Graduating Class of 2021 M EGAN E

Issue !"# June $#$!

A NEWSLETTER OF THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY

Jingyi Chi Margaret Fabiszak Caitlin Gilbert Rachel Leicher Graduating Class of 2021 M EGAN E . KELLEY

Natural Selections would like to honor and celebrate the Sanjeethan Baksh 2021 graduating class from !e Caner Çağlar Rockefeller University. On !urs- Steven Cajamarca day, June 10 at 2:30 p.m., Rocke- Vikram Chandra feller will hold its second virtual Du Cheng convocation and confer doctorate Pavan Choppakatla degrees upon thirty-three gradu- ate students. To the future doc- Juliel Espinosa tors, congratulations! Your years Daniel Firester Rohiverth Guarecuco Jr. Nicole Infarinato Jakob Træland Rostøl, of hard work and perseverance are an inspiration. We wish you “Feel the fear, and do it “Another day, another Veronica Jové all the best in the next phases of Solomon N Levin anyway.” dollar” your careers and lives. n Fangyu Liu Olivia Maguire Kristina Navrazhina Tiên Minh Thủy Phan- Everson Artem Serganov Rohan R. Soman Elitsa Stoyanova Tony Sun Taku Tsukidate Putianqi Wang Xiao Wang Ross Weber Robert Williams Fanny Matheis Elisabeth Anne Murphy Xiphias Ge Zhu ! Editorial Board

Megan Elizabeth Kelley Editor-in-Chief and Managing Editor, Communication

Anna Amelianchik Associate Editor

Nicole Infarinato Editorial Assistant, Copy Editor, Distribution

Evan Davis Copy Editor, Photographer-in-Residence

PHOTO COURTESY OF METROGRAPH PICTURES Melissa Jarmel Copy Editor, Website Tra!c Sisters with Transistors Audrey Goldfarb LANA NORRIS Copy Editor, Webmaster, Website Design

Women have o"en been overlooked Barron built her own circuitry, and Laurie Jennifer Einstein, Emma Garst in the history of electronic music. !eir Spiegel programmed compositional so"- Copy Editors mastery of new technology and alien ware for Macs. sounds enabled them to innovate outside Electronic music lends itself to in- Jim Keller of traditional male-dominated structures, terdisciplinary collaboration, and Mary- Editor-at-Large but even collaborations with John Cage, anne Amacher reached beyond art and Nan Pang Merce Cunningham, Karl Stockhausen, technology to integrate scienti#c research Designer MGM Studios, and Coca-Cola failed to into her compositions. Conscious that the cement their pioneer status. mammalian ear introduces distortions— Sisters with Transistors, a documen- phantom tones—which modify acoustic 1 selections.rockefeller.edu tary #lm directed by Lisa Rovner, presents input, Amacher “established practical and [email protected] a remedial history chronicling the de#n- conceptual groundwork that centered au- ing female #gures of electronic music. !e ditory processes in composition.”2 !ese eighty-four-minute #lm is divided into women were doing the basic science of roughly ten sections of public-domain, composing: there was no guaranteed public consciousness and pop music with concert, interview, and even experimental pro#t or application from their e%orts. In the help of Wendy Carlos’ Switched-On cinema footage documenting each com- fact, electronic music was unpopular with Bach album. poser. !e archival collage, like the cre- both labor unions and the public alike. !ese composers went beyond tin- ative history it depicts, is initially disjunct But the aesthetic in&uence of World Wars kering with radios: their work made so- but coheres later on; artist Laurie Ander- and space exploration eventually required cial demands. !ey challenged traditional son narrates but the musical soundtrack is new sounds. !e MGM sci-# Forbidden structures and founded in&uential depart- the real throughline. Planet (1956) featured Bebe Barron’s mu- ments. Oliveros explicitly correlated her To create their new musical vocabu- sic as the #rst all-electronic #lm score; electronic music with societal responsi- lary, these composers used an array of ex- the #lm’s dying monster was the sound of bilities during the Vietnam and Cold War isting technology and also developed their a “dying” circuit. Seven years later, Delia eras, and her theoretical writings are still own. Clara Rockmore popularized the Derbyshire—an Oxford mathematician instructive today. She insisted that deep theremin (an electronic instrument con- turned composer—created the original listening is radical attentiveness that gath- trolled by hand movements in air rather Doctor Who theme song and shi"ed Eng- ers meaning, interprets, and ultimately than physical contact). Suzanne Ciani fell lish public opinion on electronic music. shapes culture by deciding on action. in love with Buchla modular synthesizers. Suzanne Ciani became the #rst woman to !ese composers did exactly that, chang- Éliane Radigue used the ARP 2500 to cre- score a major Hollywood movie in 1981, ing our soundscapes and cultural practic- ate airplane-inspired soundscapes. Daph- and electronic music transitioned into es; Sisters with Transistors turns up their n ne Oram collected tape machines from 1 Hudspeth, A. ‘Integrating the active process sound. World War II and basic lab equipment to of hair cells with cochlear function’, Nat Rev establish #rst a BBC electronic music divi- Neurosci, 15 [online]. Available at: https://doi. Sisters with Transistors had its U.S. premiere sion and then her own studio. When avail- org/10.1038/nrn3786 (Accessed 02 May 2021) through Metrograph online 23 April 2021 and able tools were insu$cient, Wendy Carlos 2 Cimini, A. and Dietz, B. (eds.) (2020). Mary- at the time of writing was only available through helped advance the Moog keyboard, Bebe anne Amacher: Selected Writings and Interviews. 06 May 2021. https://sisterswithtransistors.com/ $ Brooklyn, NY: Blank Forms Editions Pets of Tri-I

