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 Middle East (April 27-28 at MIT, Room 6-120). The dates of these art pieces are varied. They are made with different materials in response to the conflict in Iraq and Syria. Click here for the Symposium Poster  

The 2018 Architecture & Design Undergraduate 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 education in architecture, art, or design at MIT. MIT’s undergraduate Architecture Major provides both a deep and broad education in the discipline. The program emphasizes the interconnected relationship between architectural design, building technology, computation, and history, theory, and criticism. The revised 4B Major in Art and Design and Minor in Design (D-Minor) provides a hub at MIT where undergraduate students can learn core principles of design in […]

Computer-generated poetry and fiction has been imagined for decades, even centuries. In recent years, this sort of literary art has not only been produced; it has been edited, typeset, and printed. Author Function presents books, chapbooks, broadsides, and other printed matter from the collection of Professor Nick Montfort, SM ’98. The work featured includes some that is based on language but consists of images, some that is produced by commercial algorithms from our everyday digital environment, and some that results from decades of research. Montfort is an author of computer-generated writing himself, has worked in collaboration with others to produce […]

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 this about a year and a half ago and started documenting my finds. Trees are our lifeblood. In 1971, in an act of optimism and curiosity Stuart Roosa flew hundreds of seeds into space with Apollo 14; they were subsequently germinated and planted. In 2017 the US dropped out of the Paris accord. Our lifeblood is thinning. Included are a variety of images and investigations: […]

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 more than 55 years, Bayramov was best known for his compelling portraits. His tender approach evokes the special character and qualities within each of his subjects, with whom he shared a deep rapport.   Curated by Sharon C. Smith, Ph.D. With closing reception to be attended by the Turkmenistan Ambassador to USA

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 was often illustrated with ‘tinted drawings,’ a specific form of manuscript illumination characterized by an inner luminosity, due to the translucency of the calfskin vellum surface and the spare handling of paint. Painter Sharon Lacey uses this medieval image cycle as a point of departure for a series of ink and watercolor paintings on full-size calfskins. These ‘tinted drawings,’ like much of her other work, […]

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 and equipment abandoned to the birds. This photographic series seeks to document the beauty in the decay. The machines, which once brought vitality to the city now monuments to its change.

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 image. These copies are imperfect likenesses, but they may be more accurate portraits. What we believe we know of Shakespeare is as clear as a cliché; what we actually know of him resembles these faces that stare out at us—secondhand, obscured and blurred by time. An exhibition of prints from photographer and MIT staff member Thomas Gearty, “Book Marks” brings together a gallery of fading […]