Watson Institute Showcases Art to Foster Public Discussion

Stephen Robert, former chairman and CEO of the Oppenheimer Group, founder of the Source of Hope Foundation, and former chair of Brown University’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs, is also a proud Brown alumnus and chancellor emeritus. His involvement with the school culminated in the 2019 dedication of Stephen Robert Hall at the Watson Institute, which now provides expanded space for events, lectures, and exhibits with a focus on public policy.

The Watson Institute sees the arts as part of its mission of fostering high-level conversation on social issues and public policy. Recent arts-connected exhibits at Stephen Robert Hall have included Histories of Consequence: Works by Sandra Mayo, which ran in the first half of 2020.

The Mayo exhibit featured manipulated monoprints using several media that address large-scale global events - natural disaster, political upheaval, forced migration, walls and barriers - and their multi-generational effects on ordinary people. The Argentinian artist makes use of techniques such as coding and mapping to distill the essences of complex situations into approachable stories focused on the lived experiences of individuals.

Other recent events and exhibits in the new space include a screening of the film Albatross, director Chris Jordan’s attempt to address the overwhelming problem of plastic pollutants in the world’s oceans, and The Blink of Our Lifetimes: The Ecology of Dusk, artist Pamela Petro’s moved-camera, light-and-shadow photographs of some of the world’s most ecologically sensitive regions.