‘A Tale of Two Cities: Buenos Aires’ exhibition highlights Hispanic Heritage Month at UD

2:38 p.m., Sept. 26, 2003--An exhibition of Argentine poetry and photography, on view from Oct. 13-24 in the Perkins Gallery at the Perkins Student Center, will highlight UD’s Hispanic Heritage Month celebration.

The month-long celebration, which features visiting poets, journalists and speakers from both Argentina and the United States, focuses on the cultural wealth of Latin America and highlights the region’s important contributions to contemporary art, music and literature.

The month of cultural heritage, which is highlighted by the 12-day traveling exhibition of poetry and photography entitled “Buenos Aires: A Tale of Two Cities, Mapping the New Reality through Poetry and Photography,” also will explore Latin America’s role in the ever-shifting political arena. An exhibit-related speakers’ forum about crisis and change in Latin America will feature visiting scholars, journalists and political activists who will address issues of global responsibility and social change.

Here is a run-down of featured events for the month-long celebration.

Thursday, Oct. 2
At 6:30 p.m., Avantango, the acclaimed Argentine music-and-dance troupe, will share the traditional Latin American art form of the tango in the Multipurpose Room at the Trabant University Center.

Friday, Oct. 10
Between 9 p.m. and 1 a.m., the Office of Hispanic and Latin American Concerns will host Fiesta Latina in the Multipurpose Room of the Trabant University Center. A celebration of ethnic pride and cultural heritage, the celebration will feature live Latin music, dancing and complimentary refreshments.

Monday, Oct. 13
“Buenos Aires: A Tale of Two Cities,” an exhibition of poetry and photography with a related speakers’ forum, opens at the Perkins Gallery at the Perkins Student Center and runs through Friday, Oct. 24. The exhibition showcases the photographs of visiting photojournalist Silvina M. Frydlewsky, a native of Argentina.

Frydlewsky's photos capture the devastating power of economic collapse as well as the resilience of the people of Buenos Aires and the beauty of this grand South American city. Besides directing the photography department at the weekly Buenos Aires magazine La Primera, Frydlewsky is a photographic correspondent for The Washington Post and several Latin American publications. She also serves as an instructor of photojournalism at the Andy Goldstein School of Creative Photography in Buenos Aires.

Wednesday, Oct. 15
At 7 p.m., in the Collins Room of the Perkins Student Center, a bilingual poetry translation workshop will be led by visiting Argentine poet and translator Delfina Muschietti and Gladys Ilarregui, UD professor of foreign language and literatures.

Muschietti, who is the author of four volumes of poetry, has had her work translated into English, Italian and French and has coordinated public poetry readings in Buenos Aires for the past decade. She currently serves as associate professor of literary theory and Latin American literature at the University of Buenos Aires and hosts a web site devoted entirely to poetry.

Thursday, Oct. 16
At 7:30 p.m., in the Rodney Room of the Perkins Student Center, Argentine journalist Santiago O’Donnell and Peter Hakim, president of the Inter-American Dialogue (the leading U.S. center for policy analysis and exchange on Western Hemisphere affairs), will deliver a joint lecture entitled “Crisis and Change in Argentina and Latin America: Local and Hemispheric Perspectives.” The talk, which will be moderated by Ralph Begleiter, Rosenberg Professor of Communication and Distinguished Journalist in Residence at UD, will be followed by a reception in the Perkins Gallery with Frydlewsky.

O’Donnell, who was born in Buenos Aires, served in the Argentine Coast Guard and has worked as a journalist for the Buenos Aires Herald, the Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Newsweek, Citizen Power, La Nacion and NPR. He currently serves as the managing editor of TXT, a new general-interest magazine with a national circulation.

Hakim, who writes and speaks widely on hemispheric issues, is interviewed regularly on radio and television and has testified many times before Congress. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Financial Times and Christian Science Monitor.

Saturday, Oct. 18
Between 10 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Frydlewsky and Ilarregui will discuss their work at an open reception at the Perkins Gallery in the Perkins Student Center. Input from the audience is encouraged, and opportunities will exist for viewers and listeners to ask questions and engage the artists in informal dialogue.

Monday, Oct. 20
At 7 p.m., Muschietti and Ilarregui will give a bilingual poetry reading in the Ewing Room of the Perkins Student Center.

Those who helped plan the Buenos Aires exhibition and related events include (from left): Julio Carrion, assistant professor of political science and international relations; Priscilla Smith, associate professor of art; Cynthia Schmidt-Cruz, director of the Latin American Studies Program and an associate professor of foreign languages and literature; and Gladys Ilarregui, assistant professor of foreign languages and literature.
Photo by Duane Perry

Wednesday, Oct. 22
A joint lecture entitled “An Interdisciplinary Look at Contemporary Argentine Culture and Politics” will conclude the visiting speakers’ forum at 7:30 p.m., in the Ewing Room of the Perkins Student Center. The speakers will include Reinaldo Laddaga, University of Pennsylvania professor of Spanish; Enrique Peruzzotti, professor of political science and government at Torcuato Di Tella University, Argentina; and John Deiner, UD professor of political science and international relations. The lecture will be moderated by Julio Carrion, UD professor of political science and international relations.

Laddaga is the author of two books—a novel and a critical study exploring the link between literature and ethics—and is currently at work on a book about contemporary Latin American literature and art. He has published more than 20 articles and book reviews and has presented several papers at symposiums throughout the U.S., Argentina and Brazil.

Peruzzotti is the 2003-04 Woodrow Wilson for International Center for Scholars Residential Fellow.

Thursday, Oct. 23
From 6-8 p.m., Lambda Pi Chi sorority will hold an open book discussion in Rooms 209-211 at the Trabant University Center. The debate will focus on Latino author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez’s recent book, “The Dirty Girls Social Club.” After the book discussion, moderators will lead participants in an exploration of the role and status of Hispanic-American women in contemporary society. Copies of Valdes-Rodriguez’s book also will be available for purchase at the UD Bookstore.

Tuesday, Nov. 4
An 8:30 p.m. performance by stand-up comedian Eric Nieves will conclude the month of Hispanic heritage events . Hosted by HOLA, (UD’s Hispanic Student Association), the free event will take place at The Scrounge in the Perkins Student Center and will include complimentary coffee.

The programming is made possible, in part, by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Delaware Division of the Arts and the Delaware Humanities Forum. Sponsors also include the Embassy of Argentina; the Office of Education and Science, Embassy of Spain; and the University of Delaware Center for International Studies, as well as numerous campus units.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, visit [www.udel.edu/buenosaires] or call Simone Delerme, graduate assistant in the Office of Hispanic and Latin American Concerns, at 831-0229.

Article by Becca Hutchinson
Graphic by Barbara Stein
Photos by Silvina M. Frydlewsky

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