A UDREY G OLDFARB

A few weeks ago, a new resident moved into my apartment. We are already a full house: four humans, one cat, 500ish worms, and pos- sibly some undetected mice or roaches resid- ing in the walls. So, when a perky little axolotl dropped their bags in our doorway, I was a bit concerned with how they’d #t in. Luckily, I had nothing to be worried about. “Boba” is a de- lightful but unobtrusive housemate, and they even set their tank up right in front of the door to greet us all when we get home! !is month, I #nally made some time to get to know Boba better and also learned some things about axolotl biology. Boba’s answers were translated by César Vargas and Marley Kern.

Audrey Goldfarb: What does it mean to be “neotenic”? Boba: I am a baby. Basically, I am forever a baby salamander, never a grown-up salamander. So, I’ll never go through metamorphosis like my frog and salamander cousins.

AG: What is the most juvenile thing about you? B: My humans say I’m picky because I like my worms cut up into little pieces and they have to wash them for me. I spit my food out when I don’t want it. CÉSAR VARGAS

AG: Conversely, are you especially mature in any way? B: No…not really.

AG: If you could, what would you want to be when you grow up?

B: Well, I don’t really grow up, I just get big- B: Composting! It’s where the humans keep All Photos Courtesy of ger! But when I’m big I wanna be a worm bi- my worm dinners! !ey say it’s good for AG: Your tank is in a perfect spot to see ev- ologist so I can study worms and #gure out other stu% too, but I don’t know what else it eryone coming and going throughout the which is the tastiest! would do. day. Do you !nd human behavior enter- taining? AG: What are your hobbies? AG: Do you have any hot takes? B: Yeah! !ey look so funny on two legs, like, B: Going with the &ow and hanging out in B: I think #sh are overrated, much better as why do they do that? I like four legs much the &oating garden in my tank. snacks than pets. Also, I don’t get why there’s better. Sometimes their coming and going a big deal about my extinction, like I’m obvi- also interrupts my naps, but I know they are AG: Do your humans give you treats? ously alive, why do they say I’m going extinct? busy humans. B: Not yet, they said when I’m bigger they’ll let me try new foods. AG: Would you consider donating your AG: Describe your perfect Saturday. body to science? B: Take a walk around the tank, #nd a good AG: Do your humans give you words of af- B: Yup! I can grow my body parts back any- spot to &oat, and nap the day away dreaming !rmation? way, so I can donate an arm and a leg if sci- about worms. B: Mmmmhmmm! !ey tell me how cute ence asks me! and cool I am. I like it when they talk to me. AG: What is your favorite thing about your AG: Do you get lonely? humans? AG: What is an issue you’re passionate B: Not too lonely, I’m watching the &u%y pet B: !ey take good care of me and give me about? that runs around outside my tank. yummy worms! n % The Maestà and predella paintings by Duccio and workshop, Sienna. Culture Corner: Image and Image: How Photographic Reproductions Enhance the Experience of Art BERNIE LANGS

