Museums, galleries and performance venues remained closed at the University of Michigan this week due to COVID-19 restrictions, however, there are plenty of online events and exhibitions that you can experience from home in the meantime. Here are five recommended ways to virtually engage with U-M’s cultural community this week.

House Calls: Virtual Visits with Michigan Artists in a Pandemic

The University of Michigan Institute for Humanities’ new streaming video series, “House Calls: Virtual Studio Visits with Michigan Artists in a Pandemic,” showcases 10 artists across the state via video chat with staff of the Institute for the Humanities each, with new episodes release on Wednesdays. This week, they present Ann Arbor artist Lavinia Hanachiuc. Read more about the series here. 

Where: myumi.ch/ov0R7

When: Wednesdays until June 17th

Next up: Rashaun Rucker, Detroit

2020 Stamps School of Art & Design thesis exhibitions

The U-M Stamps School’s end-of-year thesis exhibitions for graduating students were either cut short or cancelled this year due to COVID-19. The school quickly launched stampsgrads.org to celebrate graduation and to showcase their work in lieu of in-person gallery presentations and performances. There are three exhibitions to view online:

• Ascending: The 2020 Stamps School Senior Exhibition features work in a range of media by graduating BA, BFA, and Interarts Performance students. Visit now.
• Transforming Learning Perspectives Through Design brings together a lively collection of information about the thesis work of our Class of 2020 MDes graduates: Gowri Balasubramaniam, Colleen Clark, Megan Freund, Jenn Low, and Ashley Moon. Over the course of their two-year graduate degree program, these five designers explored different perspectives that address equity and access in partnership with collaborators from the public K-12 education sector. Visit now.
• sometimes something, the 2020 MFA Thesis Exhibition, brings together culminating projects by second-year graduate students, Sally Clegg, Kim Karlsrud, Erin McKenna, and Abhishek Narula. In December 2019, MFA students selected the exhibition title to reflect their exploration of the non-binary, the knowledge found in sitting with ambiguity without judgement or assignment. This exhibition originally opened at Stamps Gallery on March 13, 2020 but was closed after only a few days due to pandemic-related state-wide closures. While there may be a summer 2020 extension of this exhibition, you can explore their work online now.

Where: stampsgrads.org 

When: Anytime

Visit UMMA at Home

While the U-M Museum of Art is closed to the public for now, explore the many ways you can engage with the Museum’s collections, educators, and programs, right from home at their new webpage, UMMA at Home. You can stay up-to-date with virtual events, take a virtual tour of the museum, discover the collection and more. 

Where: umma.umich.edu/athome

When: Anytime

Penny Stamps Speaker Series + DPTV present: author and illustrator Brian Selznick

Keeping the community curious, engaged, and connected, the Penny Stamps Speaker Series teamed up with Detroit Public Television to stream select Penny Stamps Speaker Series talks from the archive on Fridays at 8 p.m. This Friday, tune in to dptv.org for a livestream of a previous presentation by Author and illustrator Brian Selznick.

Where: myumi.ch/zxk1d

When: New episodes are livestreamed Fridays at 8 p.m.

Exhibition: NYC’s Vanished Cafeterias by Marcia Bricker Halperin 

The streets of New York City were filled with hundreds of cafeterias, self-service eating establishments, during the early to mid-20th Century. Their growth paralleled the rise of the office worker, women’s evolving roles in the work force, immigration, American love of efficiency and novelty, the growth of cities, the impact of Prohibition and the Depression, the labor movement, and American eating habits. Not one cafeteria from that era remains in New York City today. One particular restaurant, Dubrow’s Cafeteria in Brooklyn, was a legendary institution that served as a second home for many of the neighborhood’s elderly residents. Along with another Dubrow’s, a hub of the Garment Center, they provided a restaurant-cum-social club or “third place” for a generation of Jewish New Yorkers. New York City-based photographer Marcia Bricker Halperin documented Dubrow’s and other cafeterias in their waning days, drawn to the memorable faces and the liveliness and sorrow of urban life in that vanished world. This exhibition was originally featured in the U-M Institute for Women and Gender’s Lane Hall Gallery.

Where: myumi.ch/E3ebb 

When: Anytime