Pussy Riot's Nadezhda Tolokonnikova Leads Watermill Center Scaler Summer Lecture Series
The Watermill Center has announced the prestigious lineup of international cultural luminaries for its annual Scaler Summer Lecture Series this summer.
There will be six brilliant speakers, from a human rights activist to an astronaut, being honored during the series that will begin with Nadezhda Tolokonnikova on Monday, July 27.
Tolokonnikova, best known for being a member of the Russian feminist art collective Pussy Riot, was arrested, along with her group, due to their performances that insulted Russian President Vladimir Putin.
After spending 21 months in jails and Siberian labor camps, a result of being charged with “hooliganism” for a 2012 performance that criticized Putin, Tolokonnikova is dedicating herself to political and human rights activism.
Tolokonnikova brings to the series a sense of understanding of the corruption in her country’s government and the ways she is trying to overcome its overwhelming faults.
“The Watermill Center’s Scaler Summer Lecture Series is our premier annual program of important lectures by leading voices in the arts, sciences, and humanities,”William Wagner, the center’s managing director, says.
The series will continue with composer Philip Glass on July 30, former astronaut and MIT professor of the practice of aerospace engineering Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman on August 4, Host, author and fashion consultant Fern Mallis on August 7, Soprano Jessye Norman on August 11 and founder of Thinc Design Tom Hennes on August 13.
“This free public series offers both the participants in our International Summer Program, as well as our neighbors on Long Island and in New York City, a unique opportunity to experience the process of artistic creation as we approach it at Watermill, through intriguing dialogue and creative collaboration across disciplines,” Wagner says.
Each of the luminaries will be lecturing at 7:30 p.m. on the designated dates. The Watermill Center is located at 39 Watermill Town Road in Water Mill. The admission for this event is free but reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation, visit watermillcenter.org/events.