EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Leah Talatinian
Senior Officer for Marketing and Communications
An exhibit marking the culmination of Gonzalez’s work at MIT demonstrated the potential for microbes and minerals to generate sustainable building materials Laura Maria Gonzalez (SMArchS ’22) came to the Department of Architecture at MIT with a big question about … Continued
An MIT panel charts how art and design will be impacted by Artificial Intelligence Few technologies have shown as much potential to shape our future as artificial intelligence. Specialists in fields ranging from medicine to microfinance to the military are … Continued
Written by Echelman Studio David Nathaniel Feldman, MIT’s Distinguished Visiting Technologist at the Center for Art, Science and Technology in 2023, died in October 2023 at 57 after living with gusto for three years while undergoing treatment for glioblastoma. He … Continued
A new exhibition at MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery explores the practicalities and play of architectural aging The average lifespan of a house in the United States is between 50 and 63 years, from construction to demolition. For Lauren … Continued
Student Voices: Arts on the Radar By Jessica Kim, MIT undergraduate A Friday night party like no other, MIT’s “Arts on the Radar” lit up the Wiesner Building (E15) with a dazzling display of creativity. More than 600 arts … Continued
The iconic sci-fi opera VALIS reboots for a new generation In the mid-eighties, composer Tod Machover came across a copy of Philip K. Dick’s science fiction novel VALIS in a Parisian bookstore. Based on a mystical vision Dick called … Continued
In 1945, towards the end of World War II, Germany’s ten most accomplished scientists were taken captive by the allies and confined to Farm Hall, a villa in the English countryside outside of Cambridge, UK. The group included three Nobel … Continued
“Making Art for Scientists: Materials, Processes, and Information Relay” Hannah Munguia Flores is a third-year student at MIT working on a double master’s degree in Aerospace Engineering and Technology and Policy. On most days she studies the carbon cycle, and … Continued
TeleAbsence by the Tangible Media research group Since the invention of the telegraph, humans have been able to communicate across great distances in real time. Today, we can choose among myriad technologies—radio, telephone, video conference platforms—to connect with colleagues and … Continued
Jaffer Kolb and his collaborators are working to turn architectural waste into shared community infrastructure When Jaffer Kolb, a lecturer in the Department of Architecture at MIT, refers to himself and his collaborators as “garbage people,” he’s talking about the … Continued
A new AI video installation dramatizes the technology’s potential to influence memory, desire, and the perception of history What makes a memory? And how might that memory affect what it is possible for an individual to think, to feel, and … Continued
Through his research at MIT, Vlavianos has sought to understand how people respond to their environments, and how creating digital twins will revolutionize architecture. As a scholar in the field of architecture and computational design, Nikolaos Vlavianos has always been … Continued
Arts, fashion, determination, and community culminate at an event by student-run Infinite Magazine A gallery of art by independent creators, creations from classes on campus, and a runway where MIT models strut, displaying designers’ work, were all showcased at MIT … Continued
Get to Know Kidist Adamu, Cici Mao, Tristan Shin, and Tianyuan (Margaret) Zheng Each year, the Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Award is presented to four honorees—either students or MIT groups—for exceptional artistic contributions to the Institute community. … Continued
Combining digital technology with the human voice, Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT winner Pamela Z creates layered music from everyday life In the mid-eighties, artist Pamela Z was working at Tower Records on Columbus Street in San … Continued
Theresa Clare McHugh ’23 has always known that music is their greatest passion. A classical soprano, McHugh has been studying voice since the fifth grade, and redoubled their dedication to the craft at MIT. Singing is more than an extraordinary … Continued
The 2023 Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts at MIT recipients: Felix Li, Manar Moursi, Reina Mun, and Karyn Nakamura What happens when technologies fulfill their mission? What happens when they fail, or decay, or when the … Continued
Nell Breyer’s installation “Where Lines Converge,” on view in Manhattan’s Central Synagogue, asks what it means for bodies to convene and perceive themselves as a collective. The artist Nell Breyer ‘02 has long been fascinated by the relationship between … Continued
One of the beauties of art—of all creative endeavors—is that it cannot fully be quantified. Statues and films and stories all have value. But apart from a few high-flying market makers, it’s hard to assess their actual worth. The difficulty … Continued
Visiting musician Clarice Assad applies her inclusive approach to a new project about the Amazon The accomplishments of Brazilian-American composer, vocalist, and pianist Clarice Assad are many. She has won accolades, earned prestigious residencies, and her work is performed … Continued
One student confesses that motors have always freaked them out. Amy Huynh, a first-year student in the Technology and Policy Program says “I just didn’t respond to the way electrical engineering and coding is usually taught.” Huynh and her fellow … Continued
With her one-of-a-kind musical style, Distinguished Visiting Artist Iva Bittová helps students make music that is authentically their own On a weekend in September, a group of students from MIT’s Vocal Jazz Ensemble visited CAST Distinguished Visiting Artist Iva … Continued
A new opera by MIT music lecturer Elena Ruehr turns the real-life inventors of modern computing into crime-fighters Over the course of her career, the composer Elena Ruehr has found inspiration in very different writers and very different worlds: … Continued
Architecture students address the urgent need to reframe the relationship between design and time How would we design and build differently if we learned to live at multiple time scales? How would human communities respond to global challenges if the … Continued
An MIT residency unlocks the dreamlike world of dance-theater piece The History of Empires I’ve thought about it before, living in the country…it seems to me, if you’re out there alone, maybe with a farm and fields and trees and … Continued