Duccio di Buoninsegna and His by photographic replicas, to train and pre- School, by James H. Stubblebine, is a two- pare dedicated readers on what to look for volume set of books examining the fasci- in the presence of original art. nating period of early Italian Renaissance "e Maestà is a masterpiece of ear- art from 1285 up to about 1330. !e second ly Italian Renaissance painting by Duc- volume features over 500 black and white cio and a perfect example of how reading photographs of the paintings discussed in about art assists in the enjoyment of the volume one, including each of the surviv- object. I have viewed reproductions of the ing works of Duccio (b. c1255-60; d. 1319) central panel of "e Maestà for decades, and many of those by his assistants and fel- along with the sixty autograph or work- low artists in Sienna. shop-produced smaller works that com- Art experts and novices alike pre- plement it. Upon seeing it in person in Si- Photographic plates of The Maestà in Duc- pare their pilgrimages to museums, enna, it became clear that no book, photo, cio di Buoninsegna and His School (Two Vol- umes) by James H. Stubblebine, Princeton churches, galleries, and civic and cultural or #lm could replicate the stunning beauty University Press; First edition (March 21, 1980) centers by studying ahead of time the arti- and overwhelming presence of the paint- facts they’ll encounter. Full color and black ing. !e colors are muted yet unexpectedly and white reproductions in books such as bright at appropriate times, with the bold Stubblebine’s provide the essential tools central #gures of the Virgin and Child sur- for comprehending the history of an origi- rounded by a multitude of Saints presented nal piece, including the painter’s personal in awe-inspiring symmetry. Duccio’s mys- background, how his or her creations re- tic expression is placed within the con#nes &ect the historical epoch in which they of idealized beauty that’s neither of heav- were constructed, where an individual enly eternity, nor set in a static “time and painting #ts into the overall oeuvre of the place.” Somehow the subject and painting artist, and the circumstances under which are also outside the realm of our tangible

the work of art was commissioned. When world. BERNIE LANGS lacking detailed primary documentation, Stubblebine’s description of the art historians painstakingly examine and painting in Duccio and His School and the opine about individual paintings, sculp- Volume Two book plates are of service in tures, etc., in the hope of identifying the explaining its meaning and where it lies artist who created it. in historical context within the progres- Reading Stubblebine’s detailed analy- sion of art history. !e book’s analysis of sis of every known work by Duccio and his the dozens of works created to accompany

school, one senses that the study itself is in "e Maestà is extraordinarily helpful, since All Photos Courtesy of some cases as equally gratifying as viewing when you are in the presence of such won- The Rucellai Madonna (1286), The U!zi Gal- lery, Florence. the actual work of art. !e real thing is, of der, there’s no conceivable way to take it The Rucellai Madonna and its rondels in de- course, usually superlative to the printed all in unless you have hours and hours to tail; plates in Vol. 2 of Duccio di Buoninsegna duplicate, but that does not take away from spend in that one single room, choosing and His School (Two Volumes) by James H. the important role played by art historians Stubblebine, Princeton University Press; First CONTINUED TO P. 5 - who share their expertise, supplemented edition (March 21, 1980) & CONTINUED FROM P. 4 - to abandon the multitude of additional treasures that Sienna o%ers elsewhere. At home, reading in the evening by lamplight, one has the luxury of time and multiple sit- tings with the book for a careful study of the entire project. Duccio’s "e Rucellai Madonna (1286) has the honor of being one of the #rst masterworks on display when enter- ing !e U$zi Gallery in Florence. It is situated close to similarly large wonders Two states of 1665 print by Rembrandt, Christ Photo of television image on Amazon Prime by Duccio’s brethren of the late 1200s and Presented to the People (Ecce Homo). From Video of The Passion of the Christ (2004); early 1300s, Cimabue and Giotto. Repro- The Rembrandt Book by Gary Schwartz, Har- ductions of "e Rucellai Madonna are un- ry N. Abrams, Inc.” (October 1, 2006) able to capture its essence and power of presentation, but as with the sixty predella works of "e Maestà, there are thirty small rondels surrounding the Virgin, Child, and angels, which most visitors to the mu- seum give but a cursory glance. With an in-depth study such as Stubblebine’s book, the reader is treated to a Sherlock Holmes- like revelation and tale of how art historians identi#ed as best they could who is represented in these small works and what meaning the #gures may have held in Duc- cio’s time. One of Kenneth Clark’s #nest books

