Contact: Thomas Moore
Director of Arts & Culture
410-455-3370
tmoore@umbc.edu  Note: You may view or download this release as a pdf file. |
The Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery presents Paradoxes of Modernism, opening on April 14th and closing on June 13th, featuring 75 photographs that survey Modernism from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Dramatic political, social, economic, and technological changes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries inspired modernization throughout the world. In the arts, the movement called Modernism was one response to those changes, and in retrospect overarching characteristics of this very diverse movement have been identified. This survey of twentieth century images selected from UMBC's Photography Collections provides evidence not only of those characteristics, but also some of the paradoxes of Modernism.
The reliance on the traditions of art is one of the paradoxes of Modernism. On the one hand, Modernism was an avant garde movement that looked to the future and was based upon an ideology of progress, yet, on the other hand, it was solidly rooted in tradition. A. Aubrey Bodine exemplifies this paradox, since his work grew out of traditional pictorial photography which relied heavily on lines of composition. Bodine was an inventive modernist, but he employed the techniques of the traditional pictorial photography from which his work evolved. While celebrating modern industry, he printed clouds into skies devoid of texture. Modernists challenged pictorialist style, yet incorporated its principles into their works. Similarly, modernist photographers argued that the painterly productions of the pictorialists were passé, yet their sharply focused still life and landscape images often emulated 19th century pictorialism.
Among the photographers whose work will be presented are Bernice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Manuel Alvarez-Bravo, Jim Amos, Diane Arbus, A. Aubrey Bodine, Brassai, Richard Buswell, Harry Callahan, Michela Caudill, Chim, Imogen Cunningham, Cary Beth Cryor, Robert D'Alesandro, Judy Dater, William Eggleston, Elliot Erwitt, Walker Evans, Jan Faul, Robert Fichter, Eric Fischl, Robert Frank, Roland Freeman, Lee Friedlander, Sally Gall, Ralph Gibson, Mildred Grossman, Heinz Hajek-Halke, Philippe Halsman, Ralph Hattersly, Robert Heinecken, Eikoh Hosoe, Richard Jaquish, Barbara Kasten, Richard Kirstel, George Krause, David Lebe, Jenny Lynn, Ralph Meatyard, Ray Metzker, Martin Miller, Roger Miller, Lisette Model, Barbara Morgan, Joan Netherwood, Arnold Newman, Dorothy Norman, Starr Ockenga, Bart Parker, Gilles Peress, Irving Henry Phillips, Sr., David Plowden, Charles Pratt, August Sander, Jaromir Stephany, Albert Renger-Patzsch, Walter Rosenblum, Christian Schad, Aaron Siskind, Neal Slavin, Ralph Steiner, Paul Strand, George Andrew Tice, Philip Trager, Barbara Traub, Jerry Uelsmann, Edward Weston, Minor White, William Williams, Gary Winogrand, John Wood and Barbara Young.
Gallery Information
The Albin O. Kuhn Gallery serves as one of the principal art galleries in the Baltimore region. Objects from the Special Collections Department, as well as art and artifacts from all over the world, are displayed in challenging and informative exhibitions for the University community and the public. Moreover, traveling exhibitions are occasionally presented, and the Gallery sends some exhibits on tour to other institutions nationwide. Admission to the Gallery and its programs is free.
Acknowledgements
The presentation of this exhibition is supported in part by a program grant from the Maryland State Arts Council, an agency funded by the State of Maryland and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Baltimore County Commission on Arts & Sciences.
Hours
Sunday: 1 P.M. – 5 P.M.
Monday: 12 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.
Tuesday: 12 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.
Wednesday: 12 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.
Thursday: 12 P.M. – 8 P.M.
Friday: 12 P.M. – 4:30 P.M.
Saturday: 1 P.M. – 5 P.M.
Telephone
UMBC Artsline (24 hour recorded message): 410-455-ARTS
General Gallery information: 410-455-2270
Web
UMBC Arts & Culture Calendar: http://www.umbc.edu/arts
Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery: http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/gallery/
UMBC News Releases: http://www.umbc.edu/news
Images for Media
High resolution images for media are available online:
http://www.umbc.edu/newsevents/arts/hi-res/
or by email or postal mail.
The images in this release:
Walker Evans, Untitled [Genesee Valley Gorge], n.d., silver gelatin print
Robert Fichter, A New Photograph of a Successful Weapon of War, 1970, cyanotype and gum bichromate
David Plowden, Susquehanna River Bridge, Market Street Bridge, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1969, silver gelatin print
Directions
UMBC is located approximately 10 minutes from downtown Baltimore and 20 minutes from I-495.
-- From Baltimore and points north, proceed south on I-95 to exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Walker Avenue Garage or Albin O. Kuhn Library.
-- From I-695, take Exit 12C (Wilkens Avenue) and continue one-half mile to the entrance of UMBC at the intersection of Wilkens Avenue and Hilltop Road. Turn left and follow signs to the Walker Avenue Garage or Albin O. Kuhn Library.
