Many of the museums, galleries, and performance venues at the University of Michigan remain closed due to COVID-19 restrictions; however, there will still be plenty of online events, exhibitions, performances, and films that you can experience from home. The following is a curated list of events and exhibitions occurring this week, along with some recurring series events.

U-M HUMANITIES INSTITUTE PRESENTS: 2021 POETRY BLAST!

April is National Poetry Month, the largest literary celebration in the world. This year the U-M Humanities Institute will be joining the tens of millions of readers, students, teachers, librarians, booksellers, publishers, families, and, of course, poets, in marking poetry’s important place in our lives. Every weekday at noon in April, their YouTube channel will feature a U-M faculty member reading one of their poems. There will also be a daily April poetry challenge and “pop-up poems” across campus.

ARAB AND MUSLIM AMERICAN STUDIES PRESENTS: THE BEAUTY OF YOUR FACE

Novelist Sahar Mustafa will read from and discuss her novel “The Beauty of Your Face,” (W. W. Norton, 2020). The novel has been assigned in some AMAS courses and will be the April selection for the Muslim Student Association book club. This workshop will be open to the public.

When: Monday, Apr. 12, 5:30–6:30 p.m. EST

U-M HISTORY OF ART PRESENTS: REFORMING REMEMBRANCE

Dutch artist Hans van Houwelingen will reflect on his ongoing research on commemorative monuments. Apart from the hardware of monuments, he explores how to reform the practice of commemoration itself. Van Houwelingen and the Indonesian artist Iswanto Hartono (Ruangrupa) are currently collaborating on a research project to investigate both the presence and the absence of monuments in colonial locations.

When: Tuesday, Apr. 13, 1–2 p.m. EDT

TAUBER INSTITUTE FOR GLOBAL OPERATIONS PRESENTS: INTEGRATED PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT TRADE SHOW 

Taught jointly by faculty of the Ross School of Business and the Stamps School of Art & Design, the annual Integrated Product Design course challenges cross-disciplinary student teams from the College of Engineering, Ross School of Business, Stamps School of Art & Design, and School of Information to design, build, and market a brand new product, and then to face free market competition through the IPD Trade Show.

When: Wednesday, Apr. 14–Tuesday, Apr. 20

U-M ARTS INITIATIVE PRESENTS: MAPPING WITHOUT BOUNDARIES, A COLLABORATION BETWEEN YO-YO MA AND U-M

A new residency with international performing artist Yo-Yo Ma, launched by the U-M Arts Initiative in partnership with UMS, will explore ideas of creating maps with the arts. Ma will join a newly-formed steering committee composed of six U-M students and three Michigan-based artists from Ann Arbor, Flint, and Dearborn, who will be charged with the development of new variations of maps that will express what the U-M community has experienced in the past year. This event will launch this collaborative project.

When: Thursday, Apr. 15, 6 p.m. EDT

UMS PRESENTS: ANCIENT FUTURE FIRE, SIDEWALK ART INSTALLATION FT. SACRAMENTO KNOXX

Ancient Future Fire uplifts indigenous futures, the relationship to the land, and the sacred stewardship needed for a balanced life, with earth and all its living inhabitants in our nonlinear ecosystems. Through this sidewalk art installation, Sacramento Knoxx revisits the brilliance of the geniuses of Turtle Island and returns to the future with ancestral technology, specifically the technology of the Great Lakes area.

When: Saturday, Apr. 17–Saturday Apr. 24

SMTD PRESENTS: COLLAGE 44, A VIRTUAL CONCERT EXPERIENCE

For the last 43 years, students from across all disciplines at SMTD have joined together to perform for sold-out crowds at Hill Auditorium for their annual showcase, the Collage Concert. This year, Collage is taking on a new, virtual form—the virtuosic performances, however, remain the same. “Collage 44: A Virtual Concert Experience” will premiere on YouTube. 

When: Sunday, Apr. 18. 8–9 p.m. EDT

Recurring Series Events

NAM CENTER PRESENTS: KOREAN CINEMA NOW, “HOUSE OF HUMMINGBIRD”

All films are available through our Michigan Theater Foundation–Vimeo streaming platform. You will have 72 hours to watch after you press play. “House of Hummingbird” is set in Seoul 1994, in the year the Seongsu Bridge collapsed, where 14-year-old Eunhee wanders the city searching for love.

When: Monday, Apr. 12–Saturday, Apr. 17

U-M LIBRARY SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AFTER HOURS: CELEBRATING ARABIC WRITTEN HERITAGE

This virtual open house features a selection of prominent Arabic writings from the classical and post-classical periods among the holdings of the Islamic Manuscripts Collection preserved in the University Library. Carefully transcribed copies of classic literary works by al-Mutanabbī (d.965), Abū al-ʻAlāʼ al-Maʻarrī (d.1057), and al-Ḥarīrī (d.1122) will appear along with influential grammatical, scientific, and mystical writings —and even a text on musical theory and performance.

When: Tuesday, Apr. 13, 4–5 p.m. EDT

STEARNS COLLECTION LECTURE SERIES: SOUND THE ALARM! THE TRUMPET AS A SYMBOL AND MESSENGER

This lecture with Kris Kwapis, trumpeter and lecturer at the Jacobs School of Music, Indiana University, will explore the trumpet’s history and symbolism. Attendees may submit written questions which may be discussed in the Q&A period following the presentation.

When: Tuesday, Apr. 13, 8–9 p.m. EDT

ZELL VISITING WRITERS SERIES: 2021 HOPWOOD LECTURER, KIESE LAYMON

Kiese Laymon is a Black southern writer from Jackson, Mississippi. Laymon’s bestselling memoir, Heavy: An American Memoir, won the 2019 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, the 2018 Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiographical Prose, the Austen Riggs Erikson Prize for Excellence in Mental Health Media, and was named one of the 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years by The New York Times. This Reading and Q&A event will be the final Zell Visiting Writers Series event of the semester.

When: Thursday, Apr. 15, 5–6:30 p.m. EDT

CLEMENTS BOOKWORM SERIES: “LIBERTY AND INSANITY IN THE AGE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION”

Clements Library 2019 Peckham Fellow Sarah Swedberg will discuss her new book “Liberty and Insanity in the Age of the American Revolution,” published in December 2020. Dr. Swedberg’s research focuses on the anxiety of the first generation of American citizens as they created a republican form of government. Her recent research focuses on “lunatics” (the term used at the time), and weaves together medical and political histories.

When: Friday, Apr. 16, 10–11 a.m. EDT

 

If you would like your event to be included in next week’s “Attend at Home” series, email arts-culture@umich.edu.