is Rembrandt and the Italian Renaissance BERNIE LANGS (1966), a detailed study of how Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669) in his prints and paintings was in&uenced by the Italian works of art he was most likely exposed to during his lifetime. A memorable sequence in the book is the enthusiastic description of varying states of Rembrandt’s print cre-

ated in 1665, Christ Presented to the People All Photos Courtesy of (Ecce Homo). Clark undertakes an exacting The Allegory of Good and Bad Government, fresco panels by Ambrogio Lorenzetti (1338 and discussion of the architecture of the scene May 1339), Palazzo Pubblico Sala dei Nove, Sienna and how Rembrandt developed and made radical changes on the etching’s plate as he ing on the New Testament. !e sequence of late medieval Siena that corruption, dis- worked out the ultimate expression of the in "e Passion when Pontius Pilate shouts honesty, and ignoring the will of the people scene, aided by what he learned from the out to the angry mob below him in the an- is but a path leading to inevitable disaster. Italian masters of the Renaissance. !ese cient square his infamous declaration Ecce When I walked into the chamber, all of my pages about the prints are in many ways Homo! (Behold the Man), enhances the past “training” seemed to dissipate, and much more interesting than the actual im- understanding of Rembrandt’s prints as a the many chapters I’d read about the cycle’s ages on paper themselves. study in the delicate balance of place and meaning and history refused to be called While watching the 2004 movie "e people in art, with classic architecture ma- forth to consciousness. In addition, I was Passion of the Christ, I noticed that director nipulated in service of religious expression literally shocked by how many large sec- Mel Gibson’s set depicting ancient Jerusa- and emotion. tions of the frescos had disappeared for- lem for the Ecce Homo scene of the Christ Standing in Siena’s Palazzo Pubbli- ever due to the merciless, ravaging Hand story owed a great deal to Rembrandt’s co’s Sala dei Nove to view the fresco series of Time, leaving sections of exposed plas- print. !e movie, dubbed by one #lm critic painted by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, "e Alle- ter here and there. As I #nally began to get as “the most violent #lm ever made,” dis- gory of Good and Bad Government (1338 my bearings, the wonder of the art over- plays Ecce Homo as a revelation guided by and May 1339) is one of life’s great plea- whelmed me and the sumptuous details of the director’s use of the setting in which the sures. I’ve seen countless photos and post- Lorenzetti’s masterpiece spoke of varying action unfolds, thereby giving the moment ers of the walls, which display in a com- joys, pains, dances, and deaths, a wonder a power unequaled in other #lms center- plicated allegory warning to the politicians of experience. n ' Father’s Day

AILEEN MARSHALL

Father’s Day this year is June 20. Founded by a woman who was raised by her widowed father, it has been celebrated in this country on the third Sunday in June for almost a hundred years. Despite its popularity, it took more than sixty years to be recognized as a federal holiday in the United States. Sonora Smart Dodd is the person credited with starting the Father’s Day tradition we now practice in the United States.

