What does it mean to inhabit a body? To rub scent on flesh? To lick? To cradle, scar, kick? Teeth chattering, jumping out of your skin, “Don’t DO that! you scared me.” Goosebumps and bliss, a heart beating out of your chest just long enough to demand a ransom. It isn’t all fear. It’s bubblegum filled with your own CO2 and your mother telling you to swallow it. Forgetting about your hands until they fall asleep and demand a reintroduction, shaking one another wildly. Changing your name and watching it gurgle out of everyone’s mouth, closer to a song than a stumble. Sore knees, where are my glasses? Yes,

I did cut my hair. Thank you for noticing.

The 2018 artistic directors of Reed Arts Week are enthralled to present this year’s festival: Sensation. This theme can be interpreted in a plethora of ways, including, but not limited to bodily, media-based, and religious sensations. We recognize that the art world often prioritizes our vision, and, through the theme of sensation, we are encouraging artists and patrons alike to challenge this axiomatic primacy of sight in exchange for an interest in collective, spiritual, and somatic resonance.  

While the title of our festival employs the word “art,” we are emphasizing the interdisciplinary nature of Sensation. Both student and professional artists will appropriate campus as stage and scenery for poetry readings, dance pieces, theatrical and other performance works, live music, and, of course, the display of visual art. Featured artists and performers include: international olfactory artist Maki Ueda; poet Marty McConnell; fashion designer Eda Yorulmazoglu; animator Eric Dyer; artist Stephanie Gervais; poet Esther Belin; photographer Parker Day; 11:Dance Co.; photographer DJ Meisner; and musical performers Marquii and DJ Manny Petty.

This year’s Reed Arts Week will take place from November 15 – November 18, 2018, on Reed College campus. While a group of Reed faculty initially introduced Reed Arts Week in 1990,  the festival has come under the jurisdiction of students and this is the first year in which the annual event will be institutionally stewarded by the Douglas F. Cooley Memorial Art Gallery. All events are free and open to the public. The festival schedule is available here.