A Virtual Waterfall Brings Color to an Opening Week of Duke Arts
Kickoff events spotlight the central role of arts at the university
The installation will be open to the public from Sept. 3-16 during regular operating hours of the Rubenstein Art Center.
There’s more interactive art to be found outside the Rubenstein Center. Visitors can pedal away on a stationary bike, and as they do, the bike will project images on the ground and play music.
It’s part of “Light Lane,” a public art installation by LeMonde Studio presented by Duke Arts. Other bikes will be installed at the Bryan Center Plaza and at Old Five Points in downtown Durham. The projected images are different for each bike. For each bike trio, the first image is from Duke Arts, and the other two images are by local Durham-based artists selected in partnership with Let’s Talk Durham.
These images will have a different theme: addressing climate change (Bryan Center), celebrating Durham (downtown) and celebrating the arts (Rubenstein).
Duke Arts Opening Week is meant to showcase the central role arts play at the university and in the wider community. Last year, it kicked off with a performance by noted jazz musician and composer Terence Blanchard and a spectacular visit by three giant puppets.
John Brown, vice provost of the arts, said the new Duke Arts Presents season is “an invitation to the people of Duke and Durham to come together and experience new art.
“This opening week introduces major themes of our season, including elevating the talents of established and up-and-coming artists from North Carolina and the world, exploring America and democracy through performance, and bringing unexpected and interactive arts encounters that everyone can enjoy,” Brown said. “I am excited that this opening week includes several free events and experiences both on campus and in Durham, and I hope to welcome new and returning audiences.”
The virtual waterfall and the stationary bike installation is also an example of the way arts at Duke seeks to provoke thinking about the environment and climate change. Related to both is the Nasher Museum of Art’s new exhibit of photographs called “Second Nature.” Opening this week, the photographs present portraits of human-induced environmental change.
Duke Arts Opening Week will feature three performances:
Salsa band Conjunto Breve, 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 4. American Tobacco Campus. Free and open to public
Satirists Roy Wood Jr. & Jordan Klepper, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 5. Page Auditorium. Public tickets are sold out; limited $10 tickets remain for Duke students
Tesla String Quartet, Chamber Arts Series, 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7. Baldwin Auditorium. Tickets $47 / $35.
Duke Arts in the Community
One additional feature of the new season is an expansion of Duke Arts programming to the Streets of Southpoint and at American Tobacco Campus (ATC), part of the program’s mission to bring arts to Durham and the wider community.
Conjunto Breve’s concert starts the new season of Duke Arts at American Tobacco, with Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. the second show. The series celebrates 30 years of The Music Maker Foundation, a North Carolina-based nonprofit dedicated to tending the roots of America’s music. The season schedule is on the Duke Arts website.
Music on Main features a range of musical artists selected by Duke Arts every Saturday from Aug. 31 through Oct. 12 from 5–8 p.m. at the Streets at Southpoint. The music and dancing begins this Saturday with the Latin music group Orquesta Gardel.
The full lineup can be found on the Duke Arts website.
Duke Arts in the Community
