Brandeis University State of the Arts, Fall 2014

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The Lydian String Quartet

welcomes a new member and kicks o� an ecstatic

concert season

What’sWhat’s Ahead for the

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visions

”Know YourARTISTS

—Ingrid SchorrAssociate Director, Offi ce of the Arts

At this summer’s Americans for the Arts conference in Nashville, Tenn., spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph noted that 97 percent of Americans say they value the arts in their lives. No surprise there. However, he continued, only 27 percent say they value artists. Arts advocates should take a cue from the local-food movement and its “know your farmer” message, Joseph sug-gested, and make sure people know where their art comes from. A tomato doesn’t grow in the produce aisle, and a string quartet doesn’t step into the recital hall fully formed.

So this issue of State of the Arts turns the spotlight on the people at Brandeis who make art and those who cultivate it.

The university has recently welcomed several new faculty members. These artists and scholars are noteworthy not just for their accomplishments, which are many and diverse, but for the imaginative capacity that leads them to discover remarkable connections between disciplines.

Mark Berger, PhD’12, a prolifi c violist and composer, has joined the Lydian String Quartet and the music department faculty. Be-sides performing with many of the Boston area’s fi nest orchestras and chamber groups, Berger has also collaborated with dancers and rappers — on a basketball court. On page 2, Berger tells us what makes the upcoming Lydian concerts so exciting.

Professor Jasmine Johnson has a joint appointment to the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and the Women’s and Gender Studies program. On pages 14-15, Gannit Ankori (Fine Arts) talks with Johnson about how dance unlocks her understanding of race, culture and history.

Todd Pavlisko, an interdisciplinary artist with a lifelong interest in science, joins the fi ne arts studio faculty; you can see his work on pages 16-17.

In June, several beloved faculty and staff members retired after distinguished careers. James Olesen, Elizabeth Terry, Robert Moody and Joy Vlachos gave more than 100 years of service to the university, and established a legacy of respect, devotion and excellence in the arts.

And we say a very grateful farewell to the founding director of the Offi ce of the Arts. Scott Edmiston has joined the theater faculty at Northeastern University. An award-winning theater director, he will also take the helm of the musical “Far From Heaven” for SpeakEasy Stage Company this fall.

Emily Dickinson wrote, “Imagination lights the slow fuse of pos-sibility.” Brandeis owes much of its current vision for the arts to Scott, a leader with imagination to spare. He instilled the Brandeis arts community with empathy for its challenges, the faith that it could thrive, and the ingenuity to make it happen. In 2004, Scott asked the creative arts faculty and staff, “Does Brandeis value the arts?” Only 7 percent said yes. Most would say only that the uni-versity “somewhat” valued the arts. By 2011, the yeses were up to 40 percent. Today, we have new interdisciplinary arts programs; the arts as a pillar of the strategic plan; and a revitalized Rose Art Museum, to name just a few measures of Scott’s infl uence. If you know Scott, you know that he loves movies and plays about students and teachers. His 2008 production of “The History Boys,” which he directed in Boston with a cast of Brandeis undergraduates, was unforgettable, and “To Sir With Love” is one of our shared favorites. So this issue of State of the Arts is for him, dedicated with a new version of that movie’s theme song: “If you wanted the sky, I would write it in letters that would soar a thousand feet high: To Scott, with love.”

Our spotlight is on the people at Brandeis who make art and those who cultivate it.

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”contents

21 calendar highlights

fall 2014Volume 11, Number 1

State of the Arts is published twice a year by Brandeis University Office of the Arts.

Associate DirectorIngrid Schorr

Art Director John Sizingwww.jspublicationdesign.com

Photo Editorlenny Schnier ‘13

Photographymike lovett

Copy EditorSusan Pasternack

ContributorsGannit ankorialyssa avis ’07 mark bergerCynthia CohenJudith eissenbergmolly Haas-Hooven ‘09Susan metricanDeborah rosensteinCaitlin Julia rubinJoe Wardwell

Correspondenceoffice of the artsmS 052brandeis universityPo box 549110Waltham, ma 02454-9110

www.brandeis.edu/arts

6 visual arts

2 music

11 theater

14 portraits

cover photograph: mike lovett

20 artifacts

18 art of the matter

01_BrandeisSOA_F14.indd 1 8/21/14 9:14 PM

The Lydian String Quartet welcomes its new inner voice

BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY STATE OF THE ARTS fall 2014|2

VIOLIST MARK BERGER CAN FOLD HIS TALL, lanky frame into a music ensemble of any size. He frequently performs with New England’s fi nest orchestras: the Boston Symphony, Bos-ton Pops, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. An avid chamber musician, Berger is a member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society and Mu-sic at Eden’s Edge, and has been a guest artist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva and Radius Ensemble. The rural Minnesota native also performs with many of Boston’s new-music ensembles, including Sound Icon, Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex.

Berger earned a PhD in composi-tion from Brandeis in 2012. And while a grad student at Brandeis,

he had one of his earliest compositions, Notturno, performed by the Lydian String Quartet. This fall, he joins the quartet as its violist, fi lling the position of founding member and violist Mary Ruth Ray (1956-2013), and becomes a member of the music department faculty.

In June, Berger took a break from packing for the summer season at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute in western Massachusetts (where he is in residence with his wife, fl utist and conductor Kathleen Berger, and their two young children) to talk about his return to Brandeis and the vibrant future of the Lydian String Quartet.

You have an incredibly productive freelance

career as a performer and composer. What drew you back

to Brandeis?

It’s a dream come true. The opportu-nity to make music at the highest level with these esteemed colleagues. To commune on a regular basis with

the greatest works of the

classical chamber music canon. And by way of the LSQ Com-mission Prize,

to push boundaries through new works with cutting-edge composers. Obviously, I’m very comfortable here at

Brandeis. The department is warm and friendly. I love playing in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Acoustically, it’s perfect for a chamber group.

You’ve also performed in some unusual spaces, with unusual collaborators. Not the typical “gig“ for a classical musician.

Like on an urban basketball court? Yes, as part of a string octet accompanying young rappers and street dancers in the spoken-word opera titled “Hoop Suite,” a collabora-tion between choreographer Anna Myer and the North American Family Institute.

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The Lydian String The Lydian String The Lydian String The Lydian String Quartet welcomes its new inner voiceQuartet welcomes its new inner voiceQuartet welcomes its new inner voice

VIOLIST MARK BERGER CAN FOLD HIS TALL, lanky frame into a music ensemble of any size. He frequently performs with New England’s fi nest orchestras: the Boston Symphony, Bos-ton Pops, Emmanuel Music and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. An avid chamber musician, Berger is a member of the Worcester Chamber Music Society and Mu-sic at Eden’s Edge, and has been a guest artist with the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Boston Musica Viva and Radius Ensemble. The rural Minnesota native also performs with many of Boston’s new-music ensembles, including Sound Icon, Boston Musica Viva and Dinosaur Annex.

