Artist Hugh Hayden to Deliver The Richard Saivetz ’69 Annual Memorial Architectural Lecture at Brandeis University
Hugh Hayden in his studio, 2020. Photo by Jess Laird. Courtesy the artist and Lisson Gallery.
(Waltham, Mass–March 18, 2025) — The Rose Art Museum and the Department of Fine Arts at Brandeis University are pleased to announce that Hugh Hayden, a critically acclaimed artist whose sculptural practice engages the intersections of architecture, material culture, and social history, will deliver The Richard Saivetz ’69 Annual Memorial Architectural Lecture on April 3, 2025, at 3 PM at the Wasserman Cinematheque in the Sachar International Center. His lecture, titled Building Americana — A Conversation with Hugh Hayden, will be presented in dialogue with Muna Güvenç, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Brandeis University, and Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director and Chief Curator of the Rose Art Museum and Professor of Fine Arts and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Brandeis University. This event is free and open to the public.
“Hayden’s work challenges us to see architecture not just as a functional discipline but as a deeply cultural and political act,” said Güvenç, Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Brandeis University. “His sculptural interventions push the boundaries of architectural thinking, urging us to reconsider how the built environment encodes histories of inclusion and exclusion.”
Trained as an architect at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Hayden integrates architectural principles into his sculptural practice, employing wood and other organic materials to interrogate issues of race, socio-economics, and American mythology. His work, often characterized by an uncanny transformation of everyday objects, challenges conventional understandings of domesticity, craftsmanship, and social belonging. His lecture coincides with his solo exhibition at the Rose Art Museum, Hugh Hayden: Home Work (on view September 18, 2024–June 1, 2025), which examines education, labor, and the structures—both literal and ideological—that shape American life.
“Through his incisive and poetic transformations of materials, Hayden invites us to rethink foundational American myths,” said Ankori, who co-curated Home Work with Sara Montross of the deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, the Trustees. “His work resonates deeply with the mission of the Rose Art Museum—to engage critically with art as a lens through which to understand the world.”
The Richard Saivetz Architectural Lectures were established in memory of Richard Saivetz ’69 by Carol Saivetz, a university trustee, as a tribute to her late husband. A dedicated alumnus with a profound appreciation for architecture and design, Richard Saivetz is honored through this annual lecture series, which provides a forum for distinguished architects, architectural historians, and artists to critically examine the role of architecture in shaping contemporary life. The series has previously featured distinguished speakers such as artist and designer Jha D Amazi of MASS Design Group, architect Haggy Belzberg (Holocaust Museum LA), Mabel O. Wilson, the Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, and Charles L. Davis II, Associate Professor of Architectural History and Criticism at UT Austin, each of whom has contributed to the evolving discourse on the built environment and its broader cultural and historical implications.
ABOUT HUGH HAYDEN
Hugh Hayden (b. Dallas, Texas, 1983) lives and works in New York City. He holds an MFA from Columbia University and a Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. Recent solo exhibitions include Boogey Men at the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Miami, FL, which traveled to the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX; Hugh Hayden: Creation Myths, Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; and Hugh Hayden, White Columns, New York, NY. Recent group exhibitions include Forest of Dreams: Contemporary Tree Sculpture, Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, Grand Rapids, MI (2023), and NGV Triennial, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia (2023). Hayden holds positions on advisory councils at Columbia University School of the Arts, Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, and Cornell College of Architecture Art and Planning. His work is part of public collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, USA; Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, Miami, FL, USA; deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum, Lincoln, MA; Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Waltham, MA; Princeton University Art Museum, Princeton, NJ; Smart Museum, Chicago, IL and more.
ABOUT THE ROSE ART MUSEUM AT BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY
Rose Art Museum fosters community, experimentation, and scholarship through direct engagement with modern and contemporary art, artists, and ideas. Founded in 1961, the Rose is among the nation’s preeminent university art museums and houses one of New England's most extensive collections of modern and contemporary art. Through its exceptional collection, support of emerging artists, and innovative programming, the museum serves as a nexus for art and social justice at Brandeis University and beyond. Located just 20 minutes from downtown Boston, Rose Art Museum is open Wednesdays–Sundays, 11 AM to 5 PM. Admission is free.
For more information or to access the press kit, contact Chad Sirois, Associate Director of Communications and Marketing. Follow the Rose Art Museum on Instagram, Facebook, and Threads.
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