We Are Nature: Confabulation Lecture Night with Obvious Agency
January 22, 2025
5:00pm
Annenberg Center
Participants and collaborators gather during "Barnes Jawn(t) 2018," a commissioned project for the Barnes Foundation created by Obvious Agency. Photo by Eric Sands.
The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation invites you to join Philadelphia-based creative collective Obvious Agency on Wednesday, January 22, for a night of confabulated lectures based on artworks in the Annenberg Center Arts Lounge exhibition We Are Nature: Selected Earthlings from the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection.
Confabulation lectures are playful invitations into the imagined and unknown stories of artworks offered by participants whose life experiences and wild creativity productively complicate official narratives.
Guests will be invited to develop short lectures inspired by artworks in the We Are Nature exhibition. The process will be facilitated by Obvious Agency, who will lead participants through the development of confabulated and speculative statements, lessons, and propositions. No prior knowledge of the artworks is necessary, but it is certainly welcome.
This program is free and open to the public. Advance registration is requested but not required.
- Wednesday, January 22, 2025
- 5:00–7:00 PM
- The Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center
3680 Walnut Street (enter from the South Plaza)
University of Pennsylvania
This program is presented by The Sachs Program for Arts Innovation as part of the We Are Nature exhibition organized in partnership with Penn Live Arts and the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection.
About the Exhibition
We Are Nature: Selected Earthlings from the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection is an exhibition and event series curated by Daniel Tucker and organized in collaboration with the Eco-Social Salon, Site-Seeing, and Screening Series.
The exhibition presents a wide selection of artworks from the University of Pennsylvania Art Collection, drawing connections between varied representations of nature and depicting living beings alongside sites as diverse as urban streets, recreational sites, extractive industries, farms, universities, and parks.
We Are Nature will be on view in The Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center, October 1, 2024–February 28, 2025.
Obvious Agency
Obvious Agency is a Philadelphia-based creative collective producing interactive live performances that blur the lines between audience and performer, theater and game. They partner with cultural institutions and universities to attract new audiences and create unique ways for existing audiences to engage more deeply in the work those organizations are already doing. They also produce the creative work of the group’s worker-owners.
Eco-Social Series
The Eco-Social Salon, Site-Seeing, and Screening Series is an event series and learning community that has convened irregularly in Philadelphia since 2023, presenting ecologically-themed artwork and sponsoring related excursions.
The Arts Lounge
The Arts Lounge at the Annenberg Center is located on the University of Pennsylvania campus at 3680 Walnut Street in Philadelphia. Visitors can view exhibitions at The Arts Lounge during Penn Live Arts box office hours, Monday–Friday, 11 AM–4 PM, and anytime the Annenberg Center is open for performances and programs.