Berger earned a PhD in composi-tion from Brandeis in 2012. And while a grad student at Brandeis,

You have an incredibly productive freelance

career as a performer and composer. What drew you back

to Brandeis?

It’s a dream come true. The opportu-nity to make music at the highest level with these esteemed colleagues. To commune on a regular basis with

the greatest works of the

classical chamber music canon. And by way of the LSQ Com-mission Prize,


BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY STATE OF THE ARTS | |

he had one of his earliest compositions, Notturno, performed by the Lydian String Quartet. This fall, he joins the quartet as its violist, fi lling the position of founding member and violist Mary Ruth Ray (1956-2013), and becomes a member of the music department

In June, Berger took a break from packing for the summer season at Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute in western Massachusetts (where he is in residence with his wife, fl utist and conductor Kathleen Berger, and their two young children) to talk about his return to Brandeis and the vibrant future of the Lydian String Quartet.

Brandeis. The department is warm and friendly. I love playing in the Slosberg Recital Hall. Acoustically, it’s perfect for a chamber group.

You’ve also performed in some unusual spaces, with unusual collaborators. Not the typical “gig“ for a classical musician.

Like on an urban basketball court? Yes, as part of a string octet accompanying young rappers and street dancers in the spoken-word opera titled “Hoop Suite,” a collabora-tion between choreographer Anna Myer and the North American Family Institute.


with these esteemed

DREAM GIGDREAM DREAM DREAM Mark Berger’s


DREAM DREAM DREAM

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What’s unique about being a performer who’s also a composer?

I feel very much at home when I am working with other composers and learning the nuts and bolts of music that is new or unfamiliar. The LSQ has always had a strong tradition of working with young composers, both here at Brandeis and in concerts outside of Boston. I think my training and experience as a composer certainly jibes well with that mission.

And what’s your role as the violist in the quartet?

The viola is an inner voice of the group. Inside the harmonies, inside the texture, sometimes providing bass, sometimes providing rhythmic drive, occasionally rising to the top. For example, in the Ravel quartet, there are many gossamer textures where the lines fl ow like water. I have to make my sound dissolve into the quartet’s texture so that even though the viola is contributing its own pitches and rhythms, the identity of my sound is fused together with the rest of the quartet. But at other times, such as in the quartet that Kurt Rohde composed for us [for the 2012 LSQ Commission Prize], the viola soars in an extended solo based on the distorted guitar hooks of a Jimi Hendrix tune. That kind of versatility is endlessly challenging and tremendously rewarding to me as a musician.

How do you develop that sound with the rest of the quartet, to translate that into something that we hear?

We typically rehearse for three hours a day, four times a week, and half of that might be talking. We talk through decisions about how to shape the music, what we want to achieve. Recently, to prepare for a video project that will allow people to get to know us as per-formers, we recorded and listened closely to our rehearsals every day for several weeks.

What lies ahead for the quartet?

This is a time for us to try new things, to chart our course forward. Over the past year I’ve felt a sense of development, that we’re moving in a good direction. We have an incredible season. I’m par-ticularly excited about playing Elliott Carter’s fi rst quartet — one of my all-time favorite pieces of music — and Evan Ziporyn’s Sulvasu-tra for string quartet, pipa and tabla, with guests Yihan Chen and Sandeep Das.

The Lydian String Quartet welcomes its new inner voice

DREAM GIG

OUR NOV. 8 CONCERT explores the fascinating and contrasting ways that we experience musical time. Haydn’s String Quar-tet in F, Op. 50, No. 5 is subtitled “The Dream,” an apt description of its beau-tiful slow movement, which seems to inhabit an other-

worldly dimension where time stands still. Similarly, the repetitive patterns and driving rhythms of Philip Glass’s String Quartet No. 5 have a hypnotic effect that places the listener into a sort of alpha state that gradually builds to an ecstatic climax.

The concert culminates in Elliott Carter’s monu-mental String Quartet No. 1. Based on the contrast between conscious or chronological time and a subconscious “dream time,” this piece has it all — the entire universe of

modern musical expres-sion layered into an epic kaleidoscope of sound.

OUR SPRING CONCERT, on April 18, 2015, begins with Ben Johnston’s stun-ning String Quartet No. 4, a set of increasingly rich variations on “Amazing

Grace.” The fi rst half closes with transcendental gran-deur in what is perhaps the quintessential American string quartet — Ives’ String Quartet No. 2.

The second half brings in two of the most exciting artists on the world-music scene. Tabla virtuoso Sand-eep Das and master of the pipa (ancient four-stringed Chinese lute) Yihan Chen perform a dazzling piece by MIT’s Evan Ziporyn, in which Eastern and Western musical traditions fuse into an ecstatic musical melting pot.

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Berger on the LSQ season

fall 2014 STATE OF THE ARTS BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY 3|


A Tribute to Erwin BodkySunday, Oct. 19, 7 p.m.Daniel Stepner, Pamela Dellal, Evan Hirsch, and Cambridge Society for Early Music president James Nicolson honor Erwin Bodky, Brandeis’ fi rst professor of music and founder of the Cambridge Society for Early Music, with performances of works by Bodky and J.S. Bach. Co-sponsored by the Cambridge Society for Early Music. Free and open to the public.

Lydian String QuartetSaturday, Nov. 8, 8 p.m. (pre-performance lecture by Daniel Stepner at 7 p.m.)The Lyds are back! Violinists Daniel Stepner and Judith Eissenberg and cellist Joshua Gordon are joined by the quartet’s newest member, violist Mark Berger (see interview on page 2) performing Haydn: Quartet in F major, Op. 50, No. 5, “The Dream”; Philip Glass: String Quartet No. 5; Elliott Carter: String Quartet No. 1.

Irving Fine at 100Saturday, Nov. 15, 8 p.m.The centennial celebration of Irving Fine, music department and School of Creative Arts founder, continues with an all-Fine program performed by the acclaimed Music From Copland House ensemble. Free and open to the public. A symposium on Fine will take place at 2:30 p.m. that day.

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music

Brandeis Improv Collective: Ultimate Jam SessionSaturday, Oct. 25, 8 p.m.Join the collective, under the direction of Tom Hall, and fi nd your groove!

Brandeis Wind Ensemble: CelebrationsSunday, Nov. 16, 3 p.m.Tom Souza, director.

