“On Display Harvard,” an hourlong performance undertaken by Harvard students, staff, and community members, captures the audience’s attention in the Calderwood Courtyard at the Harvard Art Museums.

Photos by Grace DuVal

Campus & Community

Universal, adaptable, wearable, vulnerable

Grace DuVal

Harvard Correspondent

December 18, 2024 5 min read

‘On Display Harvard’ uses performance, zip ties, to bring attention to the UN’s International Day of Persons With Disabilities

As you walk past the columns of the Harvard Art Museums and step into the bright light of Calderwood Courtyard, you see a group of 16 people dressed in white. They are arranged in various positions, some standing, some sitting, some using wheelchairs or crutches. They all are wearing garments made of zip ties — plastic spikes protruding at different angles. The forms drape around each performer’s arms, shoulders, legs. The only sounds to break the silence are the low murmurs from visitors who wend between the performers, watching intently, photographing, taking video. Moment by moment the performer’s movements change, gentle shifts in their body, each gesture intuitively executed slowly and thoughtfully.

The scene you are witnessing is “On Display Harvard,” a durational performance installation presented by the Office for the Arts at Harvard (OFA) Dance Program. A mix of Harvard staff, students, and community members come together each year on Dec. 3 as part of “On Display Harvard,” an annual commemoration of the United Nations’ International Day of Persons With Disabilities. This worldwide social justice initiative, created by physically integrated dance company Heidi Latsky Dance, brings together performers across the spectrum of abilities, ages, sizes, and races, into a singular space.

Founded in 2015, the durational performances of “On Display Harvard” create living sculpture parks that the audience is invited to wander through, viewing each performer up close.

“By exposing the general public to our widely diverse sculpture courts, we are expanding what inclusion looks like,” states the “On Display” website.

The sculptural garments worn during this year’s “On Display Harvard” were created by Harvard Graduate School of Design ’24 alumni Pin Sangkaeo and Benson Joseph, collectively known as (snobs._). Collaborators since they met at the School of Architecture at Syracuse University, for the past three years (snobs._) has created one-of-a-kind wearables for “On Display Harvard.” On its statement, (snobs._) explained that to build the garments for each performer “you have to create something that is universal, but at the same time has the capability to be adaptable. Zip ties are the way that we did the wearables. We pre-model a series of implied poses and where they can be put, and then we lay the pictures out on the wall, and we let [the performers] pick and … we modify it to fit the person better. It’s like sketching at full scale.”

Using more than 8,000 zip ties and taking more than a year and a half to complete, the wearables are part of an ongoing, ever-evolving project for (snobs._). Collaborating with the performers of “On Display” allows the creative team to see and understand their work more profoundly. After the event the performers and designers sat together in the greenroom sharing their performance experiences.

“The feedback is the most important part. There’s a validation that comes in when other people offer all the insights of things that maybe you weren’t thinking about … it’s not possible to do that kind of work without feedback,” noted (snobs._).

Graduate student Sandra El Hadi peers through one of the sculptural garments made of zip ties by Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni, collectively known as (snobs._). The zip ties were reconstituted from an earlier, large-scale sculptural installation exhibited in Harvard Square.

Sarah Yee performs. — Harvard College student Sarah Yee strikes a durational pose. Each zip tie garment was chosen by the performer and custom-fit to his or her body.

Olivia Schrantz performs. — Olivia Schrantz, Harvard student-led dance group coach, closes her eyes during an enduring gesture. (snobs._) ruminated on the intensity of the hourlong performance: “It does something to your mind in a vulnerable state, it forces you to be with yourself for an hour.”

The community was invited to move through the performers during the durational work, allowing each audience member to closely observe the performers’ slow movements and intricate garments.

Jassi Murad performs. — More than 8,000 tessellated zip ties were linked together to create the wearable art embodied by dancer Jassi Murad.

Mindy Koyanis performs. — Sanders Theatre staff member and Extension School student Mindy Koyanis moves her hand in slow, cyclical gestures. Koyanis has performed with “On Display Harvard” multiple times over the years.

Harvard graduate student Jessica Sun assists audience members in a tactile tour of the custom wearables. Guided tours of the garments and performance were provided to all audience members, allowing greater access to the event.

Community members engage with the performance from different perspectives in Calderwood Courtyard, taking photos, videos, and quietly discussing the work.

Yarumi González performs. — Yarumi González slowly slides off a chair during the performance. “Oftentimes people think ‘On Display’ [is about] staying still and you’re moving slow, but it requires so much control that it actually ends up being more work,” explains (snobs._).

Nicolai Calabria performs as an observer’s guide dog investigates. — Nicolai Calabria is investigated by an observer’s guide dog as he performs.

Nora Rodas, a community member and undergraduate student at Dean College in Franklin, Massachusetts, moves in and out of her wheelchair throughout the performance.