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 embodies a unique approach towards destruction and preservation. The “perfectly” preserved ruins of Pompeii are set against the bustling capital of Catania, the ghost town of Poggioreale, and the crumbling modernist art installations of Gibellina. Curators: Yichen Jia, SMArchS in Design and Computation and MS in EECS 2020, Department of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning Charisse Foo, B.Arch 2018, College of Architecture, Art, and […]

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. This exhibition features works primarily by staff members from a variety of (non-arts related) departments, labs, and centers at MIT who are also visual artists, affiliated with MIT Artists Beyond the Desk. These works present a variety of thoughtful images reflecting their lives at home, in our community, and traveling. This exhibit features work by the following talented artists/employees: Sarah Carlson John Doyle Margo Gabriel Lara Holt Carolyn Jundzilo-Comer Sharon Lacey Thea Paneth […]

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. The vehicles used along the river include small homemade boats, tug boats, dredging boats, festivity boats, raft boats that move entire homes as the water level changes throughout the year. And then there are the tour boats. Among the tour boats are the Irrawaddy Flotilla river boats that go back to the days of the British Empire and […]

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,” Mary Colter. 2019 also marks the 150th Anniversary of geologist John Wesley Powell’s remarkable adventure down to and through the Canyon. Curated by Chris Sherratt, Michael Noga, and Kai Alexis Smith, MIT Libraries Exhibit located in the reading room panels and cases.

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. Three historical theaters: Total Theater by Walter Gropius, Rusakov Workers´ Club by Konstantin Melnikov and Anatomical Theater by Paolo Sarpi and Dario Varotari were analyzed and used as raw material for a sequence of three projects where “Performance”, “Stage” and “Spectator” served as gateways to engage with “Program”, “Space/Site” and “User/Citizen”. Spring Semester 2019 Instructor: Cristina Parreño Alonso Teaching Assistant: Jaehun Woo Students: Alicia Nimrick Caroline Rosenzweig Jackie […]

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.

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, form, building methods and materials. Design on Display showcases the different ways in which design can take form, and the different contexts to which design can contribute to. From spatial to product to architectural to interaction design, the exhibition provides a glimpse of the different fields across which our undergraduate students are exposed to deep design explorations. Exhibition Coordination Paul Pettigrew, Director of Undergraduate Recruitment, […]

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 Gutenberg-facsimile machine built on campus in 2016. These pieces join boldly contemporary posters printed in a 2019 MIT workshop at Reflex Letterpress, an independent print shop in Boston. Alongside the prints, the exhibit showcases the tools and processes behind them. The exhibit is made possible by support from the Council for the Arts at MIT, the Concourse First-Year Program, the History Faculty, and the MIT […]