Nomkhubulwane, the life-size elephant sculpture made by renowned South African artist Andries Botha, arrived in Chicago on 28 May, after visiting sevearl other cities in North America including Juarez, Mexico and Detroit, Michigan. This week, there are several interesting (and free) events featuring Nom-Koo, Botha and WILD’s President Vance Martin. (Schedule of events in Chicago)
Today (June 15) from 7-8:30 pm Andries Botha and Theaster Gates, artist and Director of Arts Programming at the University of Chicago will discuss “Public Intellectuals Shaping Public Space” at the Franke conference room at the University of Chicago. The event is sponsored by the Civic Knowledge Project and admission is free.
On Friday (June 18th) from 11:30-1pm Botha and WILD’s President Vance Martin will join Nom-koo in Chicago for a special public lecture at the Field Museum. Botha’s presentation, “Can We Live Without the Elephant?”, will discuss the role of imagination and how cultural practitioners can be civic actors as well as the work of the Human Elephant Foundation. Vance will compliment this artistic perspective with diaglogue on the elephant’s place in the African ecosystem, featuring two of WILD’s programs, The Mali Elephant Project and the developing In the Tracks of Giants: Nature Needs Half™ program. This event is free – but you need to register today if you’d like to attend!
Nomkhubulwane’s Chicago visit is made possible by InterfaceFLOR, the Human Elephant Foundation, Imagine Chicago and the WILD Foundation.
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