Installation view of Christine Sun Kim
Christine Sun Kim: Off the Charts, Installation view, MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, MA, 2020. Photo: Peter Harris Studio.

List Visual Arts Center

Just as MIT pushes at the frontiers of scientific inquiry, it is the mission of the List Visual Arts Center to explore challenging, intellectually inquisitive, contemporary art making in all media.

The List Visual Arts Center also  maintains and develops a Permanent Collection that includes dozens of publicly-sited sculptures by such artists as Henry Moore, Anish Kapoor, Cai Guo Qiang, and Alexander Calder.

Gallery Hours: 

Tuesday to Sunday from 12-6pm
Wednesday and Thursday from 12-7pm
Closed Monday and major holidays

Building E15, Atrium Level
20 Ames Street

Free admission

Gallery in the MIT museum.
MIT Museum. Credit: Judy Daniels.

MIT Museum

The MIT Museum invites you to explore invention, ideas, and innovation. Through interactive exhibitions, public programs, experimental projects, and its renowned collections, the MIT Museum showcases the fascinating world of MIT, and inspires people of all ages about the possibilities and opportunities offered by science and technology.

Collections include the Architecture & Design Collection, the Holography Collection and a digital collection of renowned MIT professor Harold “Doc” Edgerton‘s work.

New location in Kendall Square opening in fall 2022

A sculpture made of wood, tape, and foam.
Close up view of project under construction on a table in the MIT Museum Studio.

MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery

Located in the heart of campus under the big dome, the MIT Museum Studio and Compton Gallery is a changing exhibition space where visitors encounter a wide range of exhibitions that encompass the varied fields of science, technology, architecture, history, and art.

Open daily
10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Building 10, Room 150

Free admission

Two students explore artwork in the MIT Student Lending Art Program Exhibition. Image courtesy of the List Visual Arts Center.
Students explore the MIT Student Lending Art Program Exhibition. Image courtesy of the List Visual Arts Center.

Student Lending Art Program

The Student Lending Art Program is a unique and popular MIT tradition that allows MIT students borrow original works of art from the MIT List Visual Arts Center. Explore the online web portal to peruse the works and to learn more about the history of this exciting program and collection.

On exhibit in the List Visual Art Center annually in early fall

Installation view of the 2018 Schnitzer Prize Recipients Exhibition in the MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery.
Installation view of the 2018 Schnitzer Prize Recipients Exhibition in the MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery.

Wiesner Student Gallery

The Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Gallery was established as a gift from the Class of 1983 to honor the former president of MIT, Jerome Wiesner, for his involvement in and support of the arts at the Institute. The gallery is a place for students exhibit their artwork, both academic and co-curricular. Additionally, the gallery serves as a major exhibit space for student artists who are supported by the Grants Program of the Council for the Arts at MIT.

Open daily

77 Mass Ave, Cambridge
Building W20, Second Floor

Individual explores an exhibition in the Keller Gallery.
Keller Gallery. Credit: Judy Daniels.

Keller Gallery

As part of the continuing development of common spaces for the Department of Architecture, a new gallery opened this fall on the fourth floor of Building 7, close to the architecture design studios, the school’s new fabrication lab, the Steam Café and the Long Room, where all the department’s lecture series are held.

Open Monday – Saturday
9:00am – 6:00pm

Building 7, Room 408
Free admission

Large scale artwork displayed on the walls of the the Koch Institute Gallery.
Koch Institute

Koch Institute Public Galleries

The Koch Institute Public Galleries were established to connect the community in Kendall Square and beyond with the work of the David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. Within the Galleries, visitors can explore current cancer research projects, examine striking biomedical images, hear first-person reflections on cancer and cancer research, and investigate the historical, geographical and scientific contexts out of which the Koch Institute emerged.

Open Monday through Friday
9:00am – 5:00pm

Building 76,Ground Floor
500 Main Street

Free admission

Olafur Eliasson, Northwest Passage, 2018. Stainless steel, LED lights, diffusers. An MIT Percent-for-Art Commission for MIT.nano. Photo: Anton Grassl
Olafur Eliasson, Northwest Passage, 2018. Stainless steel, LED lights, diffusers. An MIT Percent-for-Art Commission for MIT.nano. Photo: Anton Grassl

Public Art Collection

MIT’s noted public art program administered by the MIT List Visual Arts Center may be enjoyed by MIT denizens and visitors alike.  The program began to take shape in 1961 when Mr. and Mrs Samuel A. Marx commissioned MIT’s first outdoor sculpture, Dimitri Hadzi’s bronze Elmo (MIT). This work inspired many subsequent gifts that have furnished MIT with numerous outstanding examples of work by major artists.

See MIT’s Public Art Collection in person or on the web via an interactive map on the List Visual Arts Center’s website