MARQUEE CONCERTSThe Brandeis Department of Music hosts an exceptional series of professional concerts each year, featuring faculty and visiting artists. Marquee concerts take place in Slosberg Music Center and tickets are $20/$15/$5 (students) unless otherwise noted. Contact Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400 or online at brandeis.edu/tickets.

MUSIC AT MANDELAt the Mandel Center for the Humanities Atrium

Music at Mandel concerts are free and open to the public and are followed by a free box lunch.

Lydian String QuartetWednesday, Nov. 5, noonGet a sneak peek at the Lydian’s fi rst concert of the season.

Afternoon Jazz with Bob Nieske and Billy Novick Wednesday, Nov. 19, noonGroove to tunes by bassist Bob Nieske, director of the Brandeis Jazz Ensemble, and special guest Billy Novick on clarinet.

Fafali: Music and Dance From GhanaWednesday, Dec. 3, noonDiscover the rich traditional polyrhythms of West Africa, performed by students in MUS 87b. Faith Conant, director.

Brandeis’ outstanding student ensembles perform music ranging from the Renais-sance period to contemporary jazz. Student concerts take place in Slosberg Music Center and are free and open to the public.

STUDENT CONCERTS

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fall 2014 STATE OF THE ARTS BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY | 5

Brandeis University Chorus: Haydn “Lord Nelson” MassSunday, Nov. 16, 7 p.m.Neal Hampton, conductor.

Brandeis Jazz Ensemble:A Salute to Duke EllingtonSunday, Nov. 23, 3 p.m.Bob Nieske, director.

Brandeis-Wellesley OrchestraShostakovich Fifth SymphonySunday, Nov. 23, 7 p.m.Neal Hampton, conductor.

Leonard Bernstein Fellows Monday, Dec. 1, 7 p.m.Chamber music performed by the eliteBernstein ensembles.

Brandeis Improv CollectiveTuesday, Dec. 2, 7 p.m.Tom Hall, director.

Brandeis Early Music Ensemble with Brandeis Chamber ChoirSunday, Dec. 7, 3 p.m.Sarah Mead, director.

Fafali: Music and Dance From GhanaSunday, Dec. 7, 7 p.m.Explore the irresistible rhythms of Ghana;a dynamic evening of drumming and authentic dance. Faith Conant, director.

Chamber Music RecitalMonday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m.Featuring the students of MUS116.

“Messiah” Sing at the Shapiro Campus CenterTuesday, Dec. 9, 4 p.m.Sing along with the Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra and the University Chorus in the annual community concert of Handel’s magnifi cent masterpiece. Music scores and seasonal refreshments are provided.

NEW MUSIC BRANDEISAt Slosberg Music Center

Since its founding, Brandeis has been an incubator for new music, with 20th-century pioneers such as Harold Shapero and Alvin Lucier on the faculty. The New Music Brandeis series presents works by students and alumni performed by professional musicians. The concerts take place at Slosberg Music Center and are free and open to the public.

The Electro-Acoustic PianoSaturday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m.Featuring new works for piano and live electronics by Brandeis alumni Peter van Zandt Lane, Keith Kirchoff and others.

New Music Brandeis: Graduate Composers’ CollectiveSunday, Nov. 9, 7 p.m.

Undergraduate Composers’ CollectiveFriday, Nov. 21, 8 p.m.

New Music Brandeis Featuring the Lydian String QuartetSaturday, Dec. 6, 8 p.m.


visual arts

ROSE ART MUSEUMThe Rose Art Museum at Brandeis is among the premier university museums of modern and contemporary art in the country. Through its distinguished collection of mid-20th- through 21st-century art, cutting-edge exhibitions and dynamic programs, visitors can experience the great art, artists and ideas of our time.

MARK BRADFORD: SEA MONSTERSGerald S. and Sandra Fineberg GallerySept. 11-Dec. 21An exhibition of major new painting and sculpture inspired by 16th- and 17th-century decorative sea maps by MacArthur Award-winning artist Mark Bradford, featuring a monumentally scaled installation created specifi cally for the museum’s glass-fronted Lois Foster Wing.

FALL EXHIBITIONSOn view Sept. 11-Dec. 21, 2014Opening celebration: Wednesday, Sept. 10, 5-9 p.m.


DEDICATION: CHRIS BURDEN, “LIGHT OF REASON”Wednesday, Sept. 10, 5-9 p.m.

Join the Rose in celebrating “Light of Reason,” a permanent instal-lation by acclaimed artist Chris Burden. Heralded as a creator of “epoch-defi ning work” and “one of the most important American artists to emerge since 1970” by New York City’s New Museum, Burden has designed a sculpture inspired by the three torches, three hills and three Hebrew letters in the Brandeis University seal.

The work’s title, “Light of Reason,” borrows from a well-known quotation by the university’s namesake, Supreme Court Justice Louis Dembitz Brandeis: “If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.”

In Burden’s design, antique Victorian lampposts and concrete benches form three branches that fan out from the Rose Art Museum’s entrance. The sculpture creates an inviting gateway to the museum and a dynamic outdoor space for the Brandeis community.

MARK BRADFORD, “NO TIME TO EXPAND THE SEA”, MIXED MEDIA ON CANVAS. COURTESY OF THE ARTIST.

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Chris Burden’s installation “Light of Reason” in the midst of construction this summer.





ROSE PROJECTS 1B | 1914: MAGNUS PLESSENLower Rose GallerySept. 11-Dec. 21Rose Projects 1, organized by curator-at-large Katy Siegel, focuses on artists who refuse the categorical divides between representation and materialist abstraction and image and object, looking for different models of reality. The second exhibition in a series of three, “1914” presents recent work by Magnus Plessen alongside the historical material to which Plessen’s work is tied, documents of the experience and traumatic injuries of World War I.

JOHN ALTOON (Co-organized with Los Angeles County Museum of Art) Lois Foster GalleryOct. 8-Dec. 21The fi rst major retrospective of John Altoon, a little-known but important artist whose brief but signifi cant career unfolded in Southern California from the 1950s until his untimely death in 1969 at age 43. A postmodernist before his time, Altoon had a facility with line, color and subject matter that infl uenced his peers and continues to resonate with artists today. The exhibition includes some 70 paintings and drawings created by this legendary fi gure of the 1960s Los Angeles art scene.

ROSE VIDEO 04 | ALEX HUBBARDRose Video GallerySept. 11-Nov. 2Alex Hubbard works in a variety of media to explore and break down the arrange-ment and conventional production of images, playing with line, plane and color in the composition and subsequent ma-nipulation of ordinary objects. Rose Video 04 presents Hubbard’s “Annotated Plans for an Evacuation” (2009) in addition to a recently completed painting.

