The Michigan Daily I michigandaily.com I Thursday, April 2, 2009

weekend
essentials
Apr 2to
CONCERT
This Saturday, Chick
Corea and John
McLaughlin's Five
Peace Band performs
at Hill Auditorium.
Both leading men are
jazz fusion legends and
have been recording
and touring since the
'60s. The super-group
hits the stage at 8 p.m.
for what should be
a can't-miss evening
of jazz fusion. Tick-
ets starting at $10.
ON STAGE
7 p.m. this Sunday at
the Michigan Theater,
the Michigan Pops
Orchestra will stage an
"Epic" performance.
Pops is the only
student-run, student-
directed orchestra
on campus, and the
group's performances
are consistently enter-
taining and refreshing-
ly unpretentious. This
semester's program
features a variety of
renowned pieces, such
as Holst's "The Plan-
ets." Tickets from $5.

tLp

AFTER A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL OPENING WEEKEND, THE UNIVERSITY'S
NEWLY RENOVATED MUSEUM OF ART IS READY TO PROVIDE CAMPUS WITH
ITS WORLD-CLASS COLLECTION. BY KATIE CAREY, DAILY ARTS WRITER

THE EXTENT OF ARTWORK at the corner of State
Street and South University Avenue over the past
three years has been limited to the large orange
Orion sculpture by Mark di Suvero that was
installed this fall. While it certainly was an indi-
cation of things to come, the sculpture did little
to incite conversation about art and even less to
engage audiences beyond the initial question,
"What is that thing?"
The wait has been worth it, though.
Now, over 18,000 other artworks
in the newly refurbished Uni- UMP
versity of Michigan Museum of INVI
Art join the lone sculpture on
State Street. STUDENi
At the student opening ALL DISCIP
last Tuesday, March 24, the
line to get into the museum EXPLORE AN
wrapped around the block, THEMSELN
reaching to East University WORKS AN
Avenue. Over 15,000 people
attended the 24-hour opening ITS W
on Saturday, and nearly 24,000
had attended by the end of the open-
ing weekend. Within the museum, the
collection sparked a long-awaited dialogue that
has been missing on campus for the entirety of
many students' college careers.
Though students may have come for the free
food or the Zingerman's gift certificates, they
ended up staying to talk about the artwork with
their friends, ask questions about its origins and
postulate their own philosophies behind art
pieces - and these were not just typical museum-
goers, but engineers, mathematicians and people
* from all areas of study.

"We didn't want to be a museum for just artists
and art historians," UMMA Museum Director
James Steward said. "Before, the museum was an
adjunct to their studies - yet the vast majority of
students are not studyingthat. We wanted it to be
a hangout space, a place you can go to have other
types of experiences."
The events at the 24-hour opening were a
glimpse into what the museum space has to
offer. During the opening period, a trio
of students performed a skit about
AA Picasso, students danced through
TES the museum in handmade cos-
tumes and comedy and poetry
S FROM events constantly circulated
LINES TO throughout the auditorium.
Gone are the days when a
IlMMERSE museum could remain rel-
'ES IN ITS evant simply by hanging up
D WITHIN a few masterpieces. UMMA
ALLS. works at providing a dynamic
space for not only paintings and
sculptures, but all types of art.
With future plans to make partner-
ships with the Zell Writers Series, the
Screen Arts & Cultures program and the School
of Music, Theatre & Dance, UMMA is capitalizing
on the idea of"a meeting place for the arts."
"We're trying to express that one type or one
form of art isn't that much greater than the others
and that we can try to make some connective tis-
sue between these different types," Steward said.
Ania Musial, an LSA senior who attended the
24-hour opening, reminisced about how the
museum has changed since she last visited during
See YOUR UMMA, Page 4B

FILM


M-agination Films,
Michigan's student
film production group,
will screen its annual
"Kind of a Big Deal"
showcase tonight at
the Michigan Theater
at 7:30 p.m. This is
your chance to see the
next Lawrence Kasdan
or George Manu-
pelli while they're
still making student
films in Ann Arbor.
The event is free..

AT THE MIC
Grammy-nominated
rapper Common brings
his literate hip hop to
the Power Center on
Saturday night. His
mix of politically and
socially conscious
rhymes with deadly
beats is sure to ener-
gize and resonate
with students. Detroit
natives Slum Village
will open the show.
Tickets starting at
$15 with Mcard. The
show begins at 7 p.m.

MAX COLLINS/Daily
PHOTOS (CLOCKWISE, STARTING FROM TOP): Students wait in line for the 24-hour opening of
UMMA; visitors admire the wide array of art of different styles and periods; art is displayed in the
museum in ways that catch a wandering eye; interactive art displays evoke discussion.