Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
Published by the MIT News Office at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
ARTS AWARDS Two Receive Kepes Prizes The two recipients of the 1990 Gyorgy Kepes Fellowship Prize presented examples of their work Friday before the assembled Council for the Arts at MIT, during the luncheon meeting that concluded this year's two-day annual meeting. Glorianna Davenport showed excerpts from two films and Stephen Tapscott read from his poems in a presentation that was attended by Institute Professor Emeritus Gyorgy Kepes and his wife, Juliet Kepes. Professor Kepes is founder emeritus of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies. The prize is given annually to the member of the MIT community "who has demonstrated excellence in the creative arts: architecture, visual and performing arts, and writing." Two awards were given this year and each of the recipients received $2,000. The citation for Glorianna Davenport, assistant professor of media technology in MIT's Media Arts and Sciences Section, first holder of the Asahi Broadcasting Corporation Career Development Professorship of Media Arts and Science at MIT, said in part: "Guided by a scientist's brain, a poet's heart, and a painter's eye, Glorianna Davenport's film documentaries capture the world in all its complexity. . . By stretching the limits of imagination and technology, she pioneers interactive multimedia, and thereby grants us the power to uncover life's mysteries for ourselves. . . We recognize an artist and teacher whose vision prompts innovations that extend the boundaries of the visual." The citation for Stephen J. Tapscott, professor of literature, said in part that he "creates a world where the wonderful intrudes on the ordinary. His poetry admits the reader into an intimate, profound, and sometimes painful, private dialogue. His literary criticism thinks upon the page, drawing conclusions with intelligence, care, and precision. . . We recognize a poet of directness, warmth, and a generosity of word and spirit."