Works in Progress

In this episode, Lakota music artist, public speaker, and educator Frank Waln joins ArtLab director Bree Edwards to explore the medicinal power of music in constructing futures from the rubble of colonial violence. Drawing on his formative relationship with music, Frank traces the lineage of hip-hop back to experiences of colonial displacement faced by communities of color in America. He discusses how this legacy opened space for h...

The music in the introduction and conclusion of this episode comes from the concert on April 30, 2024, at Harvard University, led by artist and composer Samora Pinderhughes and The Healing Project. It includes Dani Murcia, Nia Drummond, and Jebreal Jackson on vocals, Elliott Skinner on guitar and vocals, and Joshua Crumbly on bass. The performance features an introduction by Vijay Iyer, the Franklin D. and Florence Rosenblatt Profe...

In this episode, designer, urbanist, and curator Joseph Zeal-Henry joins ArtLab director Bree Edwards to discuss equity and politics in the built environment. We sat down with Joseph to explore his year-long residency as the Loeb Fellow at ArtLab, where he sought to bridge public service and art in pursuit of new cultural architectures. In collaboration with HUCA, Joseph spent his time at Harvard constructing a public sound sculptu...

Matt Saunders, Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies; Jennifer Roberts, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities, and American and Contemporary Art and; Kristian Hardy & Erik Zou, Harvard Undergraduate Fellows, Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program (SHARP).

Diving into “artistic research,” we discuss what it means to Harvard professors and students. In today’s case study, we catch a glimpse into how artists ...

Talking about Tap, today we are joined in the studio by Ayodele Casel, award winning tap dancer, actor, and choreographer of the current Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” and her collaborator and partner, the Director, Torya Beard. Ayodele and Torya were first at the ArtLab in 2019 and have been advisors to its development since then. They return to Harvard for the premiere of their newest performance, 'Ayodele Casel: Chasing M...

Join us in the studio with MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and Harvard Music Professor, flutist Claire Chase and her collaborator Lisa (Li)  E. Harris. Professor Chase commissioned Li to create a musical composition that would be co-written and performed by Harvard freshman students in the fall of 2021 and 2022. The score entitled, A Black Woman Told Me, And I Believe Her: A Movement Still Moving, was performed this morning at the ArtLab...

One of the first artists in residence at the ArtLab, Dr. Merritt Moore combines two unique passions in her career: physics and ballet. Merritt graduated with a degree in physics from Harvard and went on to earn her PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. She has been named to the “Forbes 30 Under 30” and is featured in "Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls," alongside Ada Lovelace and Oprah Winfrey. Wh...

Artist Jordan Weber joins us in the ArtLab studio to discuss race, identity, design of the built environment and art-making in historically white spaces. Employing slick black obsidian stone and chrome rims, Weber’s sculpture Perennial Philosophies was recently installed outside the ArtLab. For the artist, it evokes a dark “sea we must wade,'' a line from poet Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Climb.” A section ...

Art is a journey, but very rarely do we get to witness the creative evolution. Imagine the conversations that could be explored if we truly understood the artistic process and appreciated the research and experimentation that each artwork entailed?

Works in Progress, a production of the ArtLab at Harvard University, is taking on this challenge.

Start listening to Works in Progress in early 2022 wherever you list...