ArtLab at Harvard

Congratulations to all of the students, faculty, artists, researchers, fellows and collaborators who brought such creativity, experimentation, and energy to this year at the Harvard. Thank you for making this arts community so vibrant. Photos from yesterday’s Final Review: Forms of Assembly with and at

Legends of Modern Music - An unforgettable night of boundary-pushing jazz - Free Concert
Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith: Defiant Life

Free Concert | May 7, 7:00 PM
Paine Concert Hall, Harvard University - ArtsThursdays

Two visionary artists in contemporary creative music come together for an evening of powerful, improvisational performance.

Trumpeter, composer, and author Wadada Leo Smith—an influential member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians—has spent decades shaping what he calls “Creative Music,” rooted in spiritual resonance and social consciousness.

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer, one of the most celebrated music-makers of his generation, brings a deeply expressive and innovative practice that has earned honors including a MacArthur Fellowship and multiple Grammy nominations.

Together, they present Defiant Life—a dynamic collaboration that moves between composition and improvisation, history and possibility.

Free and open to the public. Tickets at ArtsThursdays

This event is part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).

at today with .diet

Today was the finissage for an unusual student exhibition at – “Drawing Soundscapes / Gund Hall” Created by the students in Karen L. Schiff’s course Drawing Space / Marking Sensation.”

This show is part of the 2026 Walking Festival of Sound, curated by GSD Loeb/ArtLab Fellow Jacek Smolicki. During the finissage, Jacek led a listening tour of a corridor in Gund, and students will talk about their projects along the route.

FRIDAY: 2 programs today Walking Festival of Sound:

FRIDAY April 24, 2026, 3-4 pm
Returning the Ear / Tim Shaw and Jacek Smolicki - Founders of the Walking Festival of Sound
Public soundwalks, often silent or lightly guided by Shaw & Smolicki, have taken place in cities such as Newcastle, Stockholm, and Barcelona.
Meeting point: Smith Campus Center, Harvard

FRIDAY April 24, 2026, 4:30-6 pm
Infrasound and the Planetary Imaginary / Brian House
Brian House is an artist who investigates the rhythms of human and nonhuman systems.
Place: Shelemay Sound Lab, Harvard Music Department, 3 Oxford St
in partnership with Shelemay Sound Lab

What does the city sound like? This festival wants you to walk to find out

By Artemisia Luk for
Photos: Robin Lubbock/WBUR
Link to digital feature in comments

Meeting Point: Garnette Cadogan and Julie Shapiro / ArtLab
April 23, 2026 | 6:00–7:30 PM

Meeting Point brings together creative voices working at the intersection of sound, walking, and public life. Join Garnette Cadogan, Julie Shapiro, and Jacek Smolicki for a convening at the midpoint of the Walking Festival of Sound.
will be at ArtLab with the mobile food cart.

Garnette Cadogan is an essayist and urbanist whose work explores the vitality and inequality of cities, as well as the challenges of pluralism.

is a career listener, audio champion, and co-founder of Audio Flux, and a founding force behind Third Coast International Audio Festival and Ear Hustle.

is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, 2026 Loeb/ArtLab Fellow, and co-founder of The Walking Festival of Sound.

This free, public program is part of the , a transdisciplinary series of soundwalks and public events taking place across Cambridge and Boston from April 17 to May 3, 2026. Curated by Jacek Smolicki in collaboration with ArtLab and produced with partners from across Harvard, Boston, and Cambridge.

This event is part of ArtsThursdays, a university-wide initiative supported by the Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA).
Link to RSVP in bio.

Today: Practice × Theory: Sonic Ecologies & Climate Change
Organized by - faculty advisor

April 6 | 2:30–5 PM (doors 2:15)
Holden Chapel + Online - RSVP via link in story

How can sound shape how we understand ecological crisis?

Join artists and scholars exploring listening as an ecological method—through sonic experimentation, storytelling, and attention to more-than-human worlds.

Featuring Maarten Stragier, Michelle Agnes, (Loeb/ ArtLab Fellow) & Kyra Sims
with graduate presenters Darcy Copeland, Marisse Cato, and Stephen Early
Moderated by Irene Newman Jimenes & Lucie Bai

Open conversation to follow
Free & open to all - RSVP link in story

Walking Festival of Sound - Boston/ Cambridge
April 15 - May 3, 2026
Curated by Loeb/ ArtLab Fellow

Join us at on April 23 at 6 pm for Meeting Point when Jacek will be in conversation with Garnett Cadogan & Julie Shapiro - an program.

Link to RSVP to this and other festival programs in bio

Are you curious about the Walking Festival of Sound?

The Walking Festival of Sound will be held April 17–May 2, 2026, connecting Cambridge and Boston through an artist-led program that explores how walking and listening shape our everyday environments. Events take place at multiple sites. Link to the program is in the bio.

Curated by Loeb/ArtLab Fellow Jacek Smolicki, who co-founded the festival with Tim Shaw, this year’s edition features free public events including walking performances, seminars, and listening sessions across multiple sites.

Since its founding, the festival has taken place internationally:
• 2019: Stockholm / Newcastle
• 2021: Krakow / Edinburgh
• 2022: Vancouver / Seoul
• 2024: Zurich

The 2026 Cambridge/Boston edition is produced in collaboration with Harvard ArtLab, ArtsThursdays (HUCA), Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Loeb Fellowship, the Arnold Arboretum, and the Shelemay Sound Lab.

Artist & scholar contributors include: Victor Arul, Brett Ascarelli, Chris Berdik, Garnette Cadogan, Marisse Cato, Michele Cheng, Christina Davis, Isabella Febbriorello, Brian House, Sarah Kanouse, katrinem, Amanda McCluskey, Dietmar Offenhuber, John Pax, Karen L. Schiff (plus students from Drawing Space / Marking Sensation class), Julie Shapiro, Maximiliano Soto Mayorga, Tim Shaw & Jacek Smolicki