HUCA Commission: Liz Lerman, My Body is a Library
ArtLab is working with Liz Lerman and collaborators to facilitate the research and development of a new dance-based public artwork. My Body is a Library explores how we create categories, unpack nomenclature, and uphold oral histories and traditions. Lerman’s research is being conducted in collaboration with Harvard Library, with the support of the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA). Creative collaborators Adesola Akinleye, Will Bond, Erin Donohue, Paloma McGregor, Ruby Morales, Alex Nelson, Sven Ortel, Elisa Garcia-Radcliffe, Angelina Ramirez, and Darron L. West joined Liz Lerman for this project. They shared their creative research-in-progress at an ArtsThursdays event in Spring semester 2024.
Liz Lerman has cultivated generations of artists, focusing on dance as an agent for social change and community engagement. Her leadership in the arts has been recognized with a Guggenheim Fellowship, a MacArthur “Genius Grant,” and a Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. Lerman was also an artist in residence at ArtLab in 2019.
This project has been supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA) and made possible by the Johnson-Kulukundis Family President’s Fund for Arts at Harvard University. Since 2009, Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA) has advised the president and provost on developing policies and plans that will enhance the presence of the arts at the University and make the arts a central component of the University’s educational mission.