She was born in 1882 in Arkansas to Civil WIKICOMMONS War veteran William Smart and his wife El- len. !e family moved to a farm outside of Spokane, Washington in 1889. In 1898 So- nora’s mother died giving birth to her sixth child. William raised all six children with the help of his only daughter. Sonora later Photo Courtesy of married John Dodd. In 1909 she heard a Hiking tour on Father’s Day, Vatertagswanderung, in Germany church sermon about the newly established holiday, Mother’s Day. She felt strongly that particularly manufacturers of menswear men like her father should be honored, too. and tobacco. !e Great Depression spurred She approached church ministers about retailers to further promote men’s gi"s for having such a day on June 5, her father’s that day. By the 1980s the Father’s Day birthday. !e ministers felt they didn’t have Council noted that it was a “second Christ- enough time by that day, so they held it mas for the men’s gi"-oriented industries.” on June 19, 1910, the third Sunday of that Some sources claim that the tradition June. Dodd also appealed to shopkeepers, of Father’s Day was started in West Virgin- the YMCA, and politicians. During the ia, but this is not the case. In December of 1920s Dodd attended the Art Institute of 1907, a coal mine exploded in Monongah, Chicago, but a"er graduation she returned West Virginia. Over three hundred men to Spokane and again worked to get sup- were killed. !e following spring, Grace RECIPELION

port for and promote her idea. Golden Clayton proposed a service in her In 1913 a bill declaring Father’s Day church to honor all the fathers among the was introduced in Congress but did not victims. It was only meant to be a one-time pass due to fears that it was just a commer- event, held on July 5, 1908. !e sermon was cial holiday. In 1916 President Woodrow never published, the event was never pro- Wilson celebrated by sending a telegraph moted beyond that speci#c date and town. to Spokane to raise some &ags. He also It wasn’t celebrated again until many years supported making Father’s Day a holiday later when Father’s Day had become popu- Photo Courtesy of but couldn’t get it passed. President Calvin lar. including ham. !is goes back to an old Coolidge recommended making it a holi- Many European countries celebrate farming tradition where a town would day in 1924, but never issued a proclama- fatherhood on March 19, also known as recognize the man with the most children tion. In 1966, President Lyndon Johnson Saint Joseph’s Day. !e Catholic Church with a prize. During the twentieth centu- issued a presidential proclamation honor- promoted this custom as far back as 1508. ry, the tradition had become an excuse to ing fathers on the third Sunday in June. Fi- Early Spanish and Portuguese immigrants drink heavily. Germany’s Federal Statistical nally in 1972, sixty-three years a"er Dodd continued this tradition here. Many other O$ce reports that tra$c accidents increase #rst started petitioning, President Richard countries around the world have taken up by threefold that day. Nixon made Father’s Day an o$cial federal the American-style celebration of Father’s Today the practice in the United holiday. Day in June. Germany has had a unique States is to give one’s father conventionally !ere was evidence for the politi- practice since the 1700s. !ey celebrate a gender-oriented gi"s such as ties, tools, or cians’ fear of commercialization of the men’s day or gentleman’s day on Ascension sports gear. Some families may get together holiday. Even when Dodd #rst started !ursday, which is forty days a"er Easter. for a Father’s Day brunch or cook-out. And promoting the holiday, she had the help Groups of men will walk to some destina- there are many greeting cards sent each of several trade associations, who realized tion pulling a wagon full of wine and beer year. It will be interesting to see how the that they could bene#t from a new holiday, bottles and some provincial food, usually holiday evolves in the future. n ( New York Rhymes: Haiku

KONSTANTINA THEOFANOPOULOU

Poetry: Dr. Konstantina Theofanopoulou (Instagram: @newyork _ rhymes) One line art: Mikaella Theofanopoulou (Instagram: @m _ theta _ art)

Natural Selections is not an o!cial publication of The Rockefeller University. University administration does not produce this newsletter. The views expressed by the contributors to this publication may not necessarily re"ect views or policies of the University. )

https://zoom.us/j/95666693545?pwd=QVBtOE50S0srOXJ4bTRzZm9HMlBpUT09

[email protected]

We are proud to be part of this WCMC event that will fall under the greater umbrella of our Tri-I Virtual Pride series!

There is no need to pre-register, simply join with the link below:

https://zoom.us/j/95666693545?pwd=QVBtOE50S0srOXJ4bTRzZm9HMlBpUT09

Contact [email protected] with any questions.