After walking up the steps from Quincy Street, I pulled open the double-doors to the Harvard Art Museums (HAM) and a wave of music immediately poured over my ears. I wove through the traffic of people as they walked from one exhibition, through the courtyard, to another—some trailing away from the herd to explore adjacent galleries tucked into the corner. One couple pushed forward, hand-in-hand, her wearing a long brown slip dress with her hair done up, and him in a button-down and slacks. A group of friends, rocking leather jackets over cropped tanks, sat on a bench, inspecting the painting in front of them. I felt a bit underdressed in my plain tee and pants. The music, the people, and the bar in the corner of the courtyard together created a lively atmosphere, revealing a secret energy that the museum’s stereotypical “silence” hides during the day. I felt like I was placed into a different world, entirely separate from campus. And so, my adventure began.
The third floor is where I chose to start, home to the museum’s current special exhibition, Made in Germany? Art and Identity in a Global Nation. Tara Metal, the Digital Content Manager and Strategist, explained in an interview with the Independent that the museum curates a new special exhibition every few months. Right now, Made in Germany? features German art as an opportunity to explore and express the German identity. One artist, Marc Brandenburg, stood out in particular, especially since he was invited as a guest speaker that night. He spoke to a crowd of party-goers about his artistic process as a black-and-white portrait-drawer. Looking at his pieces, I felt like I was looking at the negatives of a film camera, but with one thing missing: the faces. Brandenburg’s pieces struck me as very peculiar—that in an exhibition meant to explore identity, he would choose to make the faces of his subjects unclear, as if leaving the identity of the subject lying on the ground in a sleeping bag up to the viewer’s interpretation. I walked away from his artwork confused, but enlightened by his artistic portrayal of a sort of shrouded identity, a technique that’s left a big impression on me as a sketching hobbyist.
Metal also pointed out several fun activities the museum sets up for “At Nights,” the term the staff members coined for their Harvard Art Museums at Night event. During last week’s event, the museum offered temporary tattoos designed by Brandenburg (which I did indulge in) and a scavenger hunt. In the past, they’ve also offered dress-up themes, such as a pink-themed At Night, and just last summer, the event was watercolor themed—I can only imagine the flowy blue dresses, lily-patterned skirts, and pastel-inspired outfits that everyone put together (although, I was reassured that there is never an official dress code). Metal explained that all these activities are designed “to get people to come here who maybe wouldn’t normally come to a museum on a precious Saturday or Sunday.” Looking around, I’d say the museum has done a magnificent job doing just that.
Thasfia Chowdhury, a visitor from Cambridge and a recent Brown University graduate, commented on her first time visiting the Harvard Art Museums. She said her experience was “mind expansive… A lot of the art here isn’t something you see every day.” We were standing in the art museum’s special exhibition, tilting our heads at a living room that was on the floor. But wait—not a normal living room by any means; this living room was flipped 90 degrees on its side, with its wall on the museum floor. The floor of the room was extended vertically, stretching to the ceiling, and all its furniture—from desks and chairs to cabinets and carpets—jutted outwards towards me, creating this mind-boggling illusion that I was looking at a living room while stuck to its ceiling.
This piece, titled Ostalgie by Henrike Naumann, stood out to both of us as something unique—something disrupting our sense of normalcy, as all effective art should. Chowdhury interpreted Naumann’s disorientation of the living room “to communicate the awkward unrest that the world sees here and there… It’s such a weird parallel, because it’s literally living room furniture.” For that exact reason, Chowdhury finds this piece “so random, but so refreshing.”
Though not even half-way through the art on the third floor, I felt it was time to explore other galleries the museum had to offer. I made my way back towards the atrium, feeling the music grow louder as I walked down to the second floor. Here, while wandering amongst the sculptures and statues, I bumped into Chowdhury again and started conversing with her and the group of students she was with, including Northeastern students Mandy Alexander and Suyasha Ahthuluri (I paused briefly to marvel at how easy it was to make friends). “I had seen an ad on Instagram, and I dragged all my friends to come too,” Ahthuluri told me. Neither Ahthuluri nor her friends study art, but they find the artwork descriptions the most compelling part of the galleries because it’s a chance to learn something new. “I think it’s great that it’s open to the public, anyone can come in and look at art,” she said. “I think the art world can sometimes be a little bit closed for people to enjoy and research and learn.”
As I was walking away from them, I overheard another group of Harvard Graduate students also talking about an Instagram post that had caught their attention, which led them to the At Night. These events have certainly created an observable impact; they attract a truly diverse crowd of people, especially from outside the Harvard community, and give everyone a chance to make some new friends. Throughout the night, there were multiple times I had forgotten that the museum itself is affiliated with Harvard. So who knows, maybe we’ll start seeing some of the same faces around every month. After all, that is how community is created.
The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission for all visitors. If you missed September’s At Night event, don’t fret. However, these parties make the museum more fun, more exciting, and more energetic. It’s also very well-advertised—as the Instagram posts were clearly quite effective—so it attracts a large crowd of people to the same place at the same time.
When I walked into the museum last Thursday, I unintentionally found a pocket outside of the Harvard Bubble, right at Harvard’s own museum. By opening up the museum to the public, the museum curates a night that’s perfect for creative minds to come together, socialize, and appreciate artwork. The HAM’s At Nights have become the perfect spot for art-lovers of all ages, hailing from all over Boston, to gather and meet each other. So, sign up for the Harvard Art Museum’s mailing list, keep an eye on your inbox, and get excited for their upcoming events!
Raina Wang ’28 (rainawang@college.harvard.edu) will be sure to do her hair and makeup and put on a long black dress before the next potentially Halloween-themed At Night.