EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Leah Talatinian
Senior Officer for Marketing and Communications
The MIT arts community mourns the passing of Brit d’Arbeloff, Corporation Life Member Emerita and one of the most dedicated champions for the arts at MIT, who died on May 8, 2026, at the age of 91. For nearly three … Continued
A collaboration between two visiting artists, MIT faculty, and students breathes new life into a revered and endangered textile tradition The fabric is so fine that you can read through it. Muslin, a hand-woven cotton textile originating in Bengal more … Continued
Xinyu Xu takes home this year’s prize When Xinyu Xu ’26 was eight years old, her entire school was invited to participate in an all-day sports festival at Beijing’s National Stadium—the “Bird’s Nest” stadium that had just been completed for … Continued
Four graduate artists win this year’s prize: Coco Allred, C Jacob Payne, Jessica Stringham and Harrison White Each year, accomplished professionals enroll in MIT graduate art, architecture, design programs. They come in search of new skills. But they also bring … Continued
We may never unravel the complex DNA that codes for human creativity. Some artistic talents seem to take shape from thin air, inexplicable and otherworldly. Others appear more human, the fruit of hard work and perseverance. But no talent, whatever … Continued
Clay Lewis, Andrea Marcano-Delgado, Perry Naseck, and Gloria Zhu were chosen this year Since 1979, the Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT) has been honoring members of the MIT community for their arts-related contributions with the annual Laya and … Continued
MIT’s Dan Safer directs Tony Torn in a surreal anti-war play bound for New York “Hiii-iii! I’m Spider Rabbit.” The man wearing white coveralls, floppy paper ears, and chalky face paint beams out at the crowd. With the jollity of … Continued
A night to remember The silence of Symphony Hall was broken by a faint beat on the timpani, and I felt myself drawn forwards, holding my breath. The row of Arts Scholars beside me were doing the same—all of us … Continued
In advance of the ensemble’s new concert, MIT professor and Gamelan Galak Tika co-founder Evan Ziporyn reflects on the group’s more than thirty year history In 1979, Evan Ziporyn was filing vinyl at Festoon’s, a part-time job while studying … Continued
The exhibition Encoding-Decoding Constellations at the MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery presents PhD student Rebecca Lin’s experiments in mathematical abstraction, computation, and contemporary craft. To innovate as a technologist, you need to be a polyglot—fluent in multiple languages of problem-solving, … Continued
How MIT alumni created an experimental installation at the MIT Museum to turn our innermost worlds into collective experiences Hotel #2: Communal Dreams is composed of three handcrafted aluminum cylinders, each one equipped with a narrow black mattress, that converge … Continued
Part magic, part social experiment, visiting artist Jeanette Andrews’ “The Attestation” examines preconceived notions and belief polarization At a time when people across the country and the globe have never seemed more polarized, it may sometimes take a different kind … Continued
A new exhibition at the MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery defies the distinctions between technology and biology, art and science, exploring and advancing our planet’s net of connections. Connection is the essence of the Gaia hypothesis. Proposed by chemist James … Continued
The Arts Scholars enjoy an unforgettable evening with the cast and crew of Hamilton‘s North American tour Less than one month into the 2025 fall semester, the Arts Scholars have already gathered for three events, most recently an evening at … Continued
Inspired by early educational theories, MIT student Coco Allred creates a unique learning space inside the art gallery A new exhibition, “Primacy of Shape,” by Coco Allred (SmACT ‘26) explores the use of shape through the creation of prints, artist’s … Continued
According to family legend, Holden Mui ’25 learned to read sheet music before he learned to read words. “I don’t know whether that’s true or not,” says Mui, a double major in Music and Mathematics who in April learned he’d … Continued
Vivian Clarissah Chinoda ’25, Ezekiel Daye ’25, Emi Grady Willis ’25 and Ana Schon SM ’25 earn the prestigious award This week the Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT) publicly honored four students for their arts-related contributions to campus … Continued
The team at Front Row Fantasy got their arts venture idea from a text chain. The team at CRATE started out with a different idea for its creative enterprise—and a different name. Both teams, along with eight other teams, saw … Continued
An exuberant performance included five premieres by MIT composers, a fitting tribute to open the new home of the MIT Music program and launch the MIT festival of the arts, Artfinity Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), the German polymath … Continued
Kinetic Ensemble, a 16-piece string orchestra that came to Boston for a weeklong residency at MIT, may play without a conductor. But that hardly means the ensemble lacks direction. Or a signature sound. “Our audiences tell us there is a … Continued
Creativity animates every corner of the MIT community, driving students, researchers, and faculty to connect across disciplines in search of new insights. Nowhere are these connections more electric than in the arts. This semester, the MIT community will revel in … Continued
A private concert and conversation showcase the breadth of artistic exchange at MIT On Thursday November 21, a group of MIT Arts Scholars gathered at the Goethe-Institut Boston for a private chamber music concert with members of the Berlin … Continued
MIT students reimagine the architectural survey at an important site of African-American history When Booker T. Washington arrived in Tuskegee, Alabama in 1881 to start a new land-grant university for Black students, he discovered that there was no federal money … Continued
Drawing from geography and history, Nathan Friedman’s vision of architecture extends beyond buildings When asked what architects do, most people tend to think that they design buildings. And of course, that is part of their purview. But many architects … Continued
Sara Laura Wilson, a third-year PhD student in Mechanical Engineering, believes that the arts can spark meaningful discourse on climate change, a problem space typically dominated by scientific research. To bridge this gap, Sara, alongside Marwa AlAlawi, a fourth-year PhD … Continued
