Artist in Residence

The Schusterman Center hosts Israeli artists and art historians who illuminate the contemporary cultural environment in Israel.

Skyline with two words Land and Lord illuminated on either side of the scene

Photo Credit: Maria Baranova

Hadar Ahuvia is a dance artist and educator drawing on the multidisciplinary lineages of postmodern dance and the Ashkenazi Jewish diaspora. She creates performances, workshops, and rituals that forefront the role of the body in political, social and spiritual action. Raised as a secular Zionist in Israel/Palestine and US/Turtle Island, Ahuvia has come to study traditional prayer texts and melodies as a way of healing intergenerational ruptures. Her years-long research and deconstruction of Zionist folk dance have culminated in a cycle of performances tracing how Israeli identity is choreographed and transmitted, a contribution to the "Oxford Handbook of Jewishness and Dance," and earned her a Bessie nomination for Outstanding Breakout Choreographer. Her choreographic credits include Baryshnikov Arts Center, Danspace Project, 14th St Y, Gibney Dance, La Mama, and Movement Research. As a performer, she has had the honor of dancing with Sara Rudner, Reggie Wilson/ Fist and Heel Performance Group, Trisha Brown and Lucinda Child’s Dance, and co-creating and collaborating with Shira Eviatar and Tatyana Tenenbaum.

Ahuvia has shared her research at the Association for Jewish Studies, Arizona State University, University of Maryland, City College, Whitman College, and Yale University. She is a rabbinical student at Hebrew College and is delighted to be in the community at Brandeis this year. She will be sharing her Deconstructing Israeli Folk Dance workshop, a collaboration with choreographer Rebecca Pappas, and a new work emerging from her reclamation of Eastern European Ashkenazi vernacular and cantorial music called "Nefesh".

Skyline with two words Land and Lord illuminated on either side of the scene

Shimon Attie returned to Brandeis for a residency that engaged questions of memory, place and identity. His artwork, recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rome Prize, gives visual form to personal and collective memories, histories of marginalized and forgotten communities, and physical landscape. 

Artist talks took place February 26 & 27 and March 26. Learn more about the residency.

Two Palestinian Riders

100 Steps to the Mediterranean, a solo exhibition of photography and video installations by one of the most compelling emerging artists in the Middle East opened at The Rose Art Museum on September 20 through December 9. An illustrated catalog was launched on October 30 at the Rose in conjunction with a public talk by the artist. Academic programs on campus included workshops on social justice and a panel discussion, “Exposures: Photography and the Politics of Looking," on October 31. Learn more about the artist.

Nelly Agassi creating an installation, on a ladder with and assistant helping
Nelly Agassi, Fall 2010

In honor of the Center dedication on November 10, 2010, and assisted by Brandeis students, Nelly created a symbolic performative installation composed entirely of red satin ribbons. This work offered an artistic alternative to the traditional "cutting of the ribbon" ceremony, as well as a celebratory gesture of gratitude for the gift of art. Additional works by Agassi, along with a selection of contemporary Israeli photography and video art, are on display at the Center.

Andi Arnovitz
Andi Arnovitz, Spring 2010

Co-sponsored with Hadassah-Brandeis Institute, Israeli/American artist Andi Arnovitz arrived at Brandeis in February 2010 to address our doctoral students on the dissonance between halacha (Jewish law) and modernity. She created a studio art workshop on using textiles in journaling with HBI students. Based on research and interactions with the university community, Arnovitz will make sketches of coats that honor such women as Deborah the prophetess, Dona Gracia Nasi, Naomi Shemer, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She will use these sketches to create three-dimensional versions upon her return to Israel.