informal dance features music from the rich repertoire of mid-20th century traditional tango orchestras.

Philosophers meet

The 13th annual Summer Colloquium in Medieval Philosophy at Cornell meets May 28-30 on campus in the Hans Bethe House seminar room.

Organized by Scott MacDonald in the Sage School of Philosophy, the colloquium will feature the participation of about 20 scholars from Cornell and other institutions and 10 presentations on topics including “Aquinas on General Justice” and “What Medieval Philosophy Missed in Aristotle’s Theory of Perception, and Why It Matters.” For information, contact macdonald@cornell.edu.

Cornell fossils

The Museum of the Earth is showing a selection of specimens from the Cornell fossil collections in a new exhibition as part of Cornell’s sesquicentennial celebration.

The collections belonged to paleontologist Gilbert Harris and his student, Carlotta Maury. Harris earned a B.A. and Ph.D. from Cornell, served on the faculty as a professor of geology for 40 years beginning in 1895, and founded the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) in 1932. Maury, a pioneering female geologist, earned her B.A. in geology at Cornell and her Ph.D. in 1902.

Harris collected fossils he found on a trip to England and France before moving to Ithaca to teach at Cornell. They include gastropods and echinoids from the Pliocene and Eocene Epochs, some of which await restoration by PRI’s collections department. The collection also features photos Gilbert took to accompany published descriptions of the fossils and some of the fossils’ original labels.

The fossils from Maury’s collection include some from a 1916 expedition she led in the Dominican Republic, including gastropods and mollusks from the Miocene Epoch. 

Media Contact

Joe Schwartz