Cozy Classrooms, Biomusical Beats, and Crime and Punishment Explored in Colloquium Series

Lectures allow VIU faculty to explore questions and share their passions with students, colleagues and the public.

This fall, three Vancouver Island University (VIU) drummers will attempt to merge into a single entity of sound during a performance of Nebojša Živković’s Trio Per Uno.

The piece, which requires the musicians to play on multiple percussion setups, combines quick tempos, complex rhythms and wordless vocals and syllables. Timing is crucial.

“It’s a demanding and complex piece,” says Hans Verhoeven, a VIU Music Department Instructor, who will perform the music with students Adam Robertson and James Bowman. “We have to be very precise.”

The musical performance called Get into the Groove: Biomusical Beats and Nebojša Živković’s Trio Per Unois the last session in VIU’s fall Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series. The performance is November 29 from 10 – 11:30 am at Malaspina Theatre.

Verhoeven has participated in the Colloquium Series once before and said it’s a great way to share some of the things being done at VIU’s music department with the community and to include them in the process of how students learn and perform pieces.

“It’s always extremely important to advocate for the arts and to be authentic and open with other people who may not know about our programs,” he says. “I think music is an integral part of life for all cultures.”

The Colloquium Series kicks off September 27 with A Commitment to Hygge: Building and Embracing Student Engagement in the Classroom, presented by Amelia Horsburgh, an English Department Instructor. Horsburgh shares her approach to creating an engaging classroom environment that incorporates the Danish concept of Hygge, which means coziness and comfort.

On October 25, Eliza Gardiner, a VIU Theatre Department Professor, presents Vengeance or Justice? Crime and Punishment in Oedipus Rex and Contemporary Canadian Corrections. The presentation reimagines the fifth-century tragedy and sets it in present-day Canada. Gardiner will explore how Oedipus’ conflict with the law compares with contemporary perspectives about criminal behavior and punishment. 

All Colloquium Series lectures take place from 10 – 11:30 am at Malaspina Theatre, located on the Nanaimo campus. The presentations are free and open to the public. People may arrive any time after 9:30 am and enjoy complimentary coffee and snacks. 

Katharine Rollwagen, a VIU History Professor and Chair of the Colloquium Committee, says the series gives attendees an opportunity to learn something new or to consider a familiar topic in a new way. She hopes people walk away from a lecture believing that VIU is a welcoming place and part of the larger Nanaimo community.

“The Colloquium Series showcases the scholarship that’s happening in our faculty. In the process it highlights how the arts and humanities are a crucial lens for understanding the world around us,” says Rollwagen. “Every presenter uses their discipline and their practice to explore a question or explain a phenomenon about which they are passionate, and that’s always inspiring to watch.”

This fall people can get a preview of upcoming presentations on CHLY, 107.1 FM, during a 30-minute show called Conversations in the Arts and Humanities, which will include an interview with the speaker and audio clips from past talks. Horsburgh is the guest for the first show, which is Wednesday, September 25 at 2 pm.

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MEDIA CONTACT: 

Rachel Stern, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University

P: 250.740.6560 l  C: 250.618.0373 l E: Rachel.Stern@viu.ca | T: @VIUNews