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Posts published in “Arts and Culture”

Professor Atela’s Mathematical Expression

“Concinnitas” was a term used by 15th-century scholar and architect Leon Battista Alberti to describe beauty in architecture, which he believed existed when — and only when — parts of a building cohered to a harmonizing whole. It was also used to name The Concinnitas Portfolio, to which Professor Pau Atela responded in his Re(Creations) and MathStudio. Both the portfolio and Atela’s work will be displayed at the University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMass until Dec. 9.

Best of Valley Voices Story Slam Makes for a Fun Night

I have a complicated relationship with the word “slam.” Every time I hear the word qualifying some literary event — a poetry reading or a storytelling event — I feel my stomach lurch, as though I caught a whiff of some food that once gave me torrential runs. Not that I only have bad experiences with slams, not at all. But for every poem I’ve heard that revelled in the snap of a word as it rolled off the tongue, for every story I listened to that sparked against the speaker’s animated telling, there were five, ten, fifteen others that made me cringe back into my seat.

Exploring temporary moments in “Im(permanence)”

“The answer.”

The room is abundant with mixed media, geometric patterns and vibrant colors, but this phrase is what stands out in particular while walking through the Nolen Art Lounge. It is on one of the several collages in the gallery, bold against a backdrop of urban architecture, floating limbs and plates of food. And the answer is just as ambiguous as the question artist Ronnie Schwaller seeks to ask with this collaborative exhibit, “Im(permanence).”

Alt-J tries a new direction with mixed results in “Reduxer”

Like them or not, you probably have some experience with Alt-J’s music. Whether it’s the mumbled lyrics, the unusual instrumentation or the twee habit of referring to their band as just “∆,” most people who are familiar with the indie music scene immediately recognize Joe Newman’s airy vocals and intertwining harp melodies.

A Review of “Snapshots”

Jacqueline Richardson ’21 | Assistant Arts Editor

Oh, the lesbian movie! If there exists a genre more fraught and loved to the people it tries to portray, I haven’t heard of it. Dead lovers, sex scenes so obviously shot with a man panting behind the camera and straight actresses fumbling through flat performances fill the film’s minutes, and yet we continue to watch. Of course some successes exist. But these are few.

Review: Bo Burnham debuts “Eighth Grade”, a stellar Gen Z coming-of-age story

Phoebe Lease ’21 | Arts Editor

Like many in my generation, middle school is a memory I would like to keep far, far away from any part of my conscious mind. Yet, when I saw the trailer for “Eighth Grade,” an indie film quickly gaining an enthusiastic audience, I was drawn to the honesty with which director Bo Burnham deals with his young characters.