Past: Red Light Night featuring Dr. Jennifer Bengtson

Dr. Jennifer Bengtson, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Southeast Missouri State University, will present on Materiality Within the Arts as part of the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri's Red Light Night series.

The upcoming season will feature guests speaking on materiality, addressing topics such as history and culture, forensics, gender, sexuality, music performance, communication, relationships, and the digital era.

Materiality is defined as “the quality or character of being material or composed of matter”. But how does this definition apply, or relate to, art in the many ways mentioned above? One has to delve into the different meanings of materiality to figure that out. For example, there are material things, and there are things that are immaterial, or transmaterial or intermaterial. What!? One role materiality has within art is to expand notions of time, space, process, and participation. How may material objects or immaterial ideas disrupt or interfere with social norms? Come to Red Light Night and see!