Art in National Life

ORIAS Summer Institute focuses on public art from around the world

From July 27 to 31, 2009, UC Berkeley’s Office for Research in International and Area Studies (ORIAS) will host its thirteenth summer institute for K–12 and community-college instructors. This year’s institute, “Visible Power—Art in National Life,” will assemble an array of artists, archivists, ethnomusicologists, and scholars, including a number of UC Berkeley professors, to address the long history of public art in a variety of national contexts.

Public art has been interpreted variously by scholars from different disciplines. It has been viewed as an expression of identity, a tool for communicating abstract political or religious ideas, a means of persuasion, a measure of social status, or simply art for its own sake. Emphasizing the role that the study of public art can play in the classroom, “Visible Power” will present valuable case studies of public art from around the world that can be integrated into the world history curriculum.

ORIAS is a joint program of the federally designated Title VI National Resource Centers for area studies at UC Berkeley. Since its inception in 1996, it has been dedicated to providing scholarly resources and supporting professional development for K–12 and community college teachers addressing international studies. ORIAS summer institutes bring together educators across California with scholars from UC Berkeley’s seven National Resource Centers to explore themes in world history.

Programs and course materials are designed in collaboration with teachers, scholars, performers, museums, and other education outreach organizations in the Bay Area. By providing resources, knowledge, and curriculum tools to educators, ORIAS scholars and staff hope to better prepare California students to become informed participants in the global community. An archive of materials from past institutes is available online at http://orias.berkeley.edu/oriasarchives.htm.

For more information please see the ORIAS homepage.