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A man stands adjacent to a yellow sign with a woman on it that reads "Their World As Big As They Made It: Looking Back at the Harlem Renaissance."

Inside Their World: New Exhibit Connects Harlem Renaissance to Today

“Their World As Big As They Made It,” an exhibition at the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, opens to the public on Wednesday. It examines the works in the period of Black artistic and intellectual activity centered in a New York neighborhood. The Harlem Renaissance began in the early 1900s as racist violence and diminishing economic opportunity pushed Black Southerners to head north in a movement known as the Great Migration.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/inside-their-world-new-exhibit-connects-harlem-renaissance-today

A collage of various famous figures in history, tinged blue, with a translucent overlay of the number 50.
Music

Celebrating Hip-Hop’s 50th Anniversary With Professor A.D. Carson

A.D. Carson has been in high demand this summer. Hip-hop’s 50th anniversary is Friday and media outlets ranging from Vanity Fair to NPR to Rolling Stone have asked Carson, the University of Virginia’s associate professor of hip-hop and the global South, to weigh in on the genre’s evolution and importance. He has academic and practical expertise as a scholar of the genre and as a rapper himself.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/celebrating-hip-hops-50th-anniversary-professor-ad-carson

A profile shot of Nita Wareechatchai shows the recent graduate peeling tape off of the mural.

This A-School Mural Gets a Boost From the Power of Pink

A new mural has gone up in the University of Virginia’s School of Architecture, thanks to the work of professor Sanda Iliescu and three architecture students. The mural stands out in the school’s Campbell Hall home, where neutral tones abound, and that’s the point.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/school-mural-gets-boost-power-pink

A group of well-dressed UVA alumni and Sotheby's employees pose with a piece of art work that includes the words "Blah blah blah blah".
Visual Art

UVA Has an Outsized Presence at Famed Sotheby’s Auction House

When Frankie Mananzan landed a job at the esteemed Sotheby’s auction house after graduating from the University of Virginia in 2021, you might forgive her for feeling a little daunted. After all, the company is known for auctioning unique items and national treasures, with prices often reaching six or seven figures. But the nervousness abated when she ran into another Wahoo working there. And another. And another. And another.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-has-outsized-presence-famed-sothebys-auction-house

An orange and blue design includes a mashup of Madonna and John Lennon's face, a microphone, sheet music, and the play function on a smart phone.
Music

HOW AI ‘VOICE FAKES’ ARE CHANGING MUSIC

The songs are already circulating. In April, a TikTok user released “Heart On My Sleeve,” a song that used generative artificial intelligence to create a track in the style of rappers Drake and The Weeknd. The song got 15 million views on TikTok and 600,000 streams on Spotify before it was removed from the platforms.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/how-ai-voice-fakes-are-changing-music

The UVA Obscura team poses around a discarded portion of one of the Rotunda's columns

Why Did the Rotunda’s Marble Shatter? UVA Series Explores Grounds’ Quirky History

Welcome to UVA Obscura, an unconventional historical examination of UVA’s quirks and oddities. It’s a product of UVA Communication’s Digital Strategy team, a group that steers the University’s social media channels, creates art and illustrations for UVA Today and performs other duties as needed.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/why-did-rotundas-marble-shatter-uva-series-explores-grounds-quirky-history

Four panels of the Berlin Wall — featuring two depictions of kings, one colorful and another rendered in gray — stand on Grounds near the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
Visual Art

Say Farewell to the ‘Kings’: Cold War Relics To Leave Grounds

After more than nine years on Grounds of the University of Virginia, four panels of the Berlin Wall are set to come down in the coming weeks. The rare pieces of Cold War history, called “Kings of Freedom,” made clear the stark division between communist East Germany and democratic West Germany during the 45 years of Berlin’s partition.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/say-farewell-kings-cold-war-relics-leave-grounds

"The Messenger", a sculpture by Gabe Allan, depicts a man made of stone who appears to be pulling his heart from his chest.

Art Is All Over Grounds, if You Know Where To Look

If you’re looking for art at the University of Virginia, you probably already know about The Fralin Museum of Art, the exhibit spaces at the Rotunda, the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library and the Ruffin Art Gallery. But beyond museums and official exhibits, there’s far more art to explore across Grounds – if you know where to look.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/art-all-over-grounds-if-you-know-where-look

Profile view of director Matthew Steffens in the Caplin Theatre.
Drama

Broadway’s Matthew Steffens Comes Home for ‘Cabaret’

It was at UVA that Matthew Steffens learned to be an artist, a citizen and a scholar. Now Steffens, fresh off his role as associate choreographer on the Tony-nominated revival of “Into the Woods,” is back at UVA to direct “Cabaret.”

https://news.virginia.edu/content/broadways-matthew-steffens-comes-home-cabaret

Three musicians read sheet music and play the violin and the fiddle. Another musician plays a bass viol.
Music

Not Just Fiddling Around

As part of the Charlottesville community’s celebration of Juneteenth, the Jefferson-designed landmark hosted “Rock and Reel: Monticello’s Folk Traditions,” presented by the Early Music Access Project.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/photos-not-just-fiddling-around

"Mona Lisa" by Leonardo Da Vinci. A painting of a woman with brown hair in front of a scenic background.

UVA Art Professor Joins a Big Debate Over a Tiny Detail

A historian thinks he’s solved one of the Mona Lisa’s mysteries. University of Virginia art history professor Francesca Fiorani completely disagrees.

https://news.virginia.edu/content/uva-art-professor-joins-big-debate-over-tiny-detail