Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies

Language and the Creative Mind

This conference is organised by Dr. Barbara Dancygier, Professor of English and 2012 Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence

PWIAS Public Lunch Forum

Location: UBC Institute for Computing, Information and Cognitive Systems, Bldg. Atrium (2366 Main Mall)
Time: 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Drop by on your lunch break and listen to Alfredo Santa Ana, Wall Composer in Residence as he presents "Musical Dialogues: Hearing the Conversation Unfold" with David Gillham, UBC School of Music (violin), and Rebecca Wenham (cello).

Please RSVP at: RSVP@pwias.ubc.ca

Arrive early as seating is limited!

This event is free and open to the public. Refreshments available. 

Download event poster (PDF)

Plato’s dialogues capture the evolution of an exchange between two characters, and present a linear  progression of arguments unfolding through the text. In music, the listener is presented with an analogue situation in which the music moves through time and gradually introduces elements that build a musical rhetoric. This presentation will include a talk and a performance of Eleven Dialogues for violin and cello, a work composed by the Wall Composer in Residence, in which both instruments interact with one another in a context inspired by the moment-to-moment exchange and the gradual presentation of musical ideas. Although at times the resolution of dialogues may be inconclusive, it is the probing and the scrutiny of each of the ideas that seems to capture essential elements of the concepts being  expounded.

Judith Butler Symposium

A symposium honouring Dr. Judith Butler's contributions to scholarship.

Location: PWIAS Conference Rooms
Time: 12:00 noon to 4:30 pm

Registration is Full.

Wall Exchange: Downtown Public Lecture - Spring 2012

Talk by Dr. Judith Butler, eminent philosopher, literary critic and political activist 

Thursday, May 24, 2012 7:30 pm at the Vogue Theatre (918 Granville Street).

The show has sold out. To be on the waitlist contact: rsvp@pwias.ubc.ca

What is happening when bodies amass in the public square, the university commons, and the street, or when they gather for episodic "occupations"?  It seems we are in the midst of a new form of politics, one that depends upon bodies amassed and moving together, holding firm, sitting still, and even sleeping in public. Whether resistance in the streets of Vancouver, Madrid, or Athens, the coming together of bodies in coordinated protest worldwide takes new forms, even as it calls upon more classical ideals of public action.  Can we say that this is a new politics of the body?  This lecture will pursue the question: has contemporary politics taken a bodily turn? Or have street actions become so media-driven that we are witnessing a disembodiment of the public sphere?  What role does the body play in a politics of the street?

Wall Exploratory Workshop

Principle Investigator Dr. Kai Chan, Professor, Insitute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability

This workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of ecologists, economists, psychologists, anthropologists, geographers, political scientists, philosophers, sociologists, and terrestrial and marine management practitioners to address two thorny questions. 1. How can research in your field contribute to an understanding of how ecosystem change might result in changes in well-being, be that defined socially, culturally or economically? And, 2. How can research in your field contribute to an understanding of how we at this meeting might contribute to bold and large-scale change toward greater environmental security and social equity in a rapidly changing world? This project will provide a re-envisioned conceptual framework for understanding ecosystems’ contributions to human well-being, and a suite of interdisciplinary insights to guide the design of stewardship initiatives at different scales.

Wall Early Career Scholars Transition Reception

PWIAS Lounge
5:00 PM - 6:30 PM

Wall Early Career Scholars Retreat

Bowen Island, BC

PWIAS Faculty and Graduates Lunch Forum

Talk by John Robinson, Executive Director, UBC Sustainability Initiative

Location: Centre for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS)
Time: 12:30 pm to 1:30 pm

Light lunch available.  A free event.  Registration coming soon.

The Wall Exchange: Downtown Public Lecture Fall 2012

Talk by Sir Martin Rees, Former President, The Royal Society and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology & Astrophysics

Location: Vogue Theatre (918 Granville Street)
Time: 7:30 pm

(Tickets to be released in September)

Wall Early Career Scholars Meeting

PWIAS Conferene Rooms
5:30 pm to 8:30 pm