Arts & Culture

In cynical times, optimism gets a bad rap. But in her new book “Infrastructural Optimism,” Linda C. Samuels argues that optimism is not simply a reflexive emotional state, but a critical driver of public investment, societal progress and — perhaps — democracy itself.

Anastasia White never forgot the thrill of seeing her designs on stage at the Edison Theatre, or the lessons learned studying fashion at the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Today, her company, crescent bleu, creates sustainable swimwear.

Jamie Harris, a graduate student in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, has won a Horizon Award for Emerging Artists as part of Ascend 2021, the National Black Arts Festival.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present a major new commissioned project by San Diego-based artist and filmmaker Nicole Miller, opening March 25. Known for her evocative videos and multimedia installations, Miller frequently addresses themes such as subjectivity, self-representation, agency and race.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present the first solo exhibition in the Midwest by Brooklyn, N.Y.-based artist Chitra Ganesh. In her multidisciplinary practice, Ganesh draws on Buddhist and Hindu iconography, science fiction, queer theory, comics, Surrealism, Bollywood posters and video games, combining them with her own imagery to present speculative visions of society in the past, present and future.

Undergraduate vocalists Zoe Levin and Izzy Williams join pianist Kara Mehrmann for an exclusive performance of a holiday classic.

The course “Designing Creativity: Innovation Across Disciplines” teaches students that everyone is creative.

Renowned architect Soo K. Chan, AB ’84, is the master of blurring the line between indoors and out.

“Return,” the 2021 WashU Dance Theatre concert and the Performing Arts Department’s first fully staged dance production in nearly two years, will run in Edison Theatre Dec. 3-5.

In “Confronting Urbanization,” a wall-sized drawing at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Petra Kempf combines copious data and mischievous symbolism to explore how smart phones, online commerce and global connectivity are reshaping the urban terrain.