Arts & Culture

Vivienne Chang and Eugenia Yoh met back in 2018 at a Washington University hotpot party hosted by the Taiwanese Students Organization. The two students soon learned, not surprisingly, they both loved the food, culture and people of Taiwan, where they both had family. They also discovered another, more unusual passion – children’s books. Their debut book, “This is Not My Home,” was released in January.

The writers and illustrators of many beloved picture books are from the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis.

What changes and trends could we see this year? WashU experts in areas from artificial intelligence to climate to fashion share their insights.

Celebrated mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges will launch the 2023 Great Artists Series Jan. 29. The intimate recital will span classic lieder by Johannes Brahms, beloved song cycles by Maurice Ravel and Manuel de Falla, and a rare gem by St. Louis-born composer John Carter.

Celebrated sculptor Chakaia Booker will launch the Sam Fox School’s spring Public Lecture Series with a free talk Jan. 19. Subsequent speakers will range from Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré to author and illustrator Deb J.J. Lee, avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson and fashion technologist Anouk Wipprecht.

Amira Jihane Khelfallah, a doctoral candidate in comparative literature in Arts & Sciences, won a special jury prize during the 11th International Film Festival of Algiers.

Douglas Flowe, an associate professor of history in Arts & Sciences, will be featured in “The Lie Detector,” a PBS documentary about the invention, promise and unintended consequences of the polygraph machine.

The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum has acquired a major recent work by artist and activist Ai Weiwei. Titled “Illumination” (2019), the piece reconstructs, in colorful Lego blocks, an iconic selfie the artist took during his 2009 arrest in Chengdu, China.

“Color can appear anywhere,” says Katharina Grosse. “It is independent from any location.” In this video, Grosse, one of Germany’s most celebrated artists, explores the nature of color, the visceral reactions it prompts and its power to override pictorial relationships and hierarchies.