The commonplace understanding of reading as an essentially private activity is challenged not only by the very vocal kinds of reading carried out in classrooms, literary festivals or book clubs but also by the important role it has played in social and political conflict.

This interdisciplinary seminar brings researchers together to explore the question of how reading is implicated in diverse forms of conflict, including class conflict, military conflict, and conflict over political questions such as race and immigration. Presentations of cutting edge research on reading from the 19th century to the present day will be followed by group discussion of current knowledge and future directions for research and publication.

Lunch will be provided. Attendance is free but places are limited.

Please email Alex Laffer (a.laffer@open.ac.uk) to book a place.

Full program of presentations attached.
Speakers:
Dr. Rosalind Crone, The Open University, History
Dr. Edmund King, The Open University, English
Dr. Catherine Feely, University of Sheffield, History
Dr. Daniel Allington, The Open University, Language and Communication
Vincent Trott, The Open University, History
Alex Laffer, The Open University, Language and Communication

This event is made possible by funding from the Open University Centre for Research in Education and Educational Technology (CREET).

Food: A Scandalous Historytakes a trip back to the days of Victorian food scandals, when adulteration of food was endemic and the ghoulish newspapers of the day played on people’s fears about eating horse and cat.

“In 2013 we have witnessed the explosion of a public panic about the presence of horse meat in supermarket ready meals and mass catering establishments. These scandals have raised a number of important questions about the traceability of our food, our reliance on industrial processes in food production for mass catering and the extent to which the consumer in this process is a victim or really ‘should know better’.

This programme asks whether it might be useful to look back at similar scandals in the past in order to contextualise our fears about ‘horse-meat lasagne’.”

Catch the programme on BBC iplayer at http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01sm712

Whether we like it or not within the academy, popular culture still thinks of the arts and the sciences in terms of great individual talents. The term may be old-fashioned, but our culture continues to identify, admire, and elevate something called ‘genius’. This workshop aims to bring together scholars from right across the university to explore the history and incidence of concepts of genius. We will be sharing current research and enthusiasms, generating a collective bibliography, and exploring the possibility of developing a funding bid for a series of short audio programmes supported by visuals housed on a companion website, provisionally entitled ‘A Short History of Genius’.

Further details can be obtained from Prof Nicola Watson, Department of English, Arts Faculty.

Prof Perry is undertaking a series of lectures in New Zealand centred upon her phenomenally successful First Actresses exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, and her new book Playing at Home: The House in Contemporary Art (London: Reaktion books Ltd, 2013). Her lectures will include “Angels & Aristocrats: Portraiture and the Feminine Face of Celebrity” at the Auckland Art Gallery, as part of their exhibition .

Hosted by Kim Hill (2012 International Radio Personality of the Year), the Saturday Morning show was NZ Radio Awards 2012 winner: Best Daily or Weekly Series.

You can listen to the programme online via http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/saturday

Novelist Molly McCloskey was the judge for the 810 entries to the competition. Maureen wins 1000 euros, and her memoir will appear in the 2013 Fish Anthology to be launched during the West Cork Literary Festival in July 2013, at which she is also invited to read.

According to the judge, Luscus by Maureen Boyle “is a memoir in which the author strikes a wonderful balance between absolute control of her material and the achievement of a lightness and fluidity, as though the writing of it were happening easily and naturally; in fact it’s a highly crafted piece of writing. The author tells of losing an eye in a childhood accident; of the man who made her the succession of eyes that, as she grew, replaced her own; and of the world of doctors’ offices, with their wooden trays of eyes. The prose is restrained and unshowy and yet moves with a quiet power; with a wonderful concreteness, it roots us in the experience. The ending, about so much more than the narrator, the doctor, or the story at hand, moved me to tears.”

Attendance is free, but registration is required. Please follow instructions to register and print your ticket at: http://theplaceofhell.eventbrite.co.uk/#

Conference Aims and Themes
The aim of this conference is to explore the place Hell occupied within society and art as well as the way Hell was envisaged as a physical place.

A belief in Hell has been a staple of Christian thought from the earliest period of this religion. The depiction of Hell and its denizens – the devil, demons and the punished sinners – has an equally long history going back to at least the sixth century. From the eleventh century onwards, images of Hell become proliferate and more detailed in their presentation of the damned and their torments – in parallel to such texts as the popular Apocalypse of the Virgin.