ROSE VIDEO 05 | GILLIAN WEARINGRose Video GalleryNov. 11, 2014-March 8, 2015English photographer and video artist Gillian Wearing has described her working method as “editing life.” By using photography and video to record the confessions of ordinary people, her work explores the disparities between public and private life, between individual and collective experience.

© IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM (Q30457)

(RIGHT): JOHN ALTOON, “OCEAN PARK SERIES #12” (1962). LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART. © 2014 ESTATE OF JOHN ALTOON, PHOTO © 2014 MUSEUM ASSOCIATES/LACMA.

STILL FROM GILLIAN WEARING, “BULLY” (2010). COURTESY THE ARTIST; TANYA BONAKDAR GALLERY, NEW YORK; AND MAUREEN PALEY, LONDON




New Work from Home and AbroadSept. 10-Oct. 1 (opening reception,Sept. 17)Work by award-winning members of the class of 2015, supported by the Brandeis Arts Council and the Remis Fund. Spon-sored by the Department of Fine Arts.

Faculty/Sta� Art ExhibitionOct. 6-24 See another side of the Brandeis com-munity in this biannual exhibit of painting, drawing, sculpture, photography and even edible art. Sponsored by the Offi ce of the Arts.

Senior Midyear Exhibition Dec. 10, 2014-Jan. 12, 2015(opening reception, Dec. 10, 2014)


visual arts

Opening ReceptionWednesday, Sept. 10, 5-9 p.m. Celebrate the permanent installation of Chris Burden’s sculpture, “Light of Reason,” and the museum’s fall exhibitions.

Close Looking SeriesJoin Brandeis faculty and guests in inter-disciplinary conversations about works from the Rose collection. Sponsored by the Rose, the Mandel Center for the Humani-ties, and Library and Technology Services.

Wednesday, Sept. 17, 3:30 p.m.Chris Burden’s “Light of Reason” (2014), with Gordon Fellman (Sociology) and Christopher Abrams (Fine Arts).

Wednesday, Dec. 3, 3:30 p.m.Elizabeth Murray’s “Duck Foot” (1983),

with Christian Gentry, PhD’12, and Susan Dibble (Theater Arts).

Gallery Talk: John AltoonWednesday, Oct. 8, 6 p.m.Carol Eliel, Curator of Modern Art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, discusses the work of painter John Altoon.

Symposium: Mark Bradford Thursday, Oct. 23, 2-7 p.m. Boston Athenaeum, 10 1/2 Beacon Street, BostonA three-part symposium on the work of artist Mark Bradford and recent directions in contemporary painting, with presenta-tions by Suzanne Hudson (USC) and Rich-ard Shiff (UT/Austin); a curator’s roundtable with Russell Ferguson (Hammer), Mark Godfrey (Tate Modern) and Laura Hoptman (MoMA); and a discussion among leading painters in the fi eld: Mark Bradford, David Reed, Laura Owens and Jack Whitten. Pre-registration is required; please visit the Rose’s website for more information.

Gallery Talk: “1914”: Magnus Plessen Wednesday, Nov. 12, 3:30 p.m.Paul Jankowski (History) discusses World War I in relation to themes prevalent in the Rose exhibition.

ROSE PROGRAMS & EVENTS

The Rose Art Museum has rolled out its searchable Digital Collection website, which offers online access to many works in the museum’s renowned 8,000-piece collection of modern and contemporary art. The number of pieces included in the Digital Collection will expand over time, museum staff say. To study works by Robert Rauschenberg, Cindy Sherman, Andy Warhol and other culture-changing artists from the comfort of your living room, go to rosecollection.brandeis.edu.

DREITZER GALLERY, SPINGOLD THEATER CENTEROpening receptions take place on the fi rst day of each exhibition from 5-7 p.m., unless otherwise noted, and are free and open to the public.


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WOMEN’S STUDIES RESEARCH CENTERThe Kniznick Gallery is committed to feminist exhibitions of artistic excellence that refl ect the activities of the Women’s Studies Research Center scholars and engage communities within and beyond Brandeis University. The art on display is a vehicle through which the center seeks to promote dialogue about important issues and address the ever-changing challenges related to women and gender.

Juanita McNeely: Indomitable SpiritThrough Oct. 8Unabashed in her vision of woman that is both sensual and macabre, feminist artist Juanita McNeely portrays her monumental fi gures with a visceral dexterity. This career retrospective embodies the energy, courage and forthright-ness with which McNeely challenges how the world views women. In depicting the universal themes of life, death, blood and childbirth, the artist draws in the viewer with unreserved dynamism.

Gallery TalkThursday, Sept. 18, 2:30 p.m. Artist and art historian Sharyn Finnegan will speak about Juanita McNeely’s work and career. McNeely will join the lecture via Skype.

Leeza MeksinOct. 24-Dec. 16Opening reception: Friday, Oct. 24, 5-8 p.m.Brooklyn-based artist Leeza Meksin will transform the Kniznick Gallery with a site-specifi c installation and display of three-dimensional paintings. Spandex is her primary material, with which she explores the application of its expressive, elastic and mutable qualities to rigid architectural structures. The relationship between buildings, bodies and paintings drives Meskin’s work, with the spandex acting as a membrane that willfully exposes what it might otherwise conceal.

LEEZA MEKSIN, “FURNITURE GRENADE”

Artist TalksThe Department of Fine Arts sponsors talks by visiting artists in the intimate setting of Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios, room 115. Follow Fine Arts Brandeis on Facebook for more information.

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m.Sangram Majumdar is a studio-based “perceptual” painter whose work is rooted in careful and daily observation of his surroundings.

Monday, Nov. 3, 5:30 p.m.Benjamin Degen executes his paintings through improvisational and experimental methods, conjuring the energetic fi gures of Henri Matisse.

Wednesday, Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m.Anna Betbeze uses fl okati wool carpets to create multihued wall reliefs that straddle the categories of painting, sculpture and textile. M

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As this issue of State of the Arts attests, transition is inevitable, whether at Brandeis or in the world at large. We are called upon not only to change the world in the direction of greater justice, but also to be resilient in the face of change, much of it as unpre-dictable as it is unwelcome.

It seems certain that leadership in the 21st century will re-quire capacities to engage creatively with large-scale inter-related environmental, political and economic changes that might well be catastrophic. Students will confront challenges that can be addressed effectively only through knowledge that is interdisciplinary; through exploration that links theory and practice; and as emerging theory on resilience indicates, through flexible networks based on shared values, generosity and trust.

How does Brandeis University carry out its mission in the face of the multiplicity of likely changes, some characterized as surely by dazzling velocity as by uncertain trajectory? How do we challenge and support our students to develop capacities for resilience, for “bouncing back” intellectually, culturally, ethically, emotionally and spiritually?

