Author: Liam Otten

The world is always falling apart. And artists have long been interested in the melancholy symbolism of ruin and decay. But in recent years, such themes have acquired particular urgency as global environmental issues increasingly become matters of both scientific and public concern.

Alfredo Jaar is one of Latin America’s foremost contemporary artists, known for installations and public interventions that investigate war, corruption, social justice, media desensitization and the global balance of power. On Monday, Feb. 10, Jaar will deliver the inaugural Bunny and Charles Burson Visiting Lecture for the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

Dancer and WUSTL alumna Elinor Harrison, a member of acclaimed New York troupe Jane Comfort and Company, returned to campus last week as the 2014 Marcus Residency Dance Artist.

Stories are nice. So are songs. But put them together and you have cabaret, a distinctively intimate artform that collapses the distance — both figuratively and literally — between performer and audience. On Feb. 12, the husband-and-wife team of Todd and Kelly Daniel Decker will present “Songs from Broadway and Hollywood” as part of the DUC Chamber Music Series.

This spring, Brooklyn, N.Y.-based architecture and design firm Freecell will create a temporary performance space on a vacant lot in St. Louis’ Grand Center neighborhood. On Jan. 27, founding partners Lauren Crahan and John Hartmann will launch the Sam Fox School’s spring Public Lecture Series with a discussion of their work.

Jane Comfort and Company has been described by The New York Times as “a postmodernist pioneer in the use of verbal material in dance.” From Jan. 26-30, company member — and WUSTL alumna — Elinor Harrison will return to campus as the 2014 Marcus Residency Dance Artist.

Ruthe Foster sings like a force of nature. Eric Bibb, with his warm baritone and sparkling, effortless guitar, can seem like the happiest bluesman around. On Saturday, Feb. 15, these two Grammy-nominated blues artists will say “Thanks for the Joy” as part of the Edison Ovations Series.

Virginia Terpening was an accomplished painter and an important regional artist. Yet by the time of her death, in 2007, Terpening’s work had been largely forgotten; hundreds of paintings languished in a rusty trailer in northeastern Missouri. Yet now a reappraisal is underway, thanks in large part to The Hinge, a nonprofit gallery cofounded by Eileen G’Sell, lecturer in The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences.

The history of the 20th century and the beginnings of the 21st have been scarred by incomprehensible violence and far-reaching political events. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will explore both the direct experience and lingering effects of historic upheavals with “In the Aftermath of Trauma: Contemporary Video Installations.”

As an artist, the Sam Fox School’s Patricia Olynyk frequently investigates the intersections of art and science. Now Olynyk is helping to lead a national task force on the topic while also planning a vertical seminar about “The Role of Arts Practice in the Research University.”