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MODfest 2025
January 31 - February 9
All MODfest events are free and open to the public. No reservations are necessary unless otherwise noted. Various venues at Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604
MODfest 2025, “Discovering Uncertainty,” explores the loss of certainty that is the legacy of the scientific and artistic developments of the early 20th century. In the realm of physics, early investigations into the behavior of the electron found that it defied the laws of classical mechanics. Particles appeared to move discontinuously, in violation of the laws of motion codified by Isaac Newton in the 1680s. The sub-atomic realm uncovered by quantum theorists was one of probability and contingency: of Uncertainty. At the same time, musicians, artists and writers of the European and American avant-garde were calling into question many of the artistic values that had held sway for generations: harmonic practice in music, the use of figure and representation in art, narrative structure and perspective in fiction. A new age sought new techniques; a creative uncertainty arose that has persisted to this day. MODfest 2025 highlights the presence of indeterminacy and digital technology in the music of the last hundred years and offers platforms for discussion of the widespread adoption throughout our society of technologies made possible by the discoveries of quantum theory.
—Events: January 31–February 9, 2025
Details at: http://modfest2025.vassar.edu
—Exhibitions beginning January 16 at the Palmer Gallery (Vassar College Main Building), as well as on
view now at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY
12604. Exhibition closing dates vary. Details at: http://modfest2025.vassar.edu/#exhibits
—MODfest opens January 31 at 5:30pm with a lecture in Taylor Hall titled “100 Years of Quantum
Uncertainty” by Associate Professor of Physics José Perillán, and a choral presentation, Stimmung, by
Karlheinz Stockhausen, a 70-minute work for six singers to be held at Skinner Hall of Music at 7:30 p.m.
—On Saturday, February 1, 7:30pm in Skinner Hall, Dr. Daniel J. Levitin, Professor of Psychology and
Neuroscience, McGill University, will deliver a lecture on how music has been used throughout history for
medical purposes. Dr. Levitin will uncover the latest findings in this rapidly developing field on how music
can be used to treat injury and disease and promote wellness.