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Current Exhibits

FFeatured Exhibit RRotch Library Exhibit

Figuring the Middle Ground

This project is an effort for the curator to give themself a voice in the process of figuring out the “middle ground”—a gradient of unsettled propositions stretching between cultural identities, negotiating with constructed collective memories, and discursively evolving over a three-year-long uncanny journey trying to perceive the COVID-19 lockdowns in China.

May 16, 2023 - June 15, 2023

Upcoming Exhibits

There are no upcoming exhibit announcements at this time. New exhibits are added throughout the year, so please check back.

Past Exhibits

RRotch Library Exhibit

A Target

The photographs in this work are at once a survey, critique and minor celebration of a target parking lot and everyday urban relationships that generate questions rather than answers.

Ended May 22, 2023
RRotch Library Exhibit

Ottoman Boston

Boston’s Little Syria (also known as Syriatown), thrived between the 1880s and 1950s in today’s Chinatown and South End, yet few Bostonians are familiar with it. Drawing from photographs, property maps, and memoirs of Syrian- and Lebanese-Americans, this exhibition narrates the history of a neighborhood which is nearly invisible today.

Ended April 4, 2023
RRotch Library Exhibit

NeuraFutures

In our project NeuraFutures we are touching upon implanting memories, reading your dreams while you sleep and communicating a thought between two different people throughout the continents.

Ended March 3, 2023
RRotch Library Exhibit

Wojnarowicz in Cambridge

Wojnarowicz in Cambridge is a series of photographic portraits composed in response to David Wojnarowicz’s Rimbaud in New York series. It brings queer visibility into the public sphere, inviting viewers to consider identity—as something constructed, as something fluid and changeable—so that the current dialogue (and debate) about identity politics becomes more nuanced, more inclusive, more representative.

Reception: September 14, 2022, 4-6pm in Rotch Library Gallery

Ended October 26, 2022
RRotch Library Exhibit

Mindscapes IX

This exhibition is of paintings by MIT alumna Susan E. Schur. Her work utilizes various techniques of employing oil paint on paper and board to create works that provide exciting, multi-layer visual experiences, with each viewer becoming an active participant in the realization of the vision presented.

Ended July 29, 2022
RRotch Library Exhibit

Soft City

Soft City is a large-scale textile series that maps the urban fabric of Black neighborhoods in the Boston area. The tapestries map historic (redlined) and contemporary Black neighborhoods, including Roxbury, Dorchester, and East Cambridge.

Reception: March 11, 5-6pm

Ended April 21, 2022
RRotch Library Exhibit

The Poetry of Science

By combining the intensity of poetry with vivid imagery, The Poetry of Science aims to strengthen the voices and experiences of distinct communities of color, synthesizing a striking poetic and visual language.

Ended February 28, 2022
RRotch Library Exhibit

Shingles Nest

The Shingles Nest is a small pavilion installation that inhabits the Rotch Library and serves as a reading corner; visitors are invited to sit inside and enjoy the privacy and warmth of the wooden cocoon.

Ended February 28, 2022
RRotch Library Exhibit

The Art of Memory

What does it mean to remember? Sited in four Italian towns that have been indelibly changed by natural disasters, this exhibition explores the notion of architectural memory. Across Pompeii, Catania, Poggioreale, and Gibellina, each town...

Ended March 31, 2020
RRotch Library Exhibit

Reflections from beyond the desk

Despite being known mostly for its strength in science and technology, MIT is home to many skilled artists who pursue their work inside and outside the Institute.

These works present a variety of thoughtful images reflecting their lives at home, in our community, and traveling.

Ended February 28, 2020
RRotch Library Exhibit

Irrawaddy River: People, Landscapes & Boats

The Irrawaddy River is the major waterway and largest river in Myanmar. It flows from north to south and it is used by Burmese people daily to take baths, do laundry, wash vegetables, and transport goods for trade and other commercial purposes.

Camila Chaves Cortes has taken three trips along the Irrawaddy watching the life, landscapes, and boats along the way. These inspired her to show these color photographs, cyanotypes, paintings, and a three-dimensional sculpture of one of the boats.

Ended January 12, 2020
RRotch Library Exhibit

Vermeer Through a New Lens

This exhibition is by Boston-based writer and artist and 2007 MIT alumni Will Dowd. These thirteen prints use the paintings of Vermeer—those paragons of visual perfection—to explore issues of sight and optics.

By manipulating these iconic artworks, Dowd allows viewers to see through his eyes—and visual impairment—thereby offering a fresh look at an old master.

Ended January 10, 2020
RRotch Library Exhibit

A Theater Without Theater

The design studio “A Theater Without Theater” invited students to explore the architectural potentials of the theatrical. Discovering productive intersections with theater, students acquired a better understanding of architecture and the city.

Ended October 4, 2019
RRotch Library Exhibit

Geology, Exploration, Tourism, and Architecture

This year the Grand Canyon National Park is celebrating its 100 year anniversary. This exhibit looks at four areas regarding this spacious ecological world wonder: geology, exploration, tourism and other impacts, and the woman “architect,”...

Ended September 30, 2019
RRotch Library Exhibit

Undergraduate Design on Display

With a group of active practitioners composing the core of the architecture and design faculty, the coursework on display for this exhibit is centered on contemporary practice, and on the parallel investigation of context, use,...

Ended June 9, 2019
RRotch Library Exhibit

Mind and Hand in the Print Shop: Letterpress at MIT

This exhibit celebrates the centuries-old art of letterpress, brought to new life by members of the MIT community. The collection includes pamphlets written, designed, hand-set, and hand-printed by MIT students on the Beaver Press, a...

