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<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite=""><b>*Zones of Emergency **|*
*Monday Nights@VAP **|* *May 5, 2008 6-9p **|* *MIT<br>
Visual Arts Program *|* *Stata Center 32-155*</b><br><br>
<br>
***The Human Condition** | Amar Kanwar + Balakrishnan Rajagopal*<br><br>
<br>
*Amar Kanwa*r, independent filmmaker, and *Balakrishnan Rajagopal*,
Professor of<br>
Law and Development and Director of the Program on Human Rights and
Justice at<br>
MIT will speak on the topic of /The Human Condition/. Amar Kanwar* *
will<br>
present /The Little Museum/ with reflections on the image that lies
between<br>
sorrow and resistance. This exploration will include extracts from
different<br>
film projects such as /Shrines/ 1991-2007, which emerges from labor
and<br>
indigenous people's resistance movements, /The Torn First Pages,/ which
emerges<br>
from the Burmese democracy movement and /The Lightening Testimonies/,
which<br>
emerges from the search for language to understand the narratives of
sexual<br>
violence in areas of conflict. *Balakrishnan Rajagopa*l will talk
about<br>
'normalizing emergency' in development and human rights terms, drawing
on<br>
Agamben, but with a specific focus on the condition of Dalits in
India.<br><br>
<br>
*Amar Kanwar* is the recipient of the 1st Edvard Munch Award for
Contemporary<br>
Art from Norway, an Honorary Doctorate in Fine Arts, Maine College of
Art, USA,<br>
the MacArthur Fellowship in India, the Golden Gate Award (San
Francisco<br>
International Film Festival); Golden Conch (Mumbai International
Film<br>
Festival); The First Prize (Torino International Film Festival,Italy);
Jury?s<br>
Award (Film South Asia,Nepal), Grand Prix at EnviroFilm, Slovak Republic
and the<br>
Golden Tree at the 1st National Environment and Wildlife Film
Festival<br>
Vatavaran, Delhi. A retrospective of his films was held at the<br>
Dhaka International Short Film Festival in 2005. His films have been
screened in<br>
small rural film festivals as well as international film festivals and
museums<br>
like the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the National Museum in
Oslo,<br>
Norway. He participated in Documenta 11 (2002) and Documenta 12 (2007),
Kassel,<br>
Germany.<br><br>
*Balakrishnan Rajagopa*l is Associate Professor of Law and Development
and<br>
Director of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at MIT. A previous
member<br>
of the Executive Council and Executive Committee of the American Society
of<br>
International Law, he is currently on the Asia Advisory Board of Human
Rights<br>
Watch, the International Advisory Committee of the Robert F. Kennedy
Memorial<br>
Center for Human Rights and the International Rights Advocates. He served
for<br>
many years with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
in<br>
Cambodia, and has consulted with UN agencies, international organizations
and<br>
leading NGOs on human rights and international legal issues. He is the
author<br>
of /International Law from Below: Development, Social Movements and Third
World<br>
Resistance/ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003; Foundation
Press,<br>
South Asia, 2005; Colombia, Spanish, 2005; 2nd edition forthcoming
in<br>
2008), and /Reshaping Justice: International Law and the Third World
/<br>
Routledge, co-editor, 2008). He is currently completing a book manuscript
on<br>
legalization of socio-economic rights in the Global South. He has
also<br>
published widely in law and other academic journals and in daily
media<br>
including the /Boston Globe, the Hindu, Washington Post/ and the
/Nation/.<br><br>
/This event is co-sponsored by the MIT Program on Human Rights and
Justice./<br>
*<br>
*<br>
*ZOE Blog:
<a href="http://www.zonesofemergency.net/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zonesofemergency.net/</a>*<br><br>
*Location*<br>
The Stata Center, Building 32,<br>
room 155, ground floor<br>
32 Vassar Street<br>
Cambridge, MA 02139, USA<br><br>
*Directions*<br>
The MIT Stata Center by architect Frank Gehry is on Vassar Street near
the<br>
intersection with Main Street. *By Public Transportation*<br>
Take the Red Line to the Kendall/MIT Station. When you exit the T,
walk<br>
Northwest, up Main Street (you will pass the MIT Coop and Legal
Seafoods). The<br>
second intersection is Vassar St. and the Stata Center is on your
left.<br><br>
This event is presented in conjunction with the following two
courses:<br>
4.381/4.366: Intro to Online Participatory Media: Zones of Emergency
-<br>
Networks, Tactics, Breakdown
<<a href="http://zonesofemergency.net/participation" eudora="autourl">
http://zonesofemergency.net/participation</a>> taught<br>
by Professor *Amber Frid-Jimenez* and 4.370/4.371: Research as
Artistic<br>
Practice: Module 1: Zones of Emergency: The FEMA Trailer Project<br>
<<a href="http://www.zonesofemergency.net/fema-trailer-project/" eudora="autourl">
http://www.zonesofemergency.net/fema-trailer-project/</a>> taught
by<br>
professors *Ute Meta Bauer* & *Jae Rhim Lee*.<br><br>
*Thanks*<br>
/Special thanks to Diane Davis, Professor of Political Sociology and
Associate<br>
Dean of MIT Department of Urban Studies and Planning (DUSP)/ /and Larry
Vale,<br>
Head of DUSP. This lecture series has been made possible with a special
grant<br>
by the Office of the Dean, School of Architecture and Planning./<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
phrj-list mailing list<br>
phrj-list@mit.edu<br>
<a href="http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/phrj-list" eudora="autourl">
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/phrj-list</a></blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
Debbie Meinbresse<br>
STS Program, MIT<br>
617-452-2390<br>
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