-- From Washington and points south, proceed north on I-95 to Exit 47B. Take Route 166 toward Catonsville and then follow signs to the Walker Avenue Garage or Albin O. Kuhn Library.
-- Daytime metered visitor parking is available in the Walker Avenue Garage. Visitor parking regulations are enforced on all University calendar days.
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A six-campus team of computer scientists led by UMBC has been awarded a $7.5 million, five-year grant from the Department of Defense to turn the 9-11 Commission’s recommendations for better sharing of classified data between U.S. intelligence agencies, military and homeland security officials into a workable, secure technology network.
The team is led by a principal investigator Tim Finin, a professor of computer science and electrical engineering (CSEE) at UMBC. It also includes UMBC professors Anupam Joshi, Yelena Yesha, Hillol Kargupta and Alan Sherman, who add expertise in advanced networks, data mining and information security.
The UMBC team is partnered with researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Purdue University, University of Michigan, University of Texas at San Antonio, and University of Texas at Dallas. The grant was awarded as part of the Department of Defense’s Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program, which takes a more long-term, interdisciplinary approach to solving scientific problems.
Many pieces of the 9-11 plot puzzle weren’t recognized until after the attacks due to inability or reluctance by intelligence agencies to share information. The 9-11 Commission Report recommended that the traditional U.S. intelligence culture of “need to know” be shifted to “need to share.”
The goal is to build software and network systems that allow the Department of Defense, intelligence agencies, homeland security and other organizations to share information dynamically and securely. The project hopes to help the U.S. better defend against future terror attacks, while protecting intelligence sources and methods as well has enforcing appropriate privacy policies.
According to Finin, the project will prove useful beyond the homeland security sphere. “There are plenty of real world problems that we can work on that are not classified, such as balancing patient privacy with making sure the right doctor in an emergency can quickly access their medical records,” Finin said. “Many of the principles of this research can apply to everyday scenarios where information is shared with the right people and protected from the wrong people, such as your family photo albums on Flickr or your credit history.”
“We want to create the science behind the idea of need to share,” said Joshi. “We’ll be weighing what should be shared with whom and asking if we can balance the utility of sharing something with the risk of its getting disclosed.”
“We want to find how to maximize our ability to share information while following pre-defined policies that protect privacy, ensure appropriate use and maximize accuracy,” said Finin. “It is a challenging task that will not be completely solved in the next few years, but we can make significant progress and advance the state of the art.”
More info online:
http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/
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UMBC presents the 
While continuing to garner international acclaim, the Paul Taylor Dance Company performs more than half of each touring season in cities throughout the United States. New York, San Francisco and Durham host annual engagements. From March 2004 through November 2005 the Paul Taylor Dance Company and/or Taylor 2 performed in all 50 States to celebrate the Taylor Company's 50th Anniversary. The unprecedented tour underscored the Taylor Company's historic role as one of the early touring companies of American modern dance. The 50th Anniversary celebration also featured a Golden Quartet of commissioned dances.
About Paul Taylor
Timothy Stubbs, a scientist at UMBC and NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center, has won funding for a project that sounds like equal parts Ray Bradbury and early David Bowie: studying how electrically charged dust moves across the moon and how it could be a hazard to humans and robots exploring the lunar surface.
Stubbs was selected by NASA to join the science team for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission, being built at Goddard and scheduled for launch later this year. The LRO is NASA's first step in plans to return humans to the moon by 2020. Stubbs is an assistant research scientist with UMBC’s Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center.
Most of the evidence for a lunar dust “atmosphere” dates back to the Apollo mission era. NASA scientists analyzing images returned by the Surveyor landers noticed a ‘horizon glow’ close to the surface after lunar sunset, believed to be caused by sunlight scattered by ultra-tiny (smaller than a few microns – a millionth of a meter) dust particles. While astronauts in orbit observed a high-altitude horizon glow (over 62 miles high) just as their spacecraft was passing out of the shadow of the Moon.
According to the “dust fountain” model developed by Stubbs and colleagues at NASA Goddard, the high-altitude dust grains inferred from the horizon glow are probably highly-charged and have been lofted upward by electric fields close to the lunar surface. Once above the lunar surface electric field, the dust grains then fall back toward the Moon under gravity, with their trajectories resembling the arc of a water fountain.
Like the rest of the lunar soil, the dust was created over billions of years by the countless impacts of tiny meteorites. It gets its electrical charge from the sun’s ultraviolet light, X-rays and the moon’s surrounding plasma (electrified gas of ions and electrons) environment. The dust’s electrostatic charge makes it move about the moon’s surface and also gives it a static-cling stickiness that can be hazardous to astronauts and their equipment.
The tiny dust fragments are sharp and jagged since there is no air or water on the moon to smooth them over time. The dust was a nuisance to the Apollo astronauts, sticking to their spacesuits and tracking inside their spacecraft.
