 | Music and Technology21M.380Christine Southworth, Lecturer and Composer This seminar series explores various technologies in relation to musical analysis, composition, performance, culture, and quantitative methods, revolving around weekly lecture/demonstrations by prominent artists whose work spans the intersection of Music and Technology. Visiting artists will include composers, sound installation artists, sound sculptors, and visual artists who use sound or music in their work. In addition to preparation for each lecture, students will develop a single project throughout the term, with one-on-one coaching and weekly progress sessions with instructor. Lectures/demonstrations by Visiting Artists are free and open to the public. Check here for more information. |
 | Design Across Scales4.110J/MAS 330J/MAS.S64JNeri Oxman, Sony Corporation Career Development Professor of Media Arts and Sciences Meejin Yoon, Associate Professor of Architecture and Director of the Undergraduate Program in Architecture Inspired by Charles and Ray Eames’ canonical “Powers of Ten”, the course explores the relationship between science and engineering through the lens of Design. It examines how transformations in science and technology have influenced design thinking and vice versa. It offers interdisciplinary tools and methods to represent, model, design and fabricate objects, machines, and systems. Structured as core lectures and lab sessions, the course is organized by “systems”: Design of Information, Design of Fabrication, Design of Intelligence, Design of Play, Design of Organization and Design of Innovation. World-renowned designers, scientists and engineers will contribute with guest lectures. We will design things – material and immaterial; we will learn new computational and fabrication tools along the way; we will develop methodologies for design research of interdisciplinary problems; we will practice what it means to think, live, and breathe Design. |
 | Mechanical Invention through Computation6.S080Daniela Rus, Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Director of CSAIL Erik Demaine, Professor of Computer Science Chuck Hoberman, Hoberman Transformable Design Featuring Visiting Artist Chuck Hoberman, the inventor of many folding toys and structures, this hands-on class considers the creation of mechanisms with a focus on the inventive process itself. Topics include kinematic analysis & synthesis, self-actuated form-creation through origami and other means, design of transformable structures that change size and shape, with methods of physical interaction and automated control. Various techniques to conceptualize innovative devices will be explored, for example, methods to cross-connect top-level functionality (walking, flying, grasping, etc.) with various known, tested designs ('mechanical building blocks'). Student groups will organize semester-long projects to develop interactive software applications to facilitate 'invention through computation', and to enable the fluid, intuitive development of surprising and unique mechanisms. |
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