The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is an expanded c inema performance work written and edited by Patricia Olynyk\, produced an d directed by Adam Hogan and Patricia Olynyk\, and featuring a live score performed by Adam Hogan\, presented in collaboration with the UC Irvine De partments of Art and Drama.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortal ity is a collaborative\, cross-disciplinary multimedia installation that a sks what unstable narratives can reveal about truth. Drawing from photogra phs housed in anatomical museums — including the Narrenturm in Vienna and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia — the project pairs skulls marked by pos t-mortem inscriptions with archival cards containing only fragmentary info rmation about the subject. Working from these partial records\, Olynyk inv ites collaborators across fields to write and perform speculative narrativ es\, foregrounding how assumption and subjectivity shape what we accept as knowledge.
On Thursday\, February 12\, 2026 (5:30 – 7:30 p. m.)\, UCI Illuminations and the UCI Center for Medical Humanities will host The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality at the UCI Arts Exp erimental Media Performance Lab. A reception at 5:30 p.m. will welcome att endees into the installation environment. At 6 p.m.\, media artist and com poser Adam Hogan will activate the installation through a live diffused el ectroacoustic score that incorporates narrative monologues. A panel discus sion at 6:30 p.m. will bring the artists together with invited UCI respond ents to consider questions of evidence\, ethics\, and interpretation — par ticularly how historical and archival research intersects with critical th eory and speculative narrative to address gaps in the historical record (a ligned with critical fabulation\, a concept developed by scholar Saidiya H artman). Audiences are invited to experience the work and then engage in d ialogue. A matinee performance will take place on Friday\, Februar y 13 at 1 p.m.\, followed by an informal Q&A with Olynyk and Hoga n.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is significant for ho w it connects the history of anatomical collecting and medical display to present-day conversations around colonial violence\, race\, gender\, class disparity\, and cultural bias. Rather than treating archives as neutral\, the work highlights uneven documentation and the enduring impacts of taxo nomic thinking\, including early eugenic frameworks. In the spirit of Illu minations — creating meaningful arts experiences for students across major s — this event demonstrates how creative practice can sharpen critical inq uiry and deepen understanding of how institutional records might be approa ched with greater care\, empathy\, and accountability. The project offers a strong bridge between artistic practice and research-led creative work\, while also speaking directly to data science\, statistics\, and AI-relate d inquiry as a vivid case study in inference from incomplete records\, int erpretive bias\, and ethical responsibility.
This event is the first of two planned arts-centered medical humanities collaborations with Washi ngton University in St. Louis. In fall 2026\, members of the UCI Medical H umanities community will travel to St. Louis for a symposium event.
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260212T173000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260212T193000 LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T233550Z SUMMARY:The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality TRANSP:OPAQUE X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=TEXT/HTML:The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is an expanded cinema performance work written and edited by Patricia Oly nyk\, produced and directed by Adam Hogan and Patricia Olynyk\, and featur ing a live score performed by Adam Hogan\, presented in collaboration with the UC Irvine Departments of Art and Drama.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is a collaborative\, cross-disciplinary multimedia in stallation that asks what unstable narratives can reveal about truth. Draw ing from photographs housed in anatomical museums — including the Narrentu rm in Vienna and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia \;— the project pai rs skulls marked by post-mortem inscriptions with archival cards containin g only fragmentary information about the subject. Working from these parti al records\, Olynyk invites collaborators across fields to write and perfo rm speculative narratives\, foregrounding how assumption and subjectivity shape what we accept as knowledge.
On Thursday\, February 12 \, 2026 (5:30 \;– \;7:30 p.m.)\, UCI Illuminations and th e UCI Center for Medical Humanities will host The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality at the UCI Arts Experimental Media Performance Lab. A rece ption at 5:30 p.m. will welcome attendees into the installation environmen t. At 6 \;p.m.\, media artist and composer Adam Hogan will activate th e installation through a live diffused electroacoustic score that incorpor ates narrative monologues. A panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. will bring the artists together with invited UCI respondents to consider questions of evi dence\, ethics\, and interpretation — particularly how historical and arch ival research intersects with critical theory and speculative narrative to address gaps in the historical record (aligned with critical fabulation\, a concept developed by scholar Saidiya Hartman). Audiences are invited to experience the work and then engage in dialogue. A matinee performance wi ll take place on Friday\, February 13 at 1 p.m.\, followe d by an informal Q&\;A with Olynyk and Hogan.
The Mutable Archive : A Cure for Immortality is significant for how it connects the history of anatomical collecting and medical display to present-day conversations ar ound colonial violence\, race\, gender\, class disparity\, and cultural bi as. Rather than treating archives as neutral\, the work highlights uneven documentation and the enduring impacts of taxonomic thinking\, including e arly eugenic frameworks. In the spirit of Illuminations — creating meaning ful arts experiences for students across majors \;— this event demonst rates how creative practice can sharpen critical inquiry and deepen unders tanding of how institutional records might be approached with greater care \, empathy\, and accountability. The project offers a strong bridge betwee n artistic practice and research-led creative work\, while also speaking d irectly to data science\, statistics\, and AI-related inquiry as a vivid c ase study in inference from incomplete records\, interpretive bias\, and e thical responsibility.
This event is the first of two planned arts-c entered medical humanities collaborations with Washington University in St . Louis. In fall 2026\, members of the UCI Medical Humanities community wi ll travel to St. Louis for a symposium event.