Ended April 4, 2019
RRotch Library Exhibit

GIS & Data Lab at Rotch Library

GIS & Data Lab is an exhibit that highlights the new lab space at MIT’s Rotch Library. The new GIS & Data Lab is now open on the 1st floor of Rotch Library and has...

Ended March 15, 2019
RRotch Library Exhibit

Pantea Karimi’s Visual Thinking: Six Ways of Picturing Knowledge

The exhibit features six bodies of works that are inspired by a collection of 19th century books housed at MIT Institute Archives & Special Collections, as well as medieval books in the possession of libraries around the world.

There is a reception on Friday Sep 28 from 4:00 to 5:30 pm in the main gallery space at the Rotch.

Ended December 14, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Intersections

This exhibit features poster designs from Sonny Oram’s work in MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. (June 2016 to present.) Oram’s posters present an eclectic graphic identity that reflects the broad scope of DUSP’s work....

Ended September 15, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Media + Modes

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Ended June 10, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Translating Destruction: Contemporary Art & War in the Middle East

This installation is by Syrian artist Issam Kourbaj. It is displayed in conjunction with a symposium sponsored by the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT titled Translating Destruction: Contemporary Art & War in the...

Ended April 30, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Author Function

Author Function presents books, chapbooks, broadsides, and other printed matter from the collection of Professor Nick Montfort, SM ’98.

Ended March 21, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Images from a future without proper care

Treeness. They paint dead tree stumps orange (and also pink). They being some type of public works department and sometimes the trees were already dead and others newly rendered so by their cutting. I noticed...

Ended January 19, 2018
RRotch Library Exhibit

Through the Eyes of Durdy Bayramov

Durdy Bayramov (1938-2014) grew up in an orphanage in Turkmenistan and overcame the significant challenges of his youth to become an acclaimed Eurasian artist and photographer. Through a prolific career as a painter that spanned...

Ended November 26, 2017
RRotch Library Exhibit

Soul Battles

The Psychomachia is a late fourth century text by Prudentius, in which the Virtues and Vices battle over man’s soul. These ‘soul battles’ are vividly depicted as nine combats in the medieval tradition. The Psychomachia...

Ended August 19, 2017
RRotch Library Exhibit

Powerhouse

In Lowell, Massachusetts, the old brick buildings often loom large in the background. Hidden behind the Lowell National Historical Park, a former generator room and machine shop has sat shuttered for three decades. Its machines...

Ended July 13, 2017
RRotch Library Exhibit

D-Minor Student Work

The Undergraduate Architecture & Design Student Work Exhibit gives prospective students a visual sense of the types of classes and the variety of work they might encounter in the pursuit of an undergraduate  Architecture Major or...

Ended June 9, 2017
RRotch Library Exhibit

Book Marks

Artist & Curator: Thomas Gearty Location: Main Gallery & Reading Room In old books, time and pressure cause ink from engraved portraits to seep into the surrounding pages and imprint a copy of the original...

Ended April 2, 2017
RRotch Library Exhibit

Retrospective: 15 Years of AKPIA Posters

Curated by Dr. Sharon C. Smith Location: Reading room walls & columns Joint reception with “Tangier”: November 17, 2016 at 7:30pm Description coming soon

Ended December 15, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

International Tangier

Curated by Dr. Michael A. Toler Location: Main gallery Joint reception with “Retrospective”: November 17, 2016 at 7:30pm An exhibition of prints from the glass negatives collection of the Tangier American Legation Institute for Moroccan...

Ended December 15, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Elements

Location: Main gallery Opening reception: September 9, 2016 Curated by Dr. Sharon C. Smith A studio photographer by trade, Mike Walker approaches subjects with the intention of drawing something out that one might not see...

Ended October 9, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Yards of Faith

“Living on the Somerville/Medford line, I have been fascinated by the statues of the Virgin Mary, Jesus, and various saints that often decorate the yards in the neighborhood. In an era where one’s religious conviction...

Ended May 31, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Once More, With Feelies

When talking about digital games, we often forget the materials that surround them – and the fact that playing those games always happens by means of interacting with physical objects. This exhibition is to remind...

Ended May 29, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Grasping Necessity: A Rodeo Portrait

Location: Rotch Main Gallery + Reading Room Columns “For these rodeo photographs, I concentrate on moments of strength, of spirit, of tenacity, wild. Most important to me are emotions that arise from interconnected relationships —...

Ended April 1, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Window Shopping: Learning from Kigali, Rwanda

This photography series highlights the advertising methods used for retail shops without large display windows in Kigali, the capital city of Rwanda. In the context of Rwanda’s “Vision 2020” of becoming a knowledge-based middle income...

Ended February 28, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

DRESSES

DRESSES is a series that turns “digital collages into objects that can be seen, worn, and felt instead of living on a computer screen.” Special thanks to Derek Palmer Photography and Nadya Peek. Location: Reading...

Ended January 26, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Lê Lam

For nearly ten years (1966-1975) Hanoi artist Lê Lam risked his life and lived in South Vietnam recording, in paint, the war which raged all around him. This exhibition contains more than twenty of the...

Ended January 25, 2016
RRotch Library Exhibit

Rotch Library Exhibit Archives: 2010-2013

Photographs of Boston by Richard Yee November 22 – December 20, 2013 Richard Yee is an award-winning local photographer who has had several one-man exhibitions and whose work has been published in “China: Fifty Years...

Ended December 20, 2013
RRotch Library Exhibit

Rotch Library Exhibit Archives: 1999-2010

An Uncertain Moment Laura Rushfeldt December 1, 2009 – January 29, 2010 This exhibition provides a photo chronicle of contemporary life in Kosovo. Kosovo’s political condition and its effect on the Kosovar people is complex,...

Ended January 25, 2010