University of Michigan - Michiganensian Yearbook (Ann Arbor, MI)

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imme dia and m e senses n February 8, the Media Union on North Campus was transformed. Usually a haven for students ' group projects or a late night programming space for EECS majors, the building was instead bursting with people and electronic music. It was the opening night of immedia2002 : the senses, a week long student-run digital and electronic arts exhibition, presented by entity, Ann Arbor ' s digital artist coalition. Completely consuming the normally placid Media Union, spectators observed crazy sounds coming from the gallery, the video studio, and from the performances held in Chrysler Atrium. Screenings of video and animation work ran all night and into the next weekend in Chrysler Auditorium. To accompany the visual scene, visitors could munch on color-coded food in the main hallway or a selection of interesting variations of the grilled cheese sandwich in the center of the event. Later that weekend immedia sponsored a lecture by musician Bill Van Loo and a lecture and performance by Golan Levin. The show was brought to a conclusion with a lecture by electronic musician Richie Hawtin. The goal of the seventh annual exhibition was to showcase digital art as an innovative but valid medium. Carlos Hinojosa, a senior communications major, had strong opinions about his experience organizing the show: immedia is an innovative exhibition of cultural expression hindering on technological themes. This annual exhibition displays the utmost potential of unique contributors to the digital arts. Through immedia I witnessed the fusion of diverse forms of cultural expression in one common collaborative space, exhibited for an attentive and excited audience. The many years that I have spent organizing this exhibit have inspired my appreciation of contemporary art through technological breakthroughs. Jennifer Putvin -II 002. Dressed in traditional clothing, Neema Bollampally performs tt South Indian Dance, Sangamam. Pranthanjali showcased a plethoci of dances and fashion, deriving from the diverse nature of India, peoples, and its languages. J. Neff photo IASA Fash ion the Indian American Student Assod ation ' s cultural show, bounced into the Michiga Theatre on November 23rd with fire and enthusiast! This year we wanted to create a show that would g people on their feet and cheer. We wanted a show th would be magical and represent the IASA proudly, sai junior political science major Mona Patel. Many long and hard practices went into makin this glorious piece of art and dance. We practiced evei night and even met on weekends just so we could get right. We did not want to have just a dance piece, w wanted something that we could all remember and ths takes a lot of practice, said dancer, Nate Winter, a con munications major. The IASA show was known for its spectacul; costumes, lively music and dance, and heartfelt theme This year proved no different with the IASA show den onstrating to be one of the most beautiful dance pieces t watch all year. In the end, we just wanted a show thj represents our culture and the beauty that is in it. I belief that we accomplished that goal this year, said Patel. Jennifer Lee Behind the translucent sign at the Media Union gallery, art lovers view the unique and colorful displays of immed:a2002: the senses. Imme- dia2002 provided individual designers a medium in which to display their digital and electronic creativity and allow audience members to get a fuller feel Of their senses, photo courtesy immedia lENSIAN

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Morale; captain Grant Webber sneaks away from his dancing duties on stage to grab a mas- sage from a fellow moraler. Tired dancers were entitled runabouts once per hour, where they ran onto mats for a quick rest and rub down. K. BrosJco photo Two children take a break from eating lunch to pose for a picture and show off some crazy hair. Kids Fair was a way for K-Grams volunteers to come face to face with their elementary school pen pals. K-Qrams photo s ' fourth annual Kids Fair kicked off to a enthusiastic start with Smilin ' Around the World international theme. From snow cone science with the National Society of Black Engineers to European Twister with Alpha Delta Phi, thousands of elementary students bonded with their college pen pals and found out what it was like to be a college student for a day. The purpose of Kids Fair this year was to allow elementary students to meet their pen pal and get an idea of what college life is like. Basically, the kids got to come and have a great time with a University student whom they looked up to, said senior engineering major Fernando Yarza. This year, Kids Fair brought in over 1000 elementary students, 800 college volunteers and hundreds of organizations to sponsor booths. Some organizations got very creative with their booths, such as the invisible Hindi writing done by the Indian Student Association, but most organizations just stuck to old-fashioned fun, such as Cartwheels for Fun done by Sigma Kappa and Sigma Phi Epsilon. The kids really loved the booths involving dancing, flags, candies or snow cones. And the University ' s organizations really showed their colors by all the support they gave us and all of the fun activities they made up for the kids, said senior history and political science major Cathie Hawke. Idea generation for next year began shortly after the kids fair ended. The one thing that we need to focus on for next year is getting more volun- teers, said senior business major Matt Kish. Despite issues that the Smilin ' Program Council still felt needed improvement Kids Fair 2002 struck a chord with the children and college students alike, and K-Grams fulfilled its mission of putting a smile on every child ' s face. Jennifer Lee ance Marathon 2002 brought unprecedented success. With er 400 dancers and thousands of moralers, volunteers, and many happy faced children from the hospital, Dance Marathon raised over $150,000 to help the pediatric rehabilitation at Wil- liam Beaumont and C.S. Mott Children ' s hospitals. The experi- ence to be a dancer was just plain incredible. I think that is almost all I can say. Well, it was tiring, but the end result and the look on those children ' s faces were worth it. I would do it again in a heart- beat, said junior political science major Ruby Hiramanek. The event started out early in the morning on March 17, Saint Patrick ' s Day, and went until 2 p.m. the following day. The dancers stayed on their feet for thirty hours, while supporters kept them well-fed, entertained, and inspired. It was very important to keep the dancers on their feet and always moving. I think that ev- eryone involved did such a great job, said senior psychology major Mary Rigg. At the end of the day, everyone involved felt a combina- tion of exhaustion and satisfaction. Yet, Dance Marathon was a huge success and only pushed the envelope for future accomplish- ments. Jennifer Lee SPECIAL EVENTS 117

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The Picasso exhibit sign hangs freely outside the University Museum of Art on a warm summer day. The exhibit was a popular diversion for community members and outsiders visiting the Ann Arbor area. K. Maker photo on Uisplai) June 8 to September 15, the University of Michigan Museum of Art (UMMA) put on exhibit its collection of Picasso ' s masterpieces. As James Chris- ten Steward, director of the Museum of Art, affirmed in his foreword in the Museum ' s Picasso catalogue, The Museum is committed to deploying many strategies in order to increase awareness and use of its collections. Steward noted that the Museum ' s collection and exhibi- tion of Picasso ' s artistic masterpieces was one step in this process. He also mentioned in his foreword that Picasso was one of the visual geniuses of modern times, and added, Picasso created some of the landmark images of the twentieth century. The UMMA ' s Picasso paintings provided visitors with a comprehensive overview of the artist ' s produc- tive career. The exhibition featured thirty-one pieces of Picasso ' s works dating from 1905-1968; it was one of the few university collections in the country, if not the only, which contained such extensive Picasso holdings. Samples of Picasso ' s oil paintings, drawings, sketches, engravings and lithographs adorned the walls of the museum. The works displayed allowed visitors to see Picasso ' s interest in conveying intensity and ' peaceful con- templation ' in his paintings at the same time. Overall, the UMMA exhibit offered a representative sele ction of some of the most important works of twentieth century art. Erica Chernick Taking the lead in front of a chorus of singers, Malika Tarkas sings a conventional Indian song. In addition to pleasing the eyes with colorful dress and beautiful dances, Pranthanjali also impressed the audience with its musical accompaniments J. Neff photo SPECIAL EVENTS 119