As a researcher in social change, I see that the arts offer oppor-tunities for the qualities of learning and presence required for resilience in the face of complex adversity. I have seen evidence that aesthetic engagement can spark people’s imagination and in-spire action in the world. Performances of theater and ritual offer platforms where traumatized communities can construct meaning out of traumatic experiences. The simultaneous engagement of our senses, intellects and spirits is restorative, and the experience of the creativity of the group instills a sense of hope.

With input from dozens of faculty members from the schools of the creative arts, humanities and social science, and in response to

students’ interests, Brandeis has launched a new interdisciplinary minor in Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation (CAST).

“Many faculty at Brandeis — in music, theater and fi ne arts, but also in anthropology, sociology, politics, English, comparative lit-erature and various regional studies — already teach courses that incorporate aspects of art and social change,” says Jennifer Cleary of the Department of Theater Arts, who co-chairs the faculty com-mittee with me. “The minor will allow us to synthesize what we are already doing, and form new cross-disciplinary faculty relation-ships — which I for one am excited about!” Cleary adds.

CAST will challenge students to examine the anguish- and hope-fi lled borderland between human suffering and human possibility. Some of the works we will explore are virtuosic, some inclusive; some gentle and soothing, others provocative. We are invited into qualities of presence that open us to new perceptions of ourselves, each other and the world, and cultivate capacities to engage complex challenges with understanding, creativity and resilience.

With generous support from the Max and Sunny Howard Memo-rial Foundation, the minor will sponsor small grants for faculty research and creative projects, and host conversations and events that will invite affi liated students and faculty into an interdisciplin-ary community of inquiry. We also express gratitude to Naomi Sinnreich P’13 for her vision and support.

The minor’s core course, “Introduction to Creativity, the Arts and Social Transformation” (CAST 150b), will be offered in spring 2015. Objectives, learning goals and requirements for the minor are listed in the online Provisional Course Bulletin. Students who are interested in signing up for the minor can email Jennifer Cleary, [email protected], or call 781-736-3377. Additional details are online: go.brandeis.edu/CASTminor.

By Cynthia Cohen, Director, Program in Peacebuilding and the Arts, International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life

By Cynthia Cohen,

A New Minor in Arts and Social Change


Angels in America, Part One, Millennium ApproachesOct. 23-26 Tony Kushner’s epic play about the dawn of AIDS in the 1980s won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play, and has been called “the broadest, deepest, most searching American play of our time.” Produced by Brandeis Players.

Lost GirlsNov. 6-9 In this play by Charlie Madison ’15, college student Daniela falls into a mysterious space inhabited by a seemingly sweet child, a snotty ex-celebrity, a deluded day-dreamer and the poet Sylvia Plath. Can they find a way out of this dark, mystical world? Produced by Brandeis Ensemble Theater.

Spring AwakeningNov. 13-16Teenagers in 19th-century Germany find their way from youth to adulthood in the provocative and exhilarating Tony Award-winning rock musical by Duncan Sheik, music, and Steven Sater, book and lyrics. Produced by Tympanium Euphorium.

The Good DoctorNov. 20-23 (no performance Nov. 21)Neil Simon’s wise and witty comedy with music retells classic short stories by Anton Chekhov. Produced by Hillel Theater Group.

Boris’ KitchenDec. 5-6Brandeis’ sketch comedy titans bring in

their fellow wizards from area colleges for the annual comedy blast.

QuickiesDec. 7Brandeis Ensemble Theater’s annual showcase of one-act plays by students, produced on an accelerated schedule for maximum fun.

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theaterStudent theater ClubS Brandeis undergraduates get into the act with the all-student-produced season of the undergraduate theater Collective. utC productions are held in the Shapiro Campus Center theater unless otherwise noted. Contact Brandeis tickets at 781-736-3400 or online at www.brandeis.edu/tickets. for updated information on the utC season, visit brandeisutc.weebly.com.

Performing artS ClubSBrandeis is home to more than 30 arts and culture student clubs, including a cappella groups; improv comedy teams; and ballet, folk, modern, hip-hop and ballroom dance troupes. through the intercultural Center, students of international backgrounds present performances that celebrate their diverse cultural traditions. for more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/clubs.

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brandeis university state of the arts fall 2014|12

theaterBrandeis TheaTer

Companythe brandeis theater Company is a collaborative home to students, guest artists, faculty and staff in the department of theater arts. Performances are held in the spingold theater Center. for the full btC season, visit www.brandeis.edu/btc. unless otherwise noted, tickets are $20; $15 for brandeis community and seniors; $5 for students.

Dead Man’s Cell Phoneby sarah ruhl directed by adrianne Krstansky oct. 9-12 Laurie theaterAn incessantly ringing cell phone in a quiet café. A woman at the next table who has had enough. And a dead man—with a lot of loose ends. So begins this wildly

imaginative comedy about a technologically obsessed

world by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl.

With Sarah Brodsky ’15, Samantha

Browne-Walters ’15, Nicole Bunis ’16, Alex Davis ’15, Jacqueline Drozdow ’15, Aaron Fischer ’15, Zoë

Golub-Sass ’16, Samantha Laney ’17 and Aliza Sotsky ’15.

The Conference of the Birdsby Peter brook and Jean-Claude Carrièrebased on the poem by farid ud-din attardirected by hafiz Karmalinov. 20-23Laurie theaterThis flying carpet of a play, adapted by the groundbreaking theater artist Peter Brook from Farid ud-Din Attar’s great 12th-century poem, is laced with riddles and parables, spiritual questions and great temptations. A flock of birds proclaim that the world is in chaos and seek help from their benevolent king in this famous Persian myth. Guest director Hafiz Karmali has received international acclaim for his cross-cultural performances showcasing indigenous performing arts of the Islamic world. In partnership with MusicUnitesUS.

Studio Seriesin addition to the main season, the theater department will present a series of free workshop-style projects ranging from original plays to readings to caba-rets. for more information, visit brandeis.edu/departments/theater.

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Theater professor Adrianne Krstansky likes plays with magic. The kind of magic that comes from reaching into the deepest, darkest places, finding your true voice and letting it fly. As my teacher at Brandeis, Krstansky guided us through huge exquisite messes, intimate stories and collective creativity. She likes plays that stimulate collaboration, with deep moral questions for both the actors and the audience. And she especially loves a play with death and love wrapped into one.

This fall, she will direct Brandeis undergraduate actors in “Dead Man’s Cell Phone,” by Sarah Ruhl, who writes with a delicate magic that can feel as easy as breathing.

