Far Afield

David Kertzer (2000 Resident, current Trustee) tells the New York Times that Pope Leo XIV’s name references Leo XIII, a transitional figure who defended workers’ rights while upholding tradition from 1878 to 1903. The choice may signal continuity with Pope Francis, Kertzer said, but with moderation.

Today Bunny Harvey (1976 Fellow) gives a artist’s talk in conjunction with Worlds within Worlds, her exhibition of abstract paintings taking place at Burlington City Arts in Vermont.

Triple Canopy and Nightboat Books present A Cartography in Progress, a reading and conversation on May 8 in New York, to celebrate Samiya Bashir’s new collection of poetry, I Hope This Helps. Joining Bashir will be Erica Hunt (2024 Fellow), Jaqueline Woodson, Terrance Hayes, and Derrais Carter.

Helen C. Evans (2002 Affiliated Fellow) is participating on a scholarly panel addressing “Guardians of Hellenism: The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople” today in New York. The event is sponsored by the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.

Today Selby Wynn Schwartz (2025 Fellow) will deliver the second Virginia Woolf Chair Lecture, titled “Una società per futuri femministi queer,” at Università per Stranieri di Siena in Italy.

On May 7, musical composer Derek Bermel (2002 Fellow) and novelist Sandra Cisneros will meet at Northwestern University for a reading, discussion, and performance related to their collaborative opera, The House on Mango Street.

Boston College’s Excellence in Teaching Day, taking place on May 5, includes a keynote address, “Educating for American Democracy,” by Harvard University’s Danielle S. Allen (2020 Resident) discussing a broad range of issues.

Tonight on WTJU FM 91.1 in Charlottesville, Virginia, the Offbeat Roadhouse live concert series features Chasing Clouds by William Grosvenor Neil (1983 Fellow), performed by Linda Chatterton’s LYM Trio.

With her company, Molissa Fenley (2008 Fellow) will restage Bardo, her homage to Keith Haring from thirty-five years ago that was performed during the artist’s memorial service, at the New York City AIDS Memorial on May 4.

For his twenty-year survey, Urban Archaeology, Franc Palaia (1986 Fellow) will transform the Garner Arts Center in Garnerville, New York, into an archaeological site with his mixed-media artworks. The exhibition opens on May 3.

Fatma Bucak (2024 Italian Fellow) returns to Brown University today for an artist’s talk and performance of That Sound Again with composer Bahar Royaee and soprano Ross Hegele, sponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies.

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences elected AAR Trustee Bart Friedman, senior counsel at Cahill Gordon & Reindel, and Nasser Rabbat (2018 Resident), an architect, historian, and director of the MIT Aga Khan Program, as 2025 members. Friedman was recognized in Leadership, Policy, and Communications; Rabbat was honored for Arts and Humanities.

On April 26, Theaster Gates (2020 Resident) will stage a twelve-hour performance of A Clay Sermon with the Black Monks at Stony Island Arts Bank in Chicago

John Marciari (1998 Fellow) will speak at Columbia University’s Italian Academy on April 25 for a scholar’s day related to the Nicholas Hall exhibition Beyond the Fringe: Painting for the Market in 17th-Century Italy. His presentation addresses “Flowers, Fruits, and a New Art Market: Caravaggio’s Early Years in Rome.”

Aaron Cayer (2024 Fellow) has won a 2025 Andrew Carnegie Fellowship—the only recipient chosen from the discipline of architecture. The award recognizes Cayer’s influential work at the intersection of architecture, labor, and politics.

The High Line in New York presents Soft Power, a new artwork by artist Alex Da Corte (2023 Fellow), on the billboard adjacent to the park at 18th Street near Tenth Avenue. It remains on view through May.

On April 24, Paola D’Agostino (2013 Affiliated Fellow) will lead a seminar at Villa I Tatti in Florence on “Italian Art Museums Now,” addressing the importance of these spaces for the production of knowledge.

Tomorrow, on April 22, Jeanne Marie Teutonico (2009 Resident) will lecture on “Repair and Restore: Embracing Change, Preserving Memory, and Building Community through the Conservation of Cultural Heritage” at Harvard Art Museums.

Fugitive Tilts, the first book of prose by Ishion Hutchinson (2018 Fellow), is a collection of essays exploring memory, art, displacement, and Caribbean identity, to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux.