Louis D. Brandeis famously said, “If we would guide by the light of reason, we must let our minds be bold.” This quote has also served as the inspiration for artist Chris Burden’s installation, “Light of Reason,” which now sits, completed, in front of the Rose Art Museum, free for all to look at and enjoy.

On Wednesday evening, the Brandeis community—students, professors, donors, artists, administrators, family and friends—gathered in front of the Rose Art Museum for the official dedication and lighting of the new installation. The ceremony immediately followed the opening reception for the four new exhibits, which will be on view for the rest of the semester.

In the Gerald S. and Sandra Fineberg Gallery, Mark Bradford: Sea Monsters is on view, in the Lower Rose Gallery is Rose Projects 1B: 1914: Magnus Plessen, in the Mildred S. Lee Gallery, Collection in Focus and in the Rose Video Gallery, Rose Video 04: Alex Hubbard. According to Jennifer Yee, patron services coordinator at the museum, in a comment to the Justice, more than 1500 people were in attendance at the opening.

After meandering around the four new exhibits and enjoying a cocktail hour in the Mildred S. Lee Gallery, guests made their way out to the lawn in front of the museum for the dedication and lighting ceremony, which began around 7 p.m. As dusk started to fall, the space outside became alive with excitement and anticipation. Crowds started forming—on the hill adjacent to the museum, around the arranged chairs and on the benches in front of the lampposts. The space around “Light of Reason” was completely filled on all sides.

Just a few moments before the event was scheduled to start, an unexpected procession of protestors made its way onto the lawn just in front of the installation. In front of all the attendees, the mass of students—all dressed in black and carrying signs—stood in a line, silent. The students were protesting the University’s handling sexual assault. Their signs carried messages to the administration, statements of outrage and even stories of personal experiences. After the students exchanged words with University President Frederick Lawrence, the lighting ceremony started. The students remained in their place on the lawn.

Perry Traquina ’78, chairman of the Board of Trustees, spoke first. He reminded the community of the quote that spurred the making of the new installation and said, “I encourage you to contemplate the bold ideas that will guide your own paths. And whatever path you may take… I hope you will recall this time and this place.”

Next came Lizbeth Krupp, the chair of the Board of Advisors for the Rose Art Museum. Krupp’s speech, definitely the longest out of the speakers, focused on the endless uses for the lamp posts on the “Light of Reason.”

“It’s a social structure” she said, “And by that I mean that it’s one that derives meaning in its surroundings and lasting vitality by how it’s used. So let it become a hub for everyday social life and a constant canvas and community activity.” In a fitting reference to the circumstances, Krupp referred to “Light of Reason” as a place where students could hold protests and rallies.

Next, Lawrence spoke, evoking the late Sam Hunter—the first director of the Rose—in his speech, noting that his widow, Maïa Hunter, was in attendance. Lawrence announced that the museum has instituted a “Sam Hunter Emerging Artist Fund.” According to a July 29 BrandeisNOW article, upon learning of Hunter’s death, Bedford decided to name a then-unnamed fund for emerging artists after the late director of the Rose. A similar fund during Hunter’s time in the 1960s funded the acquisition of works by emerging artists at the time: Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Ellsworth Kelley. “It’s only just that we would perpetuate Hunter’s legacy with a fund that boasts his name,” Bedford said in an interview with BrandeisNOW.

The last to speak was the installation’s artist. Burden gave a very informal address in which he talked about his own personal connection to the work and its historical basis. He told the crowd that the antique lamps, over 100 years old, were first housed in Los Angeles until the 1950’s and ’60s when they were torn down from the streets put into landfills. Throughout Burden’s career, he has been interested in reviving antiques, and took this opportunity to revive the lampposts that would have otherwise been buried forever, he said.

Burden’s mother, who lived in New England, was also a collector of antiques, Burden told the audience. “I don’t think she ever thought I would bring antiques from Los Angeles to Boston,” he said, receiving chuckles from the crowd.

He added a few words on his personal thoughts about the work: “I think it’s rare that an object really delivers on the dream of the object ... “[Light of Reason] outstripped all my expectations,” he said, adding “I hope they’re here for hundreds of years.”

Then, the lamps were lit. “It was very good to see the lamps lit,” Burden said in an interview with the Justice after the ceremony. He had never seen them lit or even seen the piece in full, he said—the pieces were restored in his studio and then actually arranged during the installation of the sculpture by his staff.

After the lighting, the Lydian String Quartet played a movement from Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet No. 8. A fast, harsh stream of notes pervaded the landscape as the musicians played intensely in a minor key. The piece was beautiful but very short, only lasting a couple of minutes.

Later on in the night, Brooklyn-based indie rock band, The Antlers, started up their jazzy routine as small group gathered to watch. Bathed in a changing series of colored bright lights, the group on the piano, guitar and trumpet rocked the night away.

“I thought it was fantastic. I thought it was a truly Brandeisian affair from beginning to end,” Bedford said.