Imagine That!
"In [the 1960's] when parents were turning up their noses at Elvis, Motown and the Beatles, and so-called experts would criticize popular music as brainless and even harmful... Leonard Bernstein thought the Beatles were great! And the Supremes too, and the Stones, and Latin American music, and African war chants and Louis Armstrong and Balinese gamelan and... well, that was exactly it: Leonard Bernstein loved music. ALL of it. And he gave a clear signal to his audiences that it was OK to love all music — and not to put a value judgment on one genre over another. He was the unsnobbiest person you could ever hope to meet. He loved people and was curious about everything." -- Jamie Bernstein
Special Projects
Imagine the vision of a new generation.
Art makes it possible.
During the festival, the Brandeis campus is transformed by innovative original artwork made by students, staff and faculty and funded by the Office of the Arts.
STRUCTURAL HEALING
What if an oversize adhesive bandage could repair a flaw in the landscape? Or would it merely camouflage? Find Livia Bell ’13’s various healing sites around campus.
MIRROR, MIRROR
Can an anonymous connection also be deeply felt? Borrowing from acoustic mirrors, religious gates and sacred spaces, Victoria Cheah, Ph.D. ’16, sends you through a portal of sounds. Great Lawn.
UNRAVELING: EPITHELIUM
Part interactive art gallery, part theatrical funhouse. You choose. Collaboration by David French ’13 and Vincent Wong ‘14, with Robert Fitzgerald PB '13 and David Yun. Bernstein-Marcus Building, lower level.
INNERMOST PARTS
What happens when soft inner parts become exposed? Sculptors Olivia Leiter ’14 and Paul Belenky ’14 explore the dissonance of fragility combined with industrial materials. Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
IT SEEMED ABSURD ENOUGH, PART I
Berke Goldberg ’16 performs short personal acts of domesticity daily around campus.
GINGKO COUTURE
Sarah Hershon ’14 envelops a grove of gingko trees with custom-knitted finery. Outside the Shapiro Admissions Center.
BERBER JEWS: SPACE, MEMORY AND IDENTITY
What is left behind nearly 60 years after the massive departure of Jews to Israel and France? Through photography and painting, Chaimae Mechtaly ’15 documents the ruins of the Berber Jewish villages and the women who once lived there. The documentary “Tinghir-Jerusalem: The Echoes of the Mellah” will be screened on Saturday, April 27 at 9 p.m. Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room.
SPIRITS IN THE FOREST
Discover the hidden world of tree spirits through an interactive scavenger hunt. Pick up your first clue at the Shapiro Campus Center. Rebecca Ottinger ’15 and Olive Pobiel ’15.
RECEIVING CONTAINER
Imagine 101 radios tuned to every receivable North American frequency. A whole lot of noise in an innocuous container. Billy Sims (staff, Fine Arts). Shapiro Campus Center Atrium.
THE USUAL CROWD
Photojournalists Robyn Spector ’13 and Joshua Linton ’13 imagine all the people, in a series of large-scale digitally manipulated portraits. Green Room, Goldfarb Library.
KNOW YOUR TREES!
Melanie Steinhardt ’13 imagines the Brandeis campus as an arboretum and has lovingly crafted woodcut prints to tag some of the most significant species.
THE STROKE OF CHANGE: ARBITRARY GRAVITY
What connects societies during times of drastic change? An illustrated book by Nadya Vasilyeva (faculty, psychology) and Saray Ayala López, translated into more than 30 languages by Brandeis community members, invites you to take a step toward understanding the principles and values that shape our worlds. Women's Studies Research Center, Epstein Building.
Also On View
PROSPECT II, DREITZER GALLERY, SPINGOLD THEATER CENTER
Accomplished studio artists in the postbaccalaureate program exhibit painting, sculpture, drawing, and printmaking. Danielle Friedman ‘09, Farnaz Gholami, Pam Jorgensen, Sascha La Fave '12, Becca Newhouse, Shona McAndrew Okoshken '12, Shoshana Rosenfield, Will Suglia. Gallery hours: Thursday and Friday 8 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.; Sunday 12 p.m. – 5 p.m.
ULAFA'A RECONCILIATION ART PROJECT
Ulafa'a is an Arabic term that describes a group of people who are familiar with each other and possibly share common feelings. Ulafa'a is also an art project that creates opportunities for people to express themselves and to strengthen relationships of respect and understanding among the different communities of Bahrain. In this exhibition, ten young artists from Bahrain show documentation of their recent residency with the Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts at Brandeis. Shapiro Campus Center Multipurpose Room.