Artists come up with different solutions in picturing the various torments inflicted upon the sinners as well as the places where these torments take place. In the art of the late Byzantine period and the late medieval west, the various figures of the damned are presented with inscriptions detailing the crimes and sins for which they are being punished. In western Europe, literary texts add detail to the vision of Hell as well, starting with the 11th-century Vision of Tondal and culminating in Dante’s Divine Comedy. The images, as well as the texts that we assume they are illustrating, offer a rich field for research. Questions of iconography as well as the exploration of social meanings attached to these powerful representations present themselves. The exploration of developments within the body of texts on and depictions of Hell can be particularly fruitful.

This conference is part of the Leverhulme International Network Project Damned in Hell in the Frescoes of Venetian-Dominated Crete (13th- 17th centuries) managed by Dr Angeliki Lymberopoulou (The Open University) and Prof. Vasiliki Tsamakda (The Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz).

For further information please contact Dr Diana Newall at Diana.Newall@open.ac.uk

or visit www.open.ac.uk/arts/damned-in-hell/conferences.shtml

In this concert we explore the relationship between the ultimate radical – Schoenberg  – and the poster-boy of traditional classical music – Brahms.

Although Schoenberg moved away from traditional harmonies, he still admired the Romantic music of Brahms, and saw his music as continuing Brahms’ legacy.

To book, simply call 0844 847 9934 and quote ‘Student’, saving up to £80.

This offer is only available in person at the Royal Festival Hall Ticket Office, or on the phone. Booking fees apply. You will need evidence that you are a current OU student.

Rest Is Noise

The weekend of music, talks and conversations explores how America became a major world player and the global impact of its culture and particularly music, from classical to blues, jazz and swing.

Taking part will be Arts Faculty academics Ben Winters, Alan Sennett, Catherine Tackley and Alison Appleby.The event is part of The Rest is Noise, a year-long festival revealing the stories behind 20th century music. The festival is partnered by the OU, the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC.

Visit the OU’s Rest is Noise on Open Learn to find out more about the weekend, OU talks, how to book tickets, and ticket offers.

Students currently studying with the OU are eligible for student concessionary rates, where available, when purchasing tickets for The Rest is Noise festival events.

9 full-time, 3-year PhD studentships available from 1 October 2013

The Faculty of Arts at The Open University is home to world-class scholars and research groups in Art History, Classical Studies, Digital Humanities, English, History, Music, Philosophy and Religious Studies.

In 2013-14, 5 AHRC-funded studentships are available in the following areas: History, with the National Library of Wales; English, with the British Library; and Music, with the National Library of Scotland. The 2 final awards with these partners are in English (e-manuscript collections) and History (digital heritage/crowdsourced data).

The Open University is also offering a Music studentship attached to the Listening Experience Database, a major AHRC-funded project in collaboration with the Royal College of Music, and the Baron Thyssen Studentship in Classical Studies, focusing on the History and Archaeology of the Roman Empire.

Applications will in addition be accepted for 2 fully-funded competitive studentships in any of the Faculty’s subject areas.

For information and instructions on how to apply, please see www3.open.ac.uk/employment. For advice on the applications procedure, contact the Research Degrees Team (research-degrees-arts@open.ac.uk; tel 01908 654882).

The closing date for all applications is 31 March 2013.

The series concludes with the focus shifting to the United States in the post-war years of the 1950s and beyond. Beginning with arguably the most notorious work of 20th century classical music, John Cage’s ‘silent’ composition 4’33″, it looks at how a series of maverick Americans re-invented the sound of classical music into a more simple form, bringing back harmonies and rhythms that made it increasingly popular with audiences across the world. It also examines how this music found its way into a spiritual realm, with the strain of pared-down religious composition that came to be known as ‘holy minimalism’.

From the Maverick concert hall in Woodstock, New York to an Orthodox cathedral in Estonia to a car park in Peckham, south London, the story is told by a stellar line-up of contributors including Philip Glass, Steve Reich, John Adams, Arvo Pärt and John Tavener.

There is still time to catch up with previous episodes. Free for all looks at how the freewheeling modernism that had shocked, scandalised and titillated audiences in the first two decades of the 20th century comes under state control. Initially, many practitioners thought the totalitarian regimes would be good for music and the arts. What followed in Germany was a ban on music written by Jews, African-Americans and communists, while in the Soviet Union there was a prohibition on music the workers were unable to hum. In the USA, many composers voluntarily embraced music for the masses.

The weekend of 2-3 March sees Berlin in the ’20s and ’30s at the Southbank Centre, with events and talks from 10am-6pm.

The Rest Is Noise year long music festival is a major collaboration between the Open University, the Southbank Centre, BBC and London Philharmonic Orchestra. The academic consultant for both the Festival and The Sound and the Fury series is Dr Ben Winters (Music Department, Open University). Find out more on our dedicated pages on OpenLearn.