Season 2 - Ep 1 Joseph Zeal Henry on Sound, Space, and Power

Equitable Architectures: Joseph Zeal Henry on Sound, Space, and Power

In this episode, Joseph Zeal Henry—2024 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow—joins ArtLab Director Bree Edwards to discuss equity and politics in the built environment. During his year-long residency at Harvard, Joseph worked at the intersection of public service and art, pursuing what he calls “new cultural architectures.”

In collaboration with the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA), he created the SUPA System, a public sound sculpture that uses sonic material as a way of shaping space and community.

Joseph reflects on the need to move from cultural consumption to cultural production through exploratory spatial practices in music. He emphasizes how integrating multiple scales and perspectives can generate more equitable, evolving structures for relation and creation—redistributing both agency and power in the process.

Join us for an inspiring conversation about how sound, space, and design can reimagine what architecture—and community—can be.

Joseph’s ArtLab page: https://artlab.harvard.edu/directory/joseph-zeal-henry/
Joseph’s personal website: https://josephzealhenry.com
Joseph’s instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/josephzealhenry/

Works in Progress is recorded and produced in ArtLab’s Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards, produced by Kat Nakaji, and edited by Luke Damrosch. Theme music by Kicktracks.

For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching @ArtLabHarvard.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts.

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston