On the evening of March 26th, artists will overrun the Harvard Museum of Natural History for a special evening of performance, sound, and video throughout the galleries. For two and half hours, twelve artists from across the country—including many Harvard alumni and several current students—will transform the museum into laboratory, library, exploratorium, and stage. Through thoughtful interventions and captivating experiments, viewers will experience new ways to engage with the museum's spaces, its collections, and its history.
Participating artists include: Lucky Dragons, Noah Feehan/AKA, Greg Gagnon, Liz Glynn, Jesse Aron Green, Lisa Haber-Thomson, LoversvHaters, Rebecca Lieberman, Hanna Rose Shell, and Catherine Wing.
The performance art in the galleries is organized by Carlin Wing H ’02, Fall 2009 Visiting Lecturer in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies, who will be Artist in Residence at the Harvard Museum of Natural History for the week.
Two different guided tours will be offered. On one tour, poet Catherine Wing will steer audiences through the twists and turns of Marianne Moore's "The Pangolin" and Gerard Manley Hopkins' "The Kingfisher" along with some words of her own. On the other tour, new media artist LoversvHaters will navigate the halls of the museum emanating the voice of Jules Verne from her costume.
Video works will be projected on walls and played on monitors throughout the museum. Hanna Rose Shell's videos on camouflage will greet audiences in the Evolution Theater and Language of Color Exhibition. The artist herself will be found (or not) in full camouflage attire in and around the 42 foot-long Kronosaurus. Noah Feehan/AKA will be found tending his camera and monitor and slowly cooking a piece of steak in Classroom A.
In the first part of the evening, Lucky Dragons, an experimental music collective, will perform in the gem and mineral room with the aid of black lights and student instrumentalists. To conclude the event, Jesse Aron Green will present a new performance from the balcony of the Great Mammal Hall, "To Draw Old Monuments from the Entrails of the Earth."
Admission: $6.00 at the door. Doors open at 6:30 pm; galleries open at 7:00 pm. The event is free to Harvard Museum of Natural History members and Harvard University ID holders. Supported in part by the Office for the Arts at Harvard through the Peter Ivers Visiting Artist Fund, the Department of Visual, and Environmental Studies and the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts.
About the Harvard Museum of Natural History
The museum is located at 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts, just past Harvard Yard, and a 6-8 minute walk from the Harvard Square Red Line T. For more information on exhibits and events, see our online calendar or call 617-495-3045.