To Transform: spring 2024 public programs and engagement

To Transform
The spring 2024 public programs and engagement series at Columbia University School of the Arts is organized around the concept of “To Transform.” Here we present conversations, screenings, readings, and research about work that enacts transformation on physical, social, political, and psychic landscapes—exploring the complexities that ensue.

In February, a screening of the newly restored Stop Making Sense will feature a conversation about its making, with Daphne A. Brooks, Ira Deutchman, Sandy McLeod, Adam Reid Sexton, and Maureen A. Ryan. More here.

In collaboration with the African American and African Diaspora Studies Department, renowned artist, filmmaker, and cinematographer Arthur Jafa will discuss recent work with art historian and curator Kellie Jones. More here.

Writer, Director, and faculty member Ramin Bahrani will screen his powerful documentary short, If Dreams Were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis, followed by a conversation with epidemiologist and University Professor Wafaa El-Sadr. More here.

Celebrated writer Claudia Rankine returns to Columbia University School of the Arts for the first of a new series of events, “Speak Now,” organized by Interim Dean and Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Sarah Cole. More here.

In March, artist, architect, and preservationist Jorge Otero-Pailos will present Analogue Sites—sculptures made from a fence that once surrounded the US Embassy in Oslo, and soon to be installed along Manhattan’s Park Avenue. Response by Matthew Buckingham. More here.

In April, writer, filmmaker, and theorist Paul B. Preciado will screen and discuss the acclaimed documentary, Orlando: My Political Biography, with Jack Halberstam. More here.

Eliza Barry Callahan, Emmeline Clein, Chloé Cooper Jones, and Leslie Jamison will discuss new books, asking “How can crisis make us more attuned to the world in all its texture and strangeness? How can illness, silence, heartbreak, and hunger summon sharpened forms of attention and wanting?” More here.

Lenfest Kids—a free monthly film screening series for children and families that delves into the world of music—includes West Side Story, The Blue Giant, The Wiz, the Spanish-language version of Coco (with English subtitles), and more.

Visit the School of the Arts website for the full season of events. 

Columbia University School of the Arts recognizes Manhattan as part of the ancestral and traditional homeland of the Lenni-Lenape and Wappinger people. We continue to address issues of exclusion, erasure, and systemic discrimination through ongoing education and a commitment to equitable representation.