The brilliance of Ruhl’s celebrated body of work — spare and often surreal language that is rich in imagery — is also challenging to put onstage. Krstansky and her actors will grapple with many technical, theatrical and moral questions, including nearly impossible stage directions. I asked Krstansky why she chose this play to open the Brandeis Theater Company season.

“When Viktoria Lange ’13 directed Ruhl’s ‘Eurydice’ as her senior thesis, I saw that Ruhl’s smart, imaginative, big-hearted characters fit really well with the Brandeis students,” she says. “They’re able to get her quirky text so organically.”

“Quirky” is one way to describe Ruhl’s text. Her stage directions are like short poems:

Mrs. Gottlieb walks off with determination.She might sing a reprise of “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”She throws herself into the flames with the steakand self-immolates, but we don’t need to hear or see that.

“I love Ruhl’s implicit apology: ‘I’m sorry, here’s what I know … here’s what I’ve tried,’” says Krstansky. “I can’t figure this out in a room by myself. The people onstage that are saying the words and adopting the spirit, they know more. I can help translate, and together we’ll know what the honest answer is.”

Krstansky speaks of the production with such specificity, and with such care, it is as if she is collecting pieces of a broken painting that have scattered across a floor. Each phrase blossoms into a complete sensory experience. (Not dissimilar, I notice, from Sarah Ruhl’s own compositions.)

“The image that keeps coming up for me is from the film ‘Wings of Desire.’ It’s in a city, it’s dirty and crowded. There are angels sit-ting on chandeliers and on banisters. It’s gorgeous. It’s muted. It’s black and white. You don’t actually hear the noises of the city. You hear strange ethereal music. Occasional street sounds.”

Similarly, the settings of “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” are familiar — a café, an airport — but something is off, something is strange. “These aren’t real spaces,” Krstansky says. “They are imaginative spaces, like a Grimm’s fairy tale with an ethical question … like a very weird children’s book.”

As her cast members find their way into the movement and voices of Ruhl’s characters, I imagine the world of the play will unfold in all its many textures and colors and sounds, just as Krstansky’s vision has so far, with thoughtfulness, passion and curiosity.

—Molly Haas-Hooven ’09 (Theater Arts) is a Brooklyn-based playwright. She earned an MFA from the New School for Drama and teaches creative writing at Writopia Lab in New York City. Her plays include “Die Kleinen” (semifinalist, 2014 O’Neill Playwrights Conference).

AdriAnne KrstAnsKy Unwraps “dead Man’s Cell Phone”By Molly Haas-Hooven ’09

& a fairytale in

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Jasmine Johnsonportraits

AFRICAN AND AFRO-AMERICAN STUDIES & WOMEN’S AND GENDER STUDIES

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What excites you about coming to Brandeis?

I am excited by the opportunity to do what I love most: think and teach. That I will be doing both of these things across two intellectual fi elds in which my work is squarely rooted only decorates my excite-ment. Brandeis is an institution that values interdis-ciplinary scholarship and teaching. To be joining a community for which my multiple trainings are not merely tolerated but welcomed is enlivening.

Can you tell us about the courses you’ll be teaching this year?

This fall I’ll be teaching “Performance and the Politics of Black Authenticity.” It asks: What is black authen-ticity? What are the rubrics with which authentic blackness is measured? How is black performance political? The course interrogates the slipperiness of, desire for, and policing of “authentic” blackness in order to trouble conceptions of race as biological essence. In the spring I’m offering a course on black feminist thought and a studio/seminar course on black dance.

All my courses are necessarily interdisciplinary. They speak to a number of different fi elds because the guiding questions at their center refuse answer from strict disciplinary boundaries. Too often African and Afro-American and women’s, gender and sexual-ity studies are mistaken for being only subjects. They are not. They are analytics with which we better un-derstand the world. I am excited to offer courses on performance, race and gender to these two depart-ments’ already diverse course profi les.

Your PhD dissertation and forthcoming book examine West African dance, and you are a dancer yourself. Can you elaborate on the role of dance as theory and practice?

My dance practice has taken a number of shapes. Much of my scholarly work concerns dance. My book

project is largely an ethnography. To write such a book about the ways racial and gendered identities are designed through dance practice required my own dance practice. I am a scholar-artist and I perform, too; much of my training is in West African dance.

Dance as a site of inquiry is a generative intellectual site for me. Most times it is the presumption of dance be-ing apolitical that gives it this deeply political constitution. There is also pleasure politics at work in dance that cannot be discounted. I say: Let’s look at delight, let’s look at embodied joy, because those have been if not strategies for survival, practices of living. Practicing the very thing that I write about is part and parcel of my methodology. Embodied practice is scholarly for me. It is neither extra nor auxiliary but required.

When people think of dance they tend to think of something quite specifi c. A dance onstage, perhaps. I do indeed consider dance in this way, but I am also after using dance to think about the role of move-ment for black diasporic folks more broadly. I’m interested in opening dance up and also mining it for theory and language that is applicable outside of formal dance contexts. The history of black people is a history of movement both real and imagined. Dance gives us some incredibly useful frames with which to understand the deep signifi cance of moving within the African Diaspora.

And your next book?

“Rhythm Nation: West African Dance and the Politics of Diaspora” is about the relationship between dance and identity. It explores the relationship between West African dance, race, gender and diaspora belonging in the United States and Guinea. African dance is a giant economy that includes dance classes, retreats, international workshops, clothing lines and spiritual trainings. It spans yoga studios to university campuses. My book charts the commodifi cation of West African dance from the mid-1960s to the present in order to map what I call the contemporary purchase of diaspora. It asks: What can the industry of West African dance tell us about blackness, Africanness and performance in the age of neoliberalism? It looks at African dance workshops and retreats and also at the Broadway stage to raise questions around the ways racial and gendered identities are made through dance and through a proximity to Africanness.

Jasmine Johnson

“The history of black people is a history of movement both real and imagined.“

DANCE IS A CRITICAL PART OF JASMINE JOHNSON’S THINKING, learning and teaching. “Dance is what I teach and it is also how I teach,” she says. The language and theory of dance, she believes, can unlock an understanding of history, culture, economy and race.

Johnson joins the Brandeis faculty this year as one of two new hires in a multiyear academic initiative in African Diaspora studies. (The other new faculty member is historian Gregory Childs.) She will teach in the Department of African and Afro-American Studies and in the Women’s and Gender Studies program, bringing research interests that examine race, class, gender and performance, particularly West African dance. The initiative puts Brandeis in the vanguard of universities broadening their faculty and curriculum to refl ect growing interest among professors and students in a deeply interdisciplinary and global approach to scholarship.

Gannit Ankori, Gannit Ankori, professor of art history and theory, and chair of the School of Creative Arts Council, spoke with Johnson.

