Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

Grosser and Randolph to discuss ‘Mail’ at Uncorked and On Topic

Who can see what we share? Does our email belong to us? How is technology changing the ways we communicate? Two faculty members from the College of Fine and Applied Arts will address such questions at the college’s Uncorked and On Topic event at 5:15 p.m. Oct. 15 in the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts Tryon Festival Theatre Foyer.

The event will explore the theme “Mail” through the experiences of Ben Grosser and John Randolph. Both scholars explore the connections between art and communication technology in their work – themes they will discuss at the event. The moderator will be Kevin Hamilton, a professor in the School of Art and Design.

The event, now in its second year, features faculty members from different disciplines discussing the arts. Future programs are scheduled for Nov. 15 on “Mobilities,” Feb. 4 on “Memory,” March 3 on “Mastery” and April 14 on “Mega (Cloud Sharing).” The events are free and open to the public.

Grosser, a professor in the School of Art and Design, focuses his work on the cultural, social and political effects of software on humans and systems, examining how it affects behavior and changes people. His work has been exhibited in major venues, exhibitions and festivals across the globe including Eyebeam in New York, The White Building in London and Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, Italy. His work also has been featured in Wired, The Atlantic, The Guardian and the Los Angeles Times, among others. He was awarded first prize in VIDA 16, a Net Art Grant and Commission from Rhizome, and the Expanded Media Award for Network Culture.

Randolph, a professor of history, specializes in the history of the Russian Empire, 1650-1850. He is writing a book about how this massive state used horse relays – similar to the short-lived Pony Express in the American West but for centuries longer – to move people, things and information between Poland and the Pacific Ocean. Behind the work stands a question relevant today: How do societies maintain the communications networks on which they depend and at what cost? Randolph is the author of “The House in the Garden: The Bakunin Family and the Romance of Russian Idealism,” which won the W. Bruce Lincoln Book Prize for best first book in Russian history in 2008. He is helping the department of history develop a new digital publishing program called SourceLab, which will allow undergraduates to create critical, open-access editions of historical materials for use in the classroom and research.

 

Read Next

Life sciences Portrait of the research team posing together.

Minecraft players can now explore whole cells and their contents

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Scientists have translated nanoscale experimental and computational data into precise 3D representations of bacteria, yeast and human epithelial, breast and breast cancer cells in Minecraft, a video game that allows players to explore, build and manipulate structures in three dimensions. The innovation will allow researchers and students of all ages to navigate […]

Arts Photo of seven dancers onstage wearing blue tops and orange or yellow flowing skirts. The backdrop is a Persian design.

February Dance includes works experimenting with live music, technology and a ‘sneaker ballet’

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The dance department at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign will present February Dance 2025: Fast Forward this week at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. February Dance will be one of the first performances in the newly renovated Colwell Playhouse Theatre since its reopening. The performances are Jan. 30-Feb. 1. Dance professor […]

Honors portraits of four Illinois researchers

Four Illinois researchers receive Presidential Early Career Award

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Four researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign were named recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the U.S. government on young professionals at the outset of their independent research careers. The winners this year are health and kinesiology professor Marni Boppart, physics professor Barry Bradlyn, chemical and biomolecular engineering professor Ying […]

Strategic Communications and Marketing News Bureau

507 E. Green St
MC-426
Champaign, IL 61820

Email: stratcom@illinois.edu

Phone (217) 333-5010