Works in Progress

In this episode of “Works in Progress,” ArtLab director Bree Edwards speaks with Loeb/ ArtLab fellow Jacek Smolicki, a cross-disciplinary artist and researcher exploring the multivalent qualities of sound. 

A cofounder of the Walking Festival of Sound, Jacek has brought together transdisciplinary artists to guide participants through the reflective practice of walking through shared environments. Jacek has published and performed internationally, creating projects that reckon with the frequently delicate and unnoticed qualities of our surroundings.

As part of his residency at ArtLab, Jacek will be leading immersive soundwalks that help embed people into their local ecosystems. This work is part of his larger directive to participate in the archival histories of people and place. These soundwalks have been comissioned by Harvard University Committee on the Arts (HUCA) and was made possible with the support of the Johnson-Kulukundis Family President’s Fund for Arts at Harvard University.

Listen in to hear about our discussion around Jacek’s work and residency here at ArtLab, exploring the role of sound in our everyday lives.  

Links:

Jacek Smolicki

The Walking Festival of Sound

Hildegard Westerkamp 

World Soundscape Project

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

In this episode of “Works in Progress,” ArtLab director Bree Edwards sits down with Pontus Lidberg, an award-winning Swedish choreographer, filmmaker, and dancer. A recipient of the Guggenheim fellowship in 2019, Pontus’ works grapple with the power of touch as it relates to interpersonal connections and communication. He has choreographed for a wealth of dance companies including but not limited to the Paris Opera Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, New York City Ballet, and Beijing Dance Theatre.

Pontus Lidberg is artist-in-residence with Harvard Medical School’s Media, Medicine, and Health program, and based at ArtLab for the 2025-2026 academic year. His time here at Harvard involves mentoring students, teaching a course on movement and healing, and examining how the arts can inspire bold and creative responses to disparities in healthcare.

Listen in to hear about our discussion around Pontus’ work, the practice of “nonverbal storytelling”, and the transformative power of dance in our contemporary world.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

In this episode, we catch up with last year’s Loeb/ArtLab Fellow (2025) Shana M. griffin—artist, activist, sociologist, and geographer from New Orleans. Grounded in Black feminist theory, griffin reflects on a year of making new work in the ArtLab studios and reimagining spatial politics at the GSD.

While research grounds Shana’s work, she strives to represent perspectives historically left out of the archive. Projects like SOIL go beyond traditional archival materials to instead document soil from plantations in Louisiana, capturing how the earth bears witness to slavery through its environmental memory of sugar production. 

Another goal of Shana’s alternative archive is to improve accessibility. We touch on how her own access to archives fueled her to create more publicly available historical records. This culminated in an open studio display at the ArtLab, showing off her various projects in this more intimate setting.

Join us for a thoughtful conversation about how to make art out of archival absences. 

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

Season 3, Episode 5 with Jessie Cox, composer, percussionist, scholar, and Assistant Professor in the Harvard Department of Music.

Jessie Cox has performed and created with ensembles including the Sun Ra Arkestra, LA Phil, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, and the International Contemporary Ensemble.

In this episode, Jessie and ArtLab director Bree Edwards dive into his course Music, Technology, and Ecology and the instrument-making workshops held at ArtLab. Together, they explore how sound shapes belonging—and how making new instruments can open new ways of understanding the world.

https://www.jessiecoxmusic.com/

Listen via the ArtLab website or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

Visible through the windows of the ArtLab, the construction site for the American Repertory Theater’s new Goel Center for Creativity and Performance bustles with activity. This new home for the A.R.T. promises to accommodate public gatherings and community activities alongside the typical slate of theatrical works, weaving itself into a thriving arts community in Allston. 

In Season 3, episode 4 of “Works in Progress,” ArtLab director Bree Edwards speaks with Dayron J. Miles, Associate Artistic Director at the American Repertory Theater, about the power of theater to bring communities together. 

Dayron’s belief in theater as an artistic experience that helps exercise skills of democratic thinking grounds much of his practice. This ideal draws back to the early days of Western theater in Ancient Greece — a source of inspiration for Dayron. With anecdotes stretching from his time in high school to his current work with the A.R.T., Dayron shares his experiences connecting with local communities and building empathy through theatrical exposure. 

Looking forward to the Goel Center’s opening, we discuss how this new space turns many of these ideals into a reality. Join us for a thoughtful conversation that reminds us to keep listening and playing throughout our lives. 

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

Works in Progress Season 3 Ep 3– Episode: Every Child is an Artist with Dr. Louisa Penfold

In this episode of Works in Progress, ArtLab Director Bree Edwards talks with Dr. Louisa Penfold, Faculty Co-Chair of Arts and Learning at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and faculty resident at the ArtLab during 2022 and 2025.

Dr. Penfold is the project director of Project Zero’s Art/Play, an NEA-funded study exploring how modern and contemporary art practices can be integrated into public schools. This groundbreaking project brings together partners from the Boston Public Schools Department of Early Childhood, the Smithsonian Learning Lab, MoMA, and the Harvard Art Museums to reimagine how children and teachers learn through creative engagement, curriculum design, and professional development.

During her ArtLab residency, Louisa has led numerous hands-on studio workshops where students from the Graduate School of Education have explored New Materialism as a framework for enhancing creative learning and research.

Bree and Louisa also discuss Louisa’s new book, Every Child is an Artist, a guide for parents of young children that bridges her interdisciplinary work in contemporary art, early childhood education, and play.

Listen in to learn how Dr. Penfold’s research and practice inspire new ways of thinking about creativity, learning, and the role of art in education.

https://louisapenfold.com/

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

Season 3, Episode 2: Building the ArtLab
In this episode, we speak with Robin Kelsey, Shirley Carter Burden Professor of Photography in the Department of History of Art & Architecture and the former Dean of Arts and Humanities, and Lori E. Gross, Associate Provost for the Arts, about the history and making of the Harvard ArtLab.

