The Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library welcomes faculty of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute in delivering their first Public Art & Ethics Seminar for 2020 at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library. This session will introduce several big ethical questions as a way to think about contemporary public art. Co-hosted by IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute Director and KVML board member Jason Kelly, Herron School of Art and Design Associate Professor Pamela Napier and Herron School of Art and Design Associate Professor Laura Holzman. The Art and Ethics seminar is generously funded by the Indiana University Consortium for the Study of Religion, Ethics, and Society.
Established in 2012, the IUPUI Arts & Humanities Institute (IAHI)supports research and creative activity across the IUPUI campus; serves as a campus liaison to the central Indiana community; and fosters ongoing partnerships and ventures that advance arts and humanities endeavors at IUPUI and in Indianapolis.
Jason M. Kelly is the Director of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute and an Associate Professor of British History in the Indiana University School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at Newcastle University and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.
Dr. Kelly received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is the author of The Society of Dilettanti: Archaeology and Identity in the British Enlightenment (Yale University Press and the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, 2010).
As Director of the IUPUI Arts and Humanities Institute, Dr. Kelly supports IUPUI’s research mission by directing the IAHI grant programs, identifying and fostering transdisciplinary research collaborations, and organizing research workshops and symposia. He also acts as a liaison to the Indianapolis community, and in this capacity facilitates collaborative endeavors including performances, lectures, and research projects.
Dr. Kelly’s research projects focus on the histories of the environment, human rights, art. His current book project is A History of the Anthropocene, a deep history of human-nature relations. He leads a major international collaborative project, Rivers of the Anthropocene, which brings together scientists, humanists, and policy makers to study global river systems and policy since 1750. He directs The Cultural Ecologies Project, a public research program and PhD track that works with community stakeholders to examine cultural interventions across multiple scales — from the personal to the neighborhood to the city level. He also directs Digital Freetown, an immersive, virtual reality educational environment focusing on African American history.
Dr. Kelly is the recipient of the IUPUI Research Trailblazers Award (2013), two IU Trustees Teaching Awards (2011, 2008), and the IU School of Liberal Arts at IUPUI Student Council Outstanding Academic Adviser Award (2010).