Arts & Culture

All Arts & Culture

  • How to examine troubling images

    A number of Harvard faculty and experts took part in a discussion last week about how curators and faculty confront the challenges of teaching with and displaying legacy collections of photographs containing difficult subject matter.

    Troubling Images Zoom panel.
  • O Superwoman

    Avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson brings her unique style to the Norton Lectures in a series of virtual presentations.

    Laurie Anderson.
  • We’ll always have ‘Casablanca’

    The Brattle Theatre will continue its tradition of airing “Casablanca,” offering the iconic 1942 movie through a virtual screening over the long weekend.

    Ingrid Bergman Humphrey Bogart.
  • Laurie Anderson is, as always, undaunted

    As the recipient of this year’s Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry Laurie Anderson tells us how she is designing her six Norton Lectures for a virtual audience.

    Laurie Anderson.
  • Harvard Opportunes win national competition

    Harvard Opportunes win UpStaged National Collegiate Performing Arts A Cappella Championship.

    The Harvard Opportunes.
  • Soundwalking around Harvard

    Digital Sanctuaries Harvard is an app that invites the public on a virtual walk around and beyond Harvard’s campus through an ever-changing musical score.

    Screenshot of app Digital Sanctuaries.
  • To everything there is a season

    Two online art exhibits from the Arnold Arboretum offer a seasonal view of the 281-acre preserve.

    Majestic.
  • Voices raised in glee

    Glee clubs from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton mesh online in song to celebrate diversity and fellowship.

    Glee Clubs
  • Here they come a-caroling

    On Christmas Eve, the Memorial Church and the Harvard University Choir will present an online service featuring student voices recorded individually from around the world.

    Choir in Memorial Church.
  • Beethoven at 250

    On the 250th anniversary of his birth, several Harvard-affiliated composers reflect on the work and life of Ludwig van Beethoven.

    Beethoven
  • Strictly Ballzoom

    Ballzoom, a digital format that lets teams compete, was a first thanks to Harvard students.

    Dancers on Zoom screen.
  • The unique and beautiful await

    Artists from Harvard’s Ed Portal worked from their homes, shops, and studios to amass a catalog of treasures for sale at the fourth-annual winter market.

    Triptych of art.
  • Brighter days for arts forecast in Biden administration

    Though it is too early to tell exactly how the nation’s cultural landscape will fare under a Biden and Harris administration, a number of indicators suggest creative communities could face brighter times ahead with White House support.

    Restoring a painting.
  • A family’s secret language, a reckoning with a Nazi past

    Martin Puchner shares his knowledge of Rotwelsch in his new book, “The Language of Thieves: My Family’s Obsession with a Secret Code the Nazis Tried to Eliminate.”

    Martin Puchner.
  • A beloved holiday theater tradition, remote but not forgotten

    A.R.T.’s annual holiday show, “Jack and the Beanstalk: A Musical Adventure,” is a joyful respite. The 55-minute streamed event is available through Jan. 4.

    Jack and the Beanstalk.
  • Hitting the right note

    The four-day Student Composers Festival begins this week, featuring work by 30 Harvard students and recent alumni. The festival is the creation of Veronica Leahy ’23.

    musical instruments.
  • ‘Garden’ party

    “The Garden” is a new arts course that lets students explore tools and ideas across the disciplines of visual art, film, dance, and music.

    Illustration.
  • Museums of Native culture wrestle with decolonizing

    A panel of museum experts discuss the ways in which museums, which are quintessential colonial institutions, can recreate their missions and practices to respond to social unrest and demands for inclusion and representation.

    Peabody Native American exhibit.
  • Does food have a gender?

    A panel of food experts explored the cultural connections between food and gender during a recent talk sponsored by Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology.

    Woman cooking professionally.
  • Feeling close to art from miles away

    The Harvard Art Museums may be closed due to the coronavirus, but virtual visitors can still connect to its vivid treasures thanks to some art-loving Harvard undergraduates who are leading gallery tours from across the globe.

    Franklin Hang.
  • Reading as pleasure

    Led by student convenors, Harvard’s LitLab brings literature to casual gatherings.

    Zoom screenshot.
  • ‘Dragon Cycle’ examines race, class, gender, and identity

    Seattle-based actor/writer Sara Porkalob brings the full “Dragon Cycle” to A.R.T. as part of the “Virtual Oberon” lineup.

    Sara Porkalob.
  • Kevin Young and a unified theory of Black culture — and himself

    Kevin Young ’92, the newly named director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, discusses his life and work.

  • Building a more just society

    “The Architecture of Democracy” examined how buildings, and their designers, contribute to the shape of our society.

    Architecture.
  • Documentary photographer Chris Killip dies at 74

    Chris Killip, 74, renowned documentary photographer and former professor of visual and environmental studies at Harvard, died on Oct. 13.

    Chris Killip.
  • Future of theater? Not exactly sure, but Diane Paulus is working on it

    Diane Paul talks to the Gazette about the Tony recognition of “Jagged Little Pill,” the A.R.T.’s wide-ranging fall schedule, and the very survival of theater itself.

    Diane Paulus.
  • Face to face with America’s original sin

    Book confronts historical, ethical questions posed by Zealy daguerreotypes.

    Book Cover.
  • Bucking assumptions about dance

    Marc Brew, artistic director of AXIS Dance Company, spoke about how his company has adapted to the conditions set by the pandemic.

    AXIS Dance Company.
  • ‘Jagged Little Pill’ snags record 15 Tony nominations

    “Jagged Little Pill,” which premiered at the American Repertory Theater, was nominated for 15 Tony Awards, the most of any show from the 2019-20 Broadway season.

    Actors from "Jagged Little Pill."
  • Backing art for justice

    The Harvard University Committee on the Arts has awarded 12 activist artists with one-time, no-strings-attached honorariums of $2,000 and an open invitation to present at Harvard.

    Protester from BLM event.