NEW ROCHELLE, NY — In collaboration with the New York Council for the Humanities, the New Rochelle Public Library, the New Rochelle Art Association, and the New Rochelle Council on the Arts will present a free lecture, “Alluring Androids and Robots in Film, Photography and Art”, by Julie Wosk, on Thursday, December 5, at 7:00 pm, at the New Rochelle Public Library.
Filmmakers, photographers, and artists have long been fascinated by the idea of artificial women that seem alive. The Stepford Wives and Lara Croft, products of the imagination, are now becoming realized in the latest in female Japanese robots, which look so real they can easily fool the eye. This illustrated lecture showcases colorful images of female robots, androids, talking dolls, mannequins, and other artificial women. Ranging from early automatons to lifelike female heroines in today’s video games, these images tell a startling tale of changing attitudes toward science and toward women themselves. Virtual women also raise provocative new questions: Do men and women view female robots differently? How do these images reveal men’s fantasies and fears about women? What happens when we can no longer tell the difference between an artificial woman (or man) and a real one? Will these ultra-realistic robots enhance our lives or challenge our humanity?
Dr. Julie Wosk is a professor of art history, English, and studio painting at the State University of New York, Maritime College, and also a painter and photographer. She is the author of the books “Women and the Machine: Representations From the Spinning Wheel to the Electric Age” (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001) and “Breaking Frame: Technology and the Visual Arts in the Nineteenth Century” (Rutgers University Press, 1992), as well as numerous articles and reviews.
Since its launch in 1983, the Council’s Speakers in the Humanities program has brought distinguished scholars on a wide range of humanities topics to audiences across New York State. All Speakers events are free and open to the general public. Each year, hundreds of non-profit organizations and community groups take advantage of this program, including community centers, religious organizations, museums and historical societies, and libraries. The Speakers program is an easy, affordable way for organizations to bring top humanities programming to their community.
For more information about this event, contact Barbara Davis, Community Relations Coordinator at the New Rochelle Public Library, at (914) 632-8254, HYPERLINK “mailto:bdavis@nrpl.org” bdavis@nrpl.org. For more information about the Speakers in the Humanities program, visit HYPERLINK “http://www.nyhumanities.org/sih” www.nyhumanities.org/sih.