The Current | Vol. 31 Issue 29

April 6, 2021 | nsucurrent.nova.edu 2 News 3301 College Avenue Don Taft University Center, PVA Room 328 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33314-7796 nsucurrent.nova.edu Newsroom Phone: 954-262-8455 nsunews@nova.edu The Current serves Nova Southeastern University from its lo- cation in Room 328 of the Don Taft University Center. The Current is NSU’s established vehicle for student report- ing, opinion and the arts. All community members are invited to contribute. Editorials, commentaries and advertisements in this publication reflect the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University or its officials, The Current staff or other advertisers. The Current will not publish unsigned letters except under special circum- stances at the discretion of the Editor-in-Chief. The Current reserves the right to edit. Contributing writers must not be directly involved with their coverage. Coverage by contributing writers must be meaningful and of interest to the NSU community. The Current reserves the right to edit, publish or deny submitted works as it sees fit. The Current shall remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility or otherwise create a bias, real or perceived. Megan Fitzgerald Rey Perez Evan Kelley Nyla Wyte Neha Simon Briana Ramnauth Ana Maria Soto Blake Malick Tomas Salom Santiago D. Finochietto Aliyah Gomez Veronica Richard J. L. Glasthal Aaron Kurzweil Faculty Advisor mf821@nova.edu Jarrod Bailey Staff Advisor jbailey1@nova.edu Sofia Gallus Siena Berardi Madelyn Rinka Alexander Martinie Rick Esner Christina McLaughlin Flor Ana Mireles Sports Editor Features Editor Arts & Entertainment Editor Co-Editor-in-Chief Co-Editor-in-Chief Opinions Editor News Editor Copy Editor Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Contributing Writer Chief of Visual Design Emma Heineman Business & Advertising Phone: 954-262-8461 thecurrentad@nova.edu Lemme Walk Across the Room: A peek into the NSU Art Museum’s newest exhibit The NSU Art Museum has opened its newest exhibit, “Lemme Walk Across the Room,” by New York-based artist Eric Mack. The exhibit is a large-scale installation, featuring hand-stained textiles displayed throughout the expanse of the second floor of the museum. The large textiles are draped, hung and mounted carefully across the floor, transforming it into a space acknowledging the history of abstract expressionist painting. The use of different elements of fashion and music allow the viewers to have a multisensory experience with the exhibit. Bonnie Clearwater, chief curator of the NSU Art Museum, had already decided that she wanted to do this show at the museum before even seeing its initial opening in New York. Knowing Mack personally and having worked with him previously, Clearwater was interested in how he pushes the dialogue of past artists forward. “This installation is meant to be performative for the viewer. The title, ‘Lemme Walk Across the Room’ makes that clear. The viewer is meant to experience the free-floating paintings that come off the wall and create a dynamic barrier, forcing the viewer to take a different route when walking across the room. It becomes a performance for the viewer trying to navigate the space while simultaneously becoming a metaphor for obstacles that get in our way and how we need to be creative in overcoming these obstacles,” she said. Clearwater drew comparisons between the two exhibits currently on display in the museum, “Lemme Walk Across the Room” and ”The World of Anna Sui.” “By coincidence, this exhibit was up at the same time as the Anna Sui exhibit, which focuses on fashion. Sui has sections featuring mood boards that show a bit of her inspiration and works in progress, and then upstairs with Eric Mack’s work, he too has elements of fashion and a bit of a mood board, showing the overlap in their influences. You can tell that Mack draws inspiration from both fashion and art history. In part of the exhibit, you’ll see a few shirts hanging up alongside a cowboy hat, drawing parallels with the Americana portion of Sui’s exhibit downstairs,” she explained. As for the meaning and purpose of this exhibit, Clearwater wants every visitor to craft their own. Visitors make their own decisions on how to move across the room and interpret each space. Because of this, text and plaques explaining the exhibit were kept to a minimum. Clearwater emphasized that NSU students can sign up for their free art museum membership on the museum’s website and to be sure to visit their latest exhibit, which opened April 4, titled “Ike Ude: Select Portraits.” Evan Kelley Contributing Writer 2021 Issues In Autism Conference Rick Esner News Editor On April 3, the University of Miami and NSU’s Center for Autism and Related Disabilities (C.A.R.D) held the 2021 Issues in Autism Conference. The conference, titled “Genes, Brains and More: A C.A.R.D. Perspective on Autism Research and Community Engagement,” featured autism researchers and experts in genetics, neuroscience, objective measurements of autism, virtual and augmented reality, clinic and classroom- based interventions and more. The conference is an annual event that started 21 years ago and typically takes place on the first Saturday of April. In the past, there have been a range of speakers from the local and international stages. While this is the second year the conference occurred virtually due to the pandemic, it still featured a wide array of speakers. The keynote speaker was Micheal Alessandri, executive director of the UM-NSU Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, along with seven other speakers, who covered topics from evidence-based practices in coaching parents to mixed Reality in Applied Behavior Analysis. At the end of the conference, there was a panel Q&A on Autism Spectrum Disorder. Luis Grana, the NSU satellite director of the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities, explained, “This year’s conference, we are highlighting some staff that are associated with C.A.R.D. at the University of Miami and some other folks at the University of Miami that are professors that are not necessarily a part of C.A.R.D. We’ll have several different speakers on that day that will cover things related to research in the field of autism, clinic and classroom strategies that are used, applied behavior analysis interventions and our Autism Friendly initiative.” Grana further explained, “It’s a variety of different components that are related to the autism community that the folks here in Broward can get to know and get familiarized with some of the new research coming out. It’s a little bit of everything, and our autism community in Broward is very eclectic in many ways. It’s a nice variety of things related to the field of autism that the community can get behind.” For students who missed the conference, but still want to get involved with C.A.R.D. and the autism community, there are a plethora of upcoming events hosted by C.A.R.D. ranging from support groups to social opportunities available to view on C.A.R.D.’s website. In addition, a variety of past webinars can be accessed via the link. With permission to print from E. Kelley