But what was a minor annoyance for the relatively brief Apollo missions could be dangerous during the next-generation, long-duration missions being planned by NASA. Astronauts who regularly inhale the sharp dust fragments over time could develop lung diseases similar to those caused by asbestos or coal dust. The dust could also cause problems with sensitive equipment and instruments.
“I feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to be directly involved with NASA’s return to the moon, as well as very excited about all the great new science that will be achieved with this historic mission,” said Stubbs.
Stubbs’ project will use instruments on the LRO and other spacecraft to measure how much lunar dust there is and map the moon’s electric fields to better understand when and where the dust is most likely to be a problem for the manned missions planned for 2020 and beyond.
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Photo Caption (click on image to download high-resolution photo): UMBC Chess Team members pose with a UMBC cheerleader and the school mascot.
CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu
March 28, 2008
BALTIMORE – As the campus community continues to honor the men's basketball team's historic first appearance in the NCAA Division I Tournament, the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) will host the 2008 President’s Cup, known as the “Final Four of College Chess,” on April 5-6.
Admission is free. Spectators are cordially invited to attend this exciting United States Chess Federation (USCF) National event, which determines the 2008 National Collegiate Chess Team Champion. All matches will take place in the UMBC Game Room, located in the 2nd floor of The Commons, the hub of student life on the UMBC campus.
The President’s Cup features the top four American college chess teams from the prestigious 2007 Pan-American Intercollegiate Team Chess Championship. This year’s finalists are “Pan Am” champion University of Texas-Dallas (UTD), UMBC, New York University (NYU) and Miami-Dade College (MDC).
UMBC’s legacy as a collegiate chess champion includes four Final Four victories (2003-2006) and seven Pan-Am titles (1996, 1998-2002 and 2005). UTD is a three-time Final Four champion and a six-time winner of the Pan-Am.
The university's prowess in chess has been amplified by a series of national achievements in Division I athletics.
The men's basketball team won the America East Conference 2007-08 regular-season and tournament championships. Drawing No. 2 seed Georgetown in the Midwest regional, the Retrievers commanded national respect for challenging the Hoyas before losing to the perennial Big East Conference power, 66-47. The men's lacrosse team recorded the first NCAA postseason victory in UMBC history last spring, beating Maryland in the opening round of the Division I tournament. The women's basketball team engineered three straight upsets at the 2007 America East tournament to qualify for the NCAA tourney.
The chess rivalry between UMBC and UTD is fierce. They are the only schools to win the Final Four since it began in 2001. Alan T. Sherman, director of the UMBC chess program and organizer of the 2008 Final Four, considers NYU and MDC to be respectable challengers for this year’s championship.
“We eagerly await the opportunity to avenge our narrow second-place finish to UTD at the Pan-Am,” said Sherman, a professor in the Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. “With the addition of International Grandmaster Timur Gareev, our team will be even stronger.” Gareev, from Uzbekistan (USCF rating 2574), joined UMBC in January 2008. He recently tied for first place at the Liberty Bell Tournament in Philadelphia and will play second board for UMBC.
The UMBC Team features three other International Grandmasters: Sergey “The Stealth” Erenburg (Board 1, Israel), Pawel “The Polish Magician” Blehm (Board 3, Poland) and Katerina “The Kiev Killer” Rohonyan (Board 4, Ukraine). Rohonyan, a senior computer science major, will remain at UMBC to study for her PhD.
The President’s Cup uses a Team Round Robin format scored by total individual points. Each team has four players and up to two alternates. Standard USCF rules apply. Each player must satisfy the eligibility requirements established by the USCF College Chess Committee.
Rounds 1 and 2 will be held 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to 10 p.m., respectively, on April 5.
Round 3 is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 6, with a tiebreaker match (if necessary) that day at 2:30 p.m.
Throughout each round, international Grandmaster Sam Palatnik will provide free move-by-move commentary in Commons Room 329. All games will be broadcast move-by-move at www.monroi.com using the handheld Monroi wireless technology.
UMBC Chess Club: http://sta.umbc.edu/orgs/chess/
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UMBC is a medium-sized public research university of 12,000 undergraduate and graduate students who collaborate with professors on real-world challenges. Located just south of Baltimore near I-95 and the BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, UMBC's residential campus houses state-of-the-art facilities in the sciences, engineering, arts, social sciences and humanities. UMBC combines the energy of a research university with the close community feel and attention to individual students found in liberal arts colleges.
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UMBC presents the renowned contemporary music ensemble 
The New York Times says, "Simply put, there is no musical organization in New York that produces more intellectually enticing or more viscerally satisfying programs than Continuum...Year after year, its explorations in 20th-century repertory prove to be not only unusual and unexpected but also important and enduring...This ensemble has a long history of acting in behalf of composers whom others discover years or decades later."
UMBC's 
The UMBC 
