The Nasher Museum of Art

November 7
5:30 p.m.

John Camp, director of the Agora excavations and professor of classics at Randolph-Macon College, will speak about the excavations of the Athenian Agora (the ancient civic and mercantile center of the city) and its impact on our understanding of ancient Athenian politics and democracy. Work began in the Agora in 1931. Sponsored by the Archeological Institute of America, Duke Department of Classical Studies at Duke University and the Nasher Museum. For more information go to agathe.gr.

Museum Auditorium
Free

November 8
7 p.m.

Preview upcoming menu items, try wines being considered for the café's 2007 list and meet Alex and Betsy Hitt from Peregrine Farms, nationally known growers of organic produce and flowers at the Carrboro Farmer's Market and one of the largest suppliers to the Nasher Café. $75/person including wine.

Current Nasher Museum membership is required
Reservations will be taken beginning October 2; advance payment required
Please call 919-684-3411. Space is limited.

November 9
5:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

Meet Trevor Schoonmaker, Curator of Contemporary Art

The Nasher Museum of Art is committed to providing opportunities for exciting encounters with leading-edge artists and their work, but for many people, contemporary art is new and unfamiliar territory. In this 3-part series, museum director and curators will share three unique stories of how they came to know and love contemporary art, looking at examples from recent decades and offering insight on the current international art scene as it relates to the growth of the Nasher Museum collection and future exhibitions.

A continuation series on Collecting Contemporary Art is planned for Spring 2007.
Free for Nasher members; non-member tickets $5/lecture or $12/series
Please call 919-684-3411 for more information or to pre-register.

November 11
7 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Chinese choreographer and dancer Yin Mei presents two short works of performance art/dance theater to complement Between Past and Future.

"Nomad:Tea", commissioned and premiered by the Asia Society, is one of a trilogy of works inspired by the overarching theme of spiritual wandering.

"Ink/Paper/Body: If Heaven Had Memories, Heaven Would Grow Old" is a new work that reconceives the ancient art of calligraphy as not just a performance art but a ritual expression of the soul. Performances contain nudity. Co-sponsored by Duke Performances.

Museum Auditorium
Tickets $18. For tickets call 684-4444.

November 16
4 p.m. - 6 p.m.

Explore the exhibition Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China. Participants will receive CEU credit and interdisciplinary, curriculum-based materials to use with their students. Network with peers, enjoy refreshments and learn about field trip opportunities.

RSVP by November 10, 2006, to Lisa Charde at lisa.charde@duke.edu.

For more information about this exhibition visit http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/past_future/home.html and the exhibitions section of the Nasher Museum website.

Free to K-12 Educators.

November 16 6 p.m.

Tour of "Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China", followed by a light reception. The same program will be offered both evenings to enable Brummer Society members to take full advantage of intimate access to the exhibition with Museum Director Kimerly Rorschach.

The Brummer Society at the Nasher Museum of Art was established in 2001 and named for Ernst Brummer, the benefactor whose gift established the Duke University Museum of Art in 1969. Brummer Society members give $1,000 or more annually and receive invitations to private events and other opportunities. For more information on Brummer Society programs, please call 919-684-3411 or email anna.lorenz@duke.edu.

November 27 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.

Learn about collecting contemporary art and enjoy a private reception at a nationally acclaimed art gallery in Durham. RSVP for more details. Email nashermembership@duke.edu or call 919.684.3411.

November 30
6 p.m.

Joan Kee was editor of a special issue of "positions" (12, 3, Winter 2004) on East Asian contemporary art and has published on film and art from Korea, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia in a wide range of journals including "Oxford Art Journal," "Third Text," "Yishu," and in the upcoming Duke University Press book "Alien Encounters: Asian American Popular Culture."

In the mid-1990s, many artists produced works, and specifically, images that addressed the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong from Great Britain to China. What was once describable as a fixation with Hong Kong's sociopolitical identity, however, has increasingly revealed itself to be a series of questions about context: its role, its content, and its position in interpretation. This talk seeks to explore these and other related questions. Artists discussed include Sara Wong, Leung Mee Ping, and Wilson Shieh.

Museum Auditorium
Free