END:VEVENT BEGIN:VEVENT UID:31323363-3564-4933-b830-636665666331 DTSTAMP:20260801T082336Z CLASS:PUBLIC CREATED:20260409T200619Z DESCRIPTION:The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is an expanded c inema performance work written and edited by Patricia Olynyk\, produced an d directed by Adam Hogan and Patricia Olynyk\, and featuring a live score performed by Adam Hogan\, presented in collaboration with the UC Irvine De partments of Art and Drama.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortal ity is a collaborative\, cross-disciplinary multimedia installation that a sks what unstable narratives can reveal about truth. Drawing from photogra phs housed in anatomical museums — including the Narrenturm in Vienna and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia — the project pairs skulls marked by pos t-mortem inscriptions with archival cards containing only fragmentary info rmation about the subject. Working from these partial records\, Olynyk inv ites collaborators across fields to write and perform speculative narrativ es\, foregrounding how assumption and subjectivity shape what we accept as knowledge.
On Thursday\, February 12\, 2026 (5:30 – 7:30 p. m.)\, UCI Illuminations and the UCI Center for Medical Humanities will host The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality at the UCI Arts Exp erimental Media Performance Lab. A reception at 5:30 p.m. will welcome att endees into the installation environment. At 6 p.m.\, media artist and com poser Adam Hogan will activate the installation through a live diffused el ectroacoustic score that incorporates narrative monologues. A panel discus sion at 6:30 p.m. will bring the artists together with invited UCI respond ents to consider questions of evidence\, ethics\, and interpretation — par ticularly how historical and archival research intersects with critical th eory and speculative narrative to address gaps in the historical record (a ligned with critical fabulation\, a concept developed by scholar Saidiya H artman). Audiences are invited to experience the work and then engage in d ialogue. A matinee performance will take place on Friday\, Februar y 13 at 1 p.m.\, followed by an informal Q&A with Olynyk and Hoga n.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is significant for ho w it connects the history of anatomical collecting and medical display to present-day conversations around colonial violence\, race\, gender\, class disparity\, and cultural bias. Rather than treating archives as neutral\, the work highlights uneven documentation and the enduring impacts of taxo nomic thinking\, including early eugenic frameworks. In the spirit of Illu minations — creating meaningful arts experiences for students across major s — this event demonstrates how creative practice can sharpen critical inq uiry and deepen understanding of how institutional records might be approa ched with greater care\, empathy\, and accountability. The project offers a strong bridge between artistic practice and research-led creative work\, while also speaking directly to data science\, statistics\, and AI-relate d inquiry as a vivid case study in inference from incomplete records\, int erpretive bias\, and ethical responsibility.
This event is the first of two planned arts-centered medical humanities collaborations with Washi ngton University in St. Louis. In fall 2026\, members of the UCI Medical H umanities community will travel to St. Louis for a symposium event.
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260213T130000 DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260213T140000 LAST-MODIFIED:20260409T233550Z SUMMARY:The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality TRANSP:OPAQUE X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=TEXT/HTML:The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is an expanded cinema performance work written and edited by Patricia Oly nyk\, produced and directed by Adam Hogan and Patricia Olynyk\, and featur ing a live score performed by Adam Hogan\, presented in collaboration with the UC Irvine Departments of Art and Drama.
The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality is a collaborative\, cross-disciplinary multimedia in stallation that asks what unstable narratives can reveal about truth. Draw ing from photographs housed in anatomical museums — including the Narrentu rm in Vienna and the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia \;— the project pai rs skulls marked by post-mortem inscriptions with archival cards containin g only fragmentary information about the subject. Working from these parti al records\, Olynyk invites collaborators across fields to write and perfo rm speculative narratives\, foregrounding how assumption and subjectivity shape what we accept as knowledge.
On Thursday\, February 12 \, 2026 (5:30 \;– \;7:30 p.m.)\, UCI Illuminations and th e UCI Center for Medical Humanities will host The Mutable Archive: A Cure for Immortality at the UCI Arts Experimental Media Performance Lab. A rece ption at 5:30 p.m. will welcome attendees into the installation environmen t. At 6 \;p.m.\, media artist and composer Adam Hogan will activate th e installation through a live diffused electroacoustic score that incorpor ates narrative monologues. A panel discussion at 6:30 p.m. will bring the artists together with invited UCI respondents to consider questions of evi dence\, ethics\, and interpretation — particularly how historical and arch ival research intersects with critical theory and speculative narrative to address gaps in the historical record (aligned with critical fabulation\, a concept developed by scholar Saidiya Hartman). Audiences are invited to experience the work and then engage in dialogue. A matinee performance wi ll take place on Friday\, February 13 at 1 p.m.\, followe d by an informal Q&\;A with Olynyk and Hogan.
The Mutable Archive : A Cure for Immortality is significant for how it connects the history of anatomical collecting and medical display to present-day conversations ar ound colonial violence\, race\, gender\, class disparity\, and cultural bi as. Rather than treating archives as neutral\, the work highlights uneven documentation and the enduring impacts of taxonomic thinking\, including e arly eugenic frameworks. In the spirit of Illuminations — creating meaning ful arts experiences for students across majors \;— this event demonst rates how creative practice can sharpen critical inquiry and deepen unders tanding of how institutional records might be approached with greater care \, empathy\, and accountability. The project offers a strong bridge betwee n artistic practice and research-led creative work\, while also speaking d irectly to data science\, statistics\, and AI-related inquiry as a vivid c ase study in inference from incomplete records\, interpretive bias\, and e thical responsibility.
This event is the first of two planned arts-c entered medical humanities collaborations with Washington University in St . Louis. In fall 2026\, members of the UCI Medical Humanities community wi ll travel to St. Louis for a symposium event.
END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR