Provided

Walker Evans in "Memory and the Photographic Image."

Art has sprung

The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art holds a public opening reception for its late spring exhibitions, April 13, 5-7 p.m.

New exhibitions on display include the student-curated "[space]: Constructing the Intangible," through July 22; "Age of Discontent: German Expressionist Works from a Private Collection," through July 29; "Cornell Art Faculty" and "Witness: 20th-Century Photographic Images from the Collection of Gary and Ellen Davis," both through Aug. 12; and "Memory and the Photographic Image," through Sept. 9.

Student curators from the History of Art Majors' Society will present a gallery talk at 4:30 p.m. on "[space]: Constructing the Intangible." Admission is free.

The museum also hosts a symposium on "Memory and the Photographic Image" April 20-21, exploring how images contribute to the construction of history, identity, self-expression, politics and memory. Speakers include writer and curator Geoffrey Batchen, artists Carrie Mae Weems and Shimon Attie, and Jennifer Blessing, senior curator of photography for the Guggenheim Museum. Free but seating limited; e-mail eas8@cornell.edu to reserve a seat. Information: http://museum.cornell.edu.

Battling Bard

The Department of Theatre, Film and Dance presents "Shakespeare: Battle of the Sexes," April 13, 4:30 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre of the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts. Free.

Created and directed by Anya Gibian '12, the production examines gender-related themes in several Shakespeare plays including "Hamlet," "Anthony and Cleopatra," "Two Noble Kinsmen" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream," from gender role reversals and sexual dynamics in world politics to sexual obsession and rejection.

"There are so many different dynamics he plays with, I wanted to see how they read then and how they read today," Gibian said.

Colombia's future

Colombian and Hispanic students, professors and professionals will gather at PorColombia's sixth annual conference, "Construyendo País: Perspectives of Colombia's Leadership in Latin America," April 13-15.

Participants will discuss Colombia's goals for the next decade and how to reach them. PorColombia is a nonprofit organization (with a chapter at Cornell) that connects international students and professionals and promotes professional and entrepreneurial development.

The Cornell Institute for Public Affairs sponsors the opening colloquium "The Colombian Economy in a Changing World," with Roberto Junguito Bonnet, former Colombian Ambassador and Minister of Agriculture and Finance, April 13, 4:45 p.m. in 233 Plant Sciences. Registration and a reception will be held 9 p.m.-12:30 a.m. in the Physical Science Building.

Events April 14 begin at 8:30 a.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall, featuring a keynote address by Bonnet and panels including "Goals of the Colombian Market in the Face of Development" and "An Outlook on Progress: Building the New Colombia." Simultaneous workshops will be held on socially responsible architecture and planning, the Colombian economy, infrastructure and development, and opportunities for Colombians abroad.

Registration, information: http://porcolombia.net/taking-action/vi-colombian-students-professionals-conference/.

Visiting ensemble

The Cornell Contemporary Chamber Players is bringing Talea Ensemble, a prominent American contemporary music group, to campus for a residency, with a concert and two talks on contemporary music performance and composition.

The residency includes an open rehearsal and discussion of music by Cornell graduate composers, April 13, 2:15 p.m. in Barnes Hall Auditorium; a talk by Anthony Cheung, Talea Ensemble artistic director, April 14, 10 a.m. in Lincoln Hall 126, and a concert of new music by graduate composers Niccolo Athens, Charles Cacioppo, Peter Fahey, Amit Gilutz, Jesse Jones and Takuma Itoh, April 15, 3 p.m., Barnes Hall Auditorium. All events are free and open to the public.

Fun with animals

The 46th annual free student-run open house at the College of Veterinary Medicine is April 14, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Among other activities, watch a horse exercise on a treadmill, dress like a surgeon, perform emergency surgery on a teddy bear, guess a cow's weight, cuddle pocket pets, listen to a dog's heartbeat, visit a petting zoo and see agility and police K-9 demonstrations.

Information: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/openhouse.

Iroquois social

Native American Students at Cornell (NASAC) host the Haudenosaunee Social Dance, April 14, 7-10 p.m. at Townhouse Community Center on North Campus. Free.

The annual Iroquois social event includes dinner, music by the Sour Springs Longhouse Singers, dancing and a cakewalk raffle. For information, contact Ansley Jemison at Akwe:kon, amj78@cornell.edu.

Economics and peace

A.D. White Professor-at-Large Lord Robert Skidelsky will present two public programs during his first visit campus April 16-20.

He will deliver a lecture, "The Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on the Future of International Relations," April 18 at 4:30 p.m. in Lewis Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall, in conjunction with the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies Distinguished Foreign Policy Lecture Series. The lecture addresses disharmonies in the global economic system and the risk of trade and currency wars that could lead to "hot" wars.

Skidelsky also leads a seminar, "Globalization and Peace: The Missing Link," April 19 at 12:15 p.m. in G08 Uris Hall, co-presented with the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies.

Skidelsky is a professor emeritus of political economy at the University of Warwick, a current member of the British Parliament's House of Lords, chairman of the Centre for Global Studies and a director of the Moscow School of Political Studies. He is the author of "The World After Communism," aka "The Road from Serfdom" (1995) and a three-volume biography (1983-2000) of economist John Maynard Keynes.

Information: 607-255-083, pn12@cornell.edu or http://adwhiteprofessors.cornell.edu.

Joint reading

Creative writing faculty members Kenneth McClane and Maureen McCoy are featured in a joint reading presented by the Creative Writing Reading Series, April 19, 4:30 p.m., Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open to the public.

McClane, the W.E.B. Du Bois Professor of Literature, is a poet and essayist who has taught English, African-American literature and creative writing at Cornell for 34 years. He is the author of eight poetry collections and two books of essays.

McCoy, a fiction writer and essayist, is a professor of English who has taught at Cornell for 23 years. She is the author of four novels.

Information: http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/creative/readings/.

Blind Spots concert

Ithaca-based rock band The Blind Spots will be featured at the annual Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Series concert April 20, with opening band Automagic, 9:30 p.m. in The Bear's Den of the Ivy Room in Willard Straight Hall. Free and open to the public.

The headlining act, fronted by singer Maddy Walsh, is a popular local band with a growing regional following. Information: http://www.theblindspots.com.

The annual concert series was created in memory of a Cornell graduate who died after suffering a seizure while living in Paris. Pickard was a poet and activist and an active student employee and volunteer at Willard Straight Hall who enjoyed the student union's weekly coffeehouse series.

The event is sponsored by the Lauren Pickard '90 Emerging Artist Endowment, Programs on West, and the Willard Straight Hall Student Union Board.