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For interdisciplinary artist Todd Pavlisko, time is relative. He recently collaborated with a military sniper to create “Crown,” a video installa-tion that captures the trajectory of bullets fi red into a brass cube set in the midst of the Cincinnati Art Museum, collapsing art history into a millisecond and then expanding it again, slowing the footage as the camera travels past icons of the collection. “All the Money I Found in a Year” represents 10 years of amass-ing coins as found objects, which Pavlisko then gold plated, encasing the histories of the objects in a decadent façade. He twists time-lines outside the studio as well. A few months ago, faced with a departure board full of cancelled fl ights, Pavlisko drove 12 hours through a snowstorm to make it to a job interview on time. We’re glad he made it, because that interview brought Pavlisko to Brandeis as the newest member of the studio art faculty.

“Todd is truly a 21st-century artist,” says Joe Wardwell, director of studio art at Brandeis. “His diverse body of work perfectly represents the dy-namic and multifac-eted way in which art can connect with and comment

on all aspects of contemporary existence.”

Contemporary sculpture draws on everything that an artist can manipulate in three — or four — dimensions. Pavlisko joins a studio art program that is strong on funda-mental courses as well as oppor-tunities for advanced students to experiment with fi lm, performance and installation work.

“Todd will fortify the studio art program by bringing atten-tion to new media, cross-disciplinary approaches to making, and a rigorous studio ethic in an expanding fi eld of sculpture,” says Tory Fair, associate professor in fi ne arts. “And he is clearly someone who is energized by, and whose studio prac-tice thrives from, collabora-tion. I am excited to see how this might also be refl ected in our evolving sculpture program.”

Brandeis’ reputation as a place with collaborative spirit was attractive to Pavlisko, who has been part of the Boston arts community since

2010 as a Samson Proj-ects artist. “I saw right away that the culture here is incredibly smart and welcomes cross-disciplinary thinking and making, which is a critical tool in contem-porary arts education,” he says. “The campus is the cherry on top. The gorgeous trees. The hilly backdrop. The community areas that allow students and


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I STUDY THE HISTORY OF STRING

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FINE ARTS



faculty to interact. What a beauti-ful environment to study in and to make art around.”

In addition to teaching at many museums, art schools and universi-ties, Pavlisko has a long creative relationship with the Andy Warhol Museum. He has exhibited his work and curated cultural exchanges in

Mexico, Italy and the Netherlands, and in group and solo shows all over the United States. His work is part of the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston; the Museum of Art and Design; and P.S. 1 Center for Contemporary Art, as well as in many private collections.

“ON AND ON,” acrylic on canvas, 2007

”ALL OF NOTHING,“ carved marble, silver, baltic amber, foam fi ngers, acrylic water pipes, glass, ceramic, retail strapping and banding machine, 2011

”ALL THE MONEY I FOUND IN A YEAR“ represents 10 years of coins found on the street, in a cab, in banks and abroad.

“CROWN” is based upon a staged, videotaped action that took place in the Cincinnati Art Museum in 2012 in which a hired sharpshooter fi red projectiles past icons of the museum’s collection into a modernist-inspired brass cube.


CommencementAt the School of Creative Arts mini-Commencement, award-winning actor and director Larry Coen ’81 (right) recalled how a tour of Spingold Theater Center cemented his decision to attend Brandeis.

“I actually spoke to the empty theater. I did. Stood right here, on this very spot, and I said, ‘My name is Larry Coen. And I will be back!’I turned and exited with a fl ourish … and immediately got lost in this strange, circular place.”

He went on to remind graduates and families that “Your uncle (usually by marriage) thinks that we in the arts are narcissists who think we are deeper and more soulful than every-body else. Not a bit. We are most humbly seeking to connect our shared experience of this life on earth in ways that are truthful and meaningful. That desire for connection is ever more impor-tant. So ... Commence! Please. We need you.”

New FacesThe Rose Art Museum welcomes Caitlin Julia Rubin, curatorial assistant; Joe Leduc, collections manager; and Betsy Nelson, MA’13, collections assistant; and says a fond goodbye to offi ce man-ager Nicole Rosenberg ’10.

Susan Metrican is the new curator and director of the arts at the Women’s Studies Research Center.

AlumniJesse Hinson, MFA’11, “channeled Ralph Fiennes and Steve Martin” (Ed Siegel, WBUR) as Orlando in “As You Like It,” directed by Robert Walsh (Theater Arts) with costume design by Miranda Kau Giurleo, MFA’07, and featuring Johnnie McQuarley, MFA ’11, for Actors’ Shakespeare Project.

The New York Musical Theatre Festival produced “Always, Rachel” by siblings Jessie Field ’13 (book, lyrics) and Jared Field ’10 (music) in its summer workshop series.

Milcah Bassel, PB’11, was one of 40 artists included in the Newark Museum’s 2014 New Jersey Arts Annual. Pedro Barbeito ’92 had a solo exhibition at 101/exhibit in Los Angeles. Vera Iliatova ’97, PB’01, and Natasha Bowdoin ’03, PB’05, had solo shows at Monya Rowe Gallery in New York City.

Nicholas A. Brown ’10 conducted the Library of Congress Chorale as part of the ongoing Irving Fine Centennial. The celebration be-gan at Carnegie Hall in December 2013 and included a concert by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project at Jordan Hall, which The Boston Globe proclaimed “a terrifi c performance of Fine’s big, brawny masterpiece.”

FacultySean Downey, coordinator of the post-baccalaureate program in studio art, was named a 2014 Mas-sachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellow in painting. Tory Fair was among the contemporary artists whose art re-imagines the body and its boundaries in “You Are Here” at


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the Worcester Art Museum. Lucy Kim showed work at Lisa Cooley (NYC), where she will have a solo exhibition in 2015. Chris Abrams was accepted into the Boston Sculptors Gallery and currently has a solo exhibition at Wheelock College in Boston. Joe Wardwell participated in the Boston-Como (Italy) art exchange and had a solo show in Seattle and a mural commission in NYC’s SoHo.

Cameron Anderson was the scenic designer for “Becoming Cuba,” starring Marianna Bassham, MFA’02, at the Huntington Theater Company, Boston Center for the Arts, and for a production of “La Traviata” at Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater.

Eric Chafe’s book “J.S. Bach’s Johannine Theology: The St. John Passion and the Cantatas for Spring 1725” was published by Oxford University Press.

New faculty recordings include “Fast Track” by Bob Nieske’s 10, recorded live in Slosberg Recital Hall (CIMP Records), and Pamela Dellal’s “Reviving Song: Spirited Works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel, Hélène Montgeroult and Louis Spohr” (Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center). Davy Rakowski’s “Sibling Revelry” was recorded by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band, and his “Hotfi ngers” by Nicholas Phillips on “American Vernacular: New Music for Solo Piano” (New Focus Recordings).

