Art in the Grove

Art in the Grove enlivens the historic green space at the heart of KU’s Lawrence campus through two site-specific works commissioned by the Spencer Museum of Art.

Artist team Judith G. Levy, Jason Zeh, and David Ross installed a series of benches that wrap around or “hug” trees in the Grove and in front of the Museum. Titled CHIPKO, the Hindi word for hugging, the installation was inspired by women in a village in Uttar Pradesh, India, who, in 1973, hugged trees to prevent them from being cut down by loggers. Two of the bench installations include audio created from synthetic and natural sounds collected from the Grove. Energy for the audio component is provided by both electricity and solar power. The benches in Marvin Grove are painted with glow-in-the-dark paint to artificially mimic the relationship the trees have with sunlight.

The second work is a dance performance choreographed by Maya Tillman-Rayton that uses the grounded movement from hip-hop and modern dance to celebrate Marvin Grove, adding to the beauty of the location. The performance, Groove in the Grove, premieres at the Museum's annual Backyard Bash on September 30.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website