Throughout the year, the Bell Library sponsors or co-sponsors a variety of special events: lectures, conferences, performances, receptions, and other cultural activities. Check this page regularly for new links and listings! And don't forget to investigate our Exhibits and Annual Lecture pages, too.

Upcoming Events

Festivals Series

This special series offers a variety of events throughout fall semester 2018.  In addition to our exhibit, Festival, Ritual, and Celebration in the Early Modern World, we are offering or co-sponsoring several lectures and other events:

  • Thursday, October 18 | 7:00 p.m.  The Annual Carl Sheppard Memorial Lecture in Medieval Art History
    Professor Cecily Hilsdale, McGill University: "Treasures, Hoards, and the Ends of Medieval Objects"
    Elmer L. Andersen Library, Rm 120; co-sponsored with the Center for Medieval Studies   Reservations recommended

    Centuries after the Muslim conquests of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, Arab historians expounded upon the treasurs hoarded by the conquered Visigoths. While such texts are surely the stuff of legend and marvel, the discovery of a buried cache of Visigothic corwns and corsses in the mid-19th century outside Toledo, Spain, raises key questions about treasures and their continued renown.



  • Friday, October 26 | 12:00 p.m.  Festivals Lecture
    Professor Michael Wyatt, Stanford University: "I Figli d'Art Cuticchio, Tradition, and Innovation in Contemporary Sicilian Puppet Theater"
    1210 Heller Hall, U of MN West Bank Campus
    Presented by the Center for Early Modern History and the Italian Cultural Center of Minneapolis/St. Paul,br/> Michael Wyatt, leading specialist of early modern Italian literature at Stanford, will introduce attendees to the magical world of Opera dei Pupi and the uniqueness of puppet master Mimmo Cutcchio's theater.


 

  • Saturday, October 27 | 9:30 a.m. Meet the Artist: A Social Gathering for a Talk and Puppet Demonstration
    Mimmo Cuticchio, Italian Puppet Master, Open Eye Figure Theater, 504 East 25th Street, Minneapolis, MN
    Reservations are recommended for this free event. Visit www.openeyetheatre.org or call 612-874-6338

  • Saturday, October 27 | 7:30 p.m. Puppet Theater: Free Performance
    The Great Duel Between Orlando and Rinaldo for the Beautiful Angelica's Sake | Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian Puppet Theater; Italian Puppet Master Mimmo Cuticchio and the Theater Company Figli d'Arte Cuticchio
    Illusion Theater, Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts, 8th Floor, 528 Hennepin Ave, Minneapolis, MN
    Reservations online at www.illusion theater.org or call 612/339-4944
    Both puppet theater events are co-presented by the Italian Cultural Center Mpls/St. Paul and Instituto Italiano di Cultura of Chicago and curated by Francesca Bortoletti, University of Minnesota

  • Wednesday, November 7 | 7:00 p.m. The 55th James Ford Bell Lecture
    Professor Ann Waltner, University of Minnesota, will present "Watching Weddings in 1735: Two Representations of Chinese Wedding Processions".  This research adventure story will highlight an engraving currently on exhibition at the Bell Library.
    Elmer L. Andersen Library, Rm 120; presented by the James Ford Bell Library with support from the Associates of the James Ford Bell Library and the Friends of the University of Minnesota Libraries.  Reservations recommended for this free event



  • Thursday, November 29 | 7:00 p.m. Festivals Lecture
    Kristin Huffman, Duke University: "Picturing the Venetian State: Celebrations of Dogaressa Morosini and Doge Grimani"
    Elmer L. Andersen Library, Rm 120; presented by the James Ford Bell Library with support from the Consortium for the Study of the Premodern World
    Reservations are recommended


 

  • Friday, November 30 | 2:00 to 4:30 p.m. Digital Humanities Workshop
    Kristin Huffman, Duke University: "Jacopo de' Barbari's Marvelous View of Venice 1500"
    Giuseppe Gerbino, Columbia University and Paulo Ciuccarelli, DDRLab Milan: "Festivals in Renaissance Italy (FRIDA): A Digital Atlas"
    Elmer L. Andersen Library, Rm 15K Wallin Special Collections Research Center; Co-sponsored by the CSPW Digital Research Workshop and the James Ford Bell Library




 

 

 

 

 

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