Biggers and Better

The huge groups of foreign tourists trying to peer into Annenberg finally have something new to gawk at in Memorial Hall. The Transept, the space between Annenberg and Sanders Theater, is now home to a public art installation entitled “Constellation (Stranger Fruit)” by Sanford Biggers, an African-American sculptor known for his evocative installations. The work represents the struggles of slaves escaping via the Underground Railroad, a theme Biggers recalls in several pieces. “Constellation” evokes heavenly constellations and quilts marked with secret codes that helped guide slaves to freedom. “There is something magical about this work; the light from below gives the installation a celestial mood...” says Raymond C. Traietti, Assistant Director at Memorial Hall.“Biggers demonstrates a great range in his work; he is a sculptor but also involves music, video, and performance in his creations,” says Cathleen D. McCormick, Director of Programs at the Office for the Arts (OFA) at Harvard. Traietti agrees. “I love it because Memorial Hall is a theater and a dining hall, but also a work of art. When we have pieces like ‘Constellation’ in the Transept, they are talking with the building – they contemporize it.” Students filing in and out of Annenberg have certainly noticed the modern art installation exhibited in the Old World space of the Transept. “Students always stop and look around. ‘Constellation’ is not so much a contrast to the space as it is a complement to it,” Traietti says. The engagement of students with community space is a goal of the OFA’s Public Art Program, according  Teil Silverstein, “Constellation”’s Harvard Project Manager. “Students engage in an examination of artmaking for public sites through dialogue and/or collaboration with the participating artists,” wrote Silverstein in an e-mail. So next time you’re rushing to that Ec 10 lecture, take a minute to soak up the magic of Biggers’ piece, before it’s gone on December 2. We guarantee it’ll take your mind off that Expos paper...at least until the Mem Church bells remind you you’re late for class, anyway.