Temporary body: A jerron Herman Performance

Join us for an original dance performance by writer and dancer Jerron Herman, in which he will engage and respond to the historic Carnegie Mansion, Cooper Hewitt’s home. The performance will travel through several galleries on the first floor of the museum and attendees will be encouraged to interact with the performance piece by writing on the performer’s garment, designed by fashion designer Sugandha Gupta. Soundscape design by composer and vocalist Molly Joyce. Co-produced by INTERIM Corporation. 

Created with inspiration from the current exhibition An Atlas of Es Devlin, this performance will explore themes of the body, writing and sketching, and collaboration.  

Performances will take place at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. 

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Program Length: Each performance will last around 45 minutes.
Interactivity Level: Low to High. This performance will have interactive elements including writing on fabric and the performer’s garments. Interaction is optional.
Intended Audience: People interested in design, dance, multidisciplinary performance, stage design, disability and design, and choreography.

ARTISTS

Black and white photo of Jerron, a dark skinned black man with a beard and cropped blonde hair, seated in front of a slightly tagged concrete wall, his arms lightly crisscrossing over themselves as he stares directly at us.

Photo: Adrian McCourt

Jerron Herman is a dancer and writer who is compelled to create images of freedom. His own freedom stems from the joyful interplay with forms that support a “soloist who isn’t siloed”. He has premiered works at Danspace Project, Performance Space New York, and the Whitney Museum. Herman’s VITRUVIAN premiered in NYC and has toured to the Baltimore Museum of Art curated by Johns Hopkins University, ODC SF and a digital release for Lincoln Center. His latest work, Lax, was commissioned by Stephen Petronio Company and premiered at BDF and has activated museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Guggenheim. Alongside dance, Herman has traveled to a ceramic residency at the famed EKWC in the Netherlands and exhibited for 1969 Gallery (Chella Man), LOMAA in Ontario, and ICA Philadelphia (Carolyn Lazard). He is also the choreographer and co-director of Sensorium Ex, a new opera set to debut in 2025.  

Sugandha sits in front of a neutral background with a bright smile adorned with a simple gold hooped nose ring. Looped around her neck is a pale scarf that matches her pale blonde hair.

Photo: Courtesy of Sugandha Gupta

Sugandha Gupta is the Assistant Professor of Fashion Design and Social Justice at Parsons School of Design. She is a textile artist, designer, and a disability advocate. Employing her embodied experiences as a woman with a disability, she creates sensory textiles that engage a wider audience through their senses. Her creative practice investigates materials through exploration, and transformation using traditional processes. Her research interests are at the intersections of disability, identity, and environmental justice. Gupta’s disability advocacy at museums, national conferences, and universities, redefines disabilities as opportunities and strengths. Gupta is an established professional with over 15 years of experience. Her work has been showcased at American Crafts Council Show, Smithsonian Craft Show, Hunterdon Art Museum, NYTM, The Met, The United Nations Headquarters, and the Guggenheim Museum. 

Black and white photo of Molly, a white female with brown hair in a bun. She is wearing a black dress and her hands are clasped together against her chest.

Photo: Shervin Lainez

Molly Joyce has been deemed one of the “most versatile, prolific and intriguing composers working under the vast new-music dome” by The Washington Post. Her work is concerned with disability as a creative source. Molly’s creative projects have been presented and commissioned by Carnegie Hall, TEDxMidAtlantic, SXSW:EDU, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Bang on a Can Marathon, Danspace Project, Americans for the Arts, National Sawdust, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, National Gallery of Art, Classical:NEXT, and in Pitchfork, Red Bull Radio, and WNYC’s New Sounds. She is a graduate of Juilliard, Royal Conservatory in The Hague, Yale, and alumnus of the YoungArts Foundation. She holds an Advanced Certificate and Master of Arts in Disability Studies from City University of New York, and is a Dean’s Doctoral Fellow at the University of Virginia in Composition and Computer Technologies. 

Accessibility

  • Location: This program will take place in person on the first floor of Cooper Hewitt (2 East 91st Street, New York, NY). There is an accessible ramp on the left side of the museum’s main entrance. There is an accessible restroom on the ground floor, accessible via elevator. Viewers will be expected to stand and follow the performer throughout the museum galleries. Portable stools will be available for viewers to sit and watch the performance; stools are limited.
  • Accommodations: Read more about accessibility at Cooper Hewitt. For general questions and requests for additional accessibility services or accommodations to support your participation in this program, please email us at CHEducation@si.edu   
  • You can read our Know Before You Go guide for step-by-step information about visiting the Museum. Sensory environments are labeled on our Sensory Map. 

SUPPORT

This exhibition is made possible with major support from Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Generous support is provided by Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee, Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer, Kimberly Schuessler, and Morgan M. Schuessler, Jr.

Support is also provided by the Arthur F. & Alice E. Adams Charitable Foundation, the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund, the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery Endowment Fund, Disguise Technologies, the Esme Usdan Exhibition Endowment Fund, the Lemberg Foundation, and the Lily Auchincloss Foundation.