Robin and Lori share insights into the building’s development and design, reflecting on the balance between the needs of faculty, students, and visiting artists while guiding the project from concept to completion.

Join us for an illuminating conversation on how university leadership, architecture, and the arts converge to shape creative research at Harvard.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

In this very special episode of “Works in Progress,” we’re revisiting some highlights from the podcast. As part of the Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program, research fellow Ria Cuéllar-Koh curated and narrated this episode. With clips from all three seasons of “Works in Progress,” Episode 1 explains how the ArtLab came to be and what opportunities it affords to artistic researchers. We cover the different forms artistic research can take and how the ArtLab enriches the fabric of a campus community. Ria also discusses her thoughts on the humanities, arts, and student life interspersed between segments from previous episodes.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

In this final episode of season two of Works in Progress, movement-based researchers Ilya Vidrin and Jessi Stegall join ArtLab Director Bree Edwards to discuss their dance-based collaborations at the ArtLab. Both are dancers and educators with graduate degrees from Harvard specializing in neuroscience and ethics. Ilya and Jessi make the invisible visible through their studies of the ethics of physical interaction.
 
During their residency at ArtLab, Ilya and Jessi utilized movement and wearable technologies as the investigative medium for their shared project, The Partnering Lab. As a platform for collaborative movement research, The Partnering Lab explores embodied ethics in social interactions. Ilya and Jessi navigate the moral space between bodies, collectively cultivating virtues like trust, care, and empathy.
 
Join us for this in-studio conversation with Ilya and Jessi about moving together and apart while negotiating ethical balances through collaboration.

Jessi Stegall is a choreographer and dance-theatre artist based in Chicago, IL. She has been an artist-in-residence at Boston Center for the Arts, Harvard ArtLab, Rhode Island Women’s Choreography Project, New Dances Chicago, National Parks Service, Hot Crowd Dance Company, Little Fire Dance Collective, and was recently featured as one of Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch” (2022). Jessi holds an M.S. in Ethics from Harvard University with a focus in Narrative Ethics, a B.S. in Expressive Art Therapy from Lesley University, and is an alumna of Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.

Dr. Ilya Vidrin is a choreographer, dramaturg, and director of The Partnering Lab. Born into a refugee family from Russia, Ilya’s work engages with and investigates ethics of physical interaction, including the embodiment of care, trust, cultural competence, consent, and social responsibility. Ilya is an Assistant Professor of Creative Practice Research and Core Faculty at Northeastern University. Ilya is also an alum of Northeastern, where he pursued undergraduate studies in Cognitive Psychology, Neuroscience, and Rhetorical Theory. He ​holds a Master’s Degree in Human Development and Psychology ​from​ Harvard University, and a doctorate in Performing Arts ​from the Centre for Dance Research at​ Coventry University (United Kingdom)
Ilya’s ArtLab page: https://artlab.harvard.edu/directory/ilya-vidrin/
Ilya’s Website: https://www.ilyavidrin.com/
Ilya’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ilya.vidrin/

Jessi’s Website: https://www.jessistegall.com/
Jessi’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fraulein_stegall/

Works in Progress is recorded and produced in ArtLab’s Mead Production Lab, which is located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. Season 2 is hosted by Bree Edwards, produced by Kat Nakaji, researched by Sadie Trichler, designed by Sonia Sobrino Ralston, and edited by Luke Damrosch. The Healing Project concert was recorded by Harvard Media Production Cent

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston

Frank Waln: Hip-Hop, Heritage, and Healing

In this episode of Works in Progress, Lakota music artist, public speaker, and educator Frank Waln joins ArtLab director Bree Edwards to explore the medicinal power of music in constructing futures from the rubble of colonial violence. Drawing on his formative relationship with sound, Frank traces the lineage of hip-hop to experiences of displacement and resilience among communities of color in America—revealing how this legacy opened pathways for him to celebrate and share his indigeneity through storytelling, ceremony, and music.

We also discuss Frank’s multi-year residency at the Harvard ArtLab, where he deepened his hip-hop practice until an unexpected discovery reshaped his creative trajectory: a hair sample belonging to his great-grandmother was found in the Woodbury Collection at Harvard’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography. This painful revelation became a turning point, leading to a collaboration with the Harvard University Native American Program (HUNAP) and the Harvard Divinity School (HDS). Together, they hosted a gathering inspired by the Lakota Wiping of the Tears ceremony—creating space for collective mourning and renewal among Native peoples at Harvard.

Join us for an intimate conversation about hip-hop as healing, the intersections of art and ancestry, and how Frank Waln continues to create from both grief and hope at ArtLab and beyond.

Frank’s ArtLab residency page: https://artlab.harvard.edu/directory/frank-waln/
Frank’s personal website: http://frankwaln.com/
Frank’s instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/frankwaln/

Works in Progress is recorded and produced in ArtLab’s Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards, produced by Kat Nakaji, and edited by Luke Damrosch—theme music . Theme music is by Kicktracks.

For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching @ArtLabHarvard.

Thanks for joining us for Works in Progress. We hope these conversations give you a glimpse into the creativity, collaboration, and experimentation happening at ArtLab. To learn more, visit artlab.harvard.edu.

The podcast is recorded in the Mead Production Lab at the ArtLab in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Hosted by Bree Edwards
Audio by Luke Damroch
Production by Kat Nakaji
Research by Sadie Trichler & Ria Cuéllar-Koh 

Design by James Blue & Sonia Ralston