Adrianne Krstansky, the new chair of the Department of Theater Arts, appeared in “On the Verge” and “Becoming Madoff” at Boston’s New Repertory Theatre.

Marya Lowry traveled to Cyprus, Poland and Italy to train teams of artists and scholars in voice and empathetic listening as part of the Songs of My Neighbours project, an initiative that uses the arts to enhance intercultural dialogue and social justice between dominant and marginal communities, led by Diomedes Koufterous, MFA’05.


Set designs by Cameron Anderson

JOE WARDWELL, “GETTING NOWHERE” (2014). COURTESY LAMONTAGNE GALLERY.


Stay in TouchJoin the Arts at Brandeis E-List to receive invitations to plays, concerts and exhibitions at Brandeis as well as free and discount tickets to arts events across Greater Boston. Visit www.brandeis.edu/arts. Get even more up-to-the-minute news on the Arts at Brandeis Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Arts at Brandeis Calendar OnlineVisit the Brandeis events calendar for comprehensive event listings, including film, dance, lectures and arts symposiums: www.brandeis.edu/events/arts.

Online ExtrasFor interviews, additional images, audio files and other extras, plus archived issues of State of the Arts, visit brandeis.edu/arts/office.

Theater and Concert TicketsTo buy tickets for events at the Spingold Theater Center, Slosberg Music Center or Shapiro Theater, visit brandeis.edu/tickets, call 781-736-3400, or stop by the Brandeis Tickets office in the Shapiro Campus Center, Monday-Friday, noon-6 p.m., or Saturday, noon-4 p.m. Tickets are available for pickup or purchase in the lobbies of Spingold, Slosberg and Shapiro one hour before curtain. Reservations are recommended. Any person requiring

wheelchair or other accommodations should call Brandeis Tickets at 781-736-3400.

Visiting the Rose Art MuseumAdmission is free. The museum is open Tuesday-Sunday, noon-5 p.m. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/rose or call 781-736-3434.

Visiting the Kniznick GalleryAdmission is free. The Kniznick Gallery at the Women’s Studies Research Center is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., and during WSRC events. For more information, visit www.brandeis.edu/wsrc or call 781-736-8102.

ParkingBrandeis arts venues are located on Lower Campus within easy walking distance of each other. Free parking is available directly behind the Spingold Theater in the Theater Parking Lot (T Lot). There are accessible parking spaces in front of Spingold, Slosberg and the Rose.

Programs, artists and dates are subject to change. For updates and additional arts events, visit www.brandeis.edu/arts. For directions to Brandeis University, call 781-736-4660 or visit www.brandeis.edu.

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calendar highlights

Sept. 10, 5-9 p.m. Dedication: Chris Burden, “Light of Reason” Rose Art Museum

Sept. 11-Nov. 2 Rose Video 04: Alex Hubbard Rose Art Museum

Sept. 11-Dec. 21 Mark Bradford: Sea Monsters Rose Art Museum

Sept. 17, 3:30 p.m. Close Looking: “Light of Reason” Rose Art Museum

Through Oct. 1 New Work from Home and Abroad Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center

Oct. 1, 6:30 p.m. Artist Talk: Sangram Majumdar Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios, Room 115

Oct. 6-24 JustArts: Faculty and Staff Exhibition Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Center

Oct. 8-Dec. 21 John Altoon Rose Art Museum

Oct. 8, 6 p.m. Gallery Talk: John Altoon Rose Art Museum

Oct. 9-12 “Dead Man’s Cell Phone” Spingold Theater Center

Oct. 18, 8 p.m. New Music Brandeis: Electro-Acoustic Piano Slosberg Music Center

Oct. 19, 7 p.m. A Tribute to Erwin Bodky Slosberg Music Center

Oct. 23 Symposium: Mark Bradford Boston Athenaeum

Oct. 23-26 “Angels in America,” Part One Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Oct. 25, 8 p.m. Brandeis Improv Collective: Ultimate Jam Session Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 3, 5:30 p.m. Artist Talk: Benjamin Degen Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios, Room 115

Nov. 5, noon Lydians at Noon Mandel Center for the Humanities

Nov. 6-9 “Lost Girls” Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Nov. 8, 8 p.m. Lydian String Quartet Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 9, 7 p.m. New Music Brandeis: Graduate Composers Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 11-March 8, 2015 Rose Video 05: Gillian Wearing Rose Art Museum

Nov. 12, 3:30 p.m. Gallery Talk: Magnus Plessen Rose Art Museum

Nov. 13-16 “Spring Awakening” Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Nov. 15, 8 p.m. Irving Fine at 100 Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 16, 3 p.m. Brandeis Wind Ensemble: Celebrations Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 16, 7 p.m. Brandeis University Chorus Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 19, noon Afternoon Jazz Mandel Center for the Humanities

Nov. 19, 5:30 p.m. Artist Talk: Anna Betbeze Goldman-Schwartz Art Studios, Room 115

Nov. 20-23 “The Conference of the Birds” Spingold Theater Center

Nov. 20-23 “The Good Doctor” Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Nov. 21, 8 p.m. New Music Brandeis: Undergraduate Composers Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 23, 3 p.m. Brandeis Jazz Ensemble Slosberg Music Center

Nov. 23, 7 p.m. Brandeis-Wellesley Orchestra Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 1, 7 p.m. Leonard Bernstein Fellows Recital Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 2, 7 p.m. Brandeis Improv Collective Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 3, 3:30 p.m. Close Looking: Elizabeth Murray Rose Art Museum

Dec. 5-6 Boris’ Kitchen Shapiro Campus Center Theater

Dec. 6, 8 p.m. New Music Brandeis: Lydian String Quartet Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 7, 3 p.m. Brandeis Early Music Ensemble/Chamber Choir Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 7, 7 p.m. Fafali: Music and Dance From Ghana Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 8, 7 p.m. Chamber Music Recital Slosberg Music Center

Dec. 9, 4 p.m. “Messiah” Sing Shapiro Campus Center Atrium

Dec. 10-Jan. 12, 2015 Senior Midyear Exhibition Dreitzer Gallery, Spingold Theater Centermik

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Tanglewood Marionettes, Festival of the

Creative Arts 2014


Brandeis UniversityOffice of the ArtsMS 052 / PO Box 549110Waltham, MA 02454 - 9110

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www.brandeis.edu/arts

Volume 11 / Number 1

Alex Hubbard, still from “Annotated Plans for an Evacuation,” (2009), HD video, color, sound. On view at the Rose Art Museum Sept. 11 – Nov. 2, 2014.

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Documents

Brandeis University State of the Arts, Fall 2014