The Council for the Arts at MIT (CAMIT), which consists of alumni and friends of the arts at MIT who support arts engagement at MIT, sponsors two grant programs to support arts projects among the MIT community. Students, faculty, and staff are eligible to apply for funding from the Council’s Grants Committee, and undergraduate students and student organizations are also eligible to apply for Mini-Grant funding of up to $500.
2022-23 CAMIT Grant Projects
In 2022-23 the CAMIT Grants Committee supported 26 projects by MIT students, faculty, and staff. Projects by five student groups, three undergraduates, 17 graduate students, and one staff member received funding.
The Council also continued the Undergraduate Arts Project Mini-Grant program, which supported 24 projects by undergraduate students and student groups, and continued piloting a new Graduate Arts Project Seed Grant Program, to support prototyping and development of eleven projects by graduate students.
Arts Projects Supported by the Council for the Arts at MIT
The Council’s grants program, supported through the generous annual giving of its members, enable current MIT faculty, staff, and students to undertake a wide range of art projects that directly engage the MIT community.
3D-Printed Lycurgus Cup: Proto-Nanotechnology Art
Samuel Figueroa (G, Mechanical Engineering) and Nathan Bradshaw (G, Materials Science & Engineering)
A 3D-printed replica of a 4th-century Roman cup, using nanotechnology that creates dichroic properties (different colors from different viewing angles).
Ah New Riddim
Christie Neptune, SMACT ’23
An immersive multimedia installation that examines the relationship between memory and place within the history of Caribbean dancehall culture in East Flatbush.
BioSynth: Biometric Sonification for Live Musical Performance
Jessica Shand and Manuel Cherep (G, Media Arts & Sciences)
A research project and novel instrument seeking to cultivate a deeper understanding of embodied musicalities through the sonification of respiration and movement in live performance.
Black Dance Archive
Christopher Joshua Benton, SMACT ’23
Research and motion capture/photogrammetric documentation of historically Black/African diaspora styles of dance, culminating in a public performance.
BREAK MY BODY LIBERATE MY SOUL
Karyn Nakamura ’23
An immersive video installation and performance in the Stata Center R&D Pub about connection, trust, and the physical fragility of technology using e-waste salvaged from around MIT.
Decomposition Cradle
Sebastian Kamau (G, Media Arts & Sciences), with Joe Kennedy SM ’20 and Rachel Hwang
An exhibition exploring the deliberate growth of mushrooms and fungi and the decaying logs that nurture them.
Eros Feeding Thanatos Feeding (Eros)
Caitlin Morris (G, Media Arts & Sciences), with Aubrie James (G, ACT)
An exhibition that explores the relationships between humans and microorganisms by translating the invisible outputs of the composting process into an audiovisual installation.
Glass Lab Hallway Panel Installation
Daniel Massimino (G, Mechanical Engineering), Kaitlyn Becker, and Peter Houk
A new long-term architectural installation outside of the MIT Glass Lab designed and created by glass lab students.
Imobilare Showcase
MIT Imobilare Breakdance
A breakdance showcase and workshop as part of Groove@MIT, an event celebrating the five pillars of hip-hop.
Learn and Experience Traditional Zimbabwean Music: Mbira Workshops and Performance
Cole Perkinson, Chemistry PhD ’23
A performance and workshops on traditional Zimbabwean mbira music by renowned musicians Moyo Mutamba, Jennifer Kyker, and Memory Makuri, in collaboration with MIT Music and Theater Arts.
Let’s Design Board Games! Exploring a Playful Way to Tackle Social and Cultural Issues
Doris Qingyi Duanmu, SMArchS ’23 with Ziye Zhang
A series of workshops teaching theory, mechanics, and techniques of creating board games, and exploring their potential to address challenging social and cultural topics.
Life List
Alejandro Medina, SMACT ’23
A public art installation and accompanying workshop reflecting on the climate crisis, climate grief/anxiety, and loss of biodiversity.
Mechanical Couture
Shua Cho ’25
Creation of a fashion collection that engages MIT’s maker community through workshops and documentation of the design and fabrication processes.
Metallic Kusudama
RnKOLECTIV
A series of interactive, large-scale metal origami sculptures inspired by advances in research and engineering at MIT.
Microbes Make Mountains
Laura Maria Gonzalez SMArchS ’22, staff in Architecture
Workshop at the MIT BioMaker space and an exhibition at the Keller Gallery featuring biocemented sculptures that highlight the relationship between the microbes and their environment.
Poetics of Inquiry: How to Stay with Trouble
Ishraki Kazi, SMACT ’23
An exhibition blending photography, video, installation, and interactive performance that explores how we are fundamentally entangled with other beings, both human and non-human.
MIT Open Ballroom Dance Competition
MIT Ballroom Dance Team
Ballroom dance competition for 800+ dancers from universities across the US, held in person for the first time since 2019.
Organs without Bodies
Valdemar Danry (G, Media Arts & Sciences) with Cenk Güzelis
An exhibition of high-quality 3D-printed sculptures of an AI-generated vase, teapot, and tea cups. On view summer 2023 in the MIT Media Lab lobby.
Play Sessions
Katie Rotman (G, Architecture) with Lauren Gideonse
Interactive sculptures intended to foster discussions about structural power dynamics and community decision-making challenges.
Representing HER
Shift+W, graduate student group in Architecture
An exhibition exploring the complexities of representing “the female architect.”
Stand-UP, MIT!
coMITy
A stand-up comedy show performed by MIT students and a featured headliner.
Climate Canvas: A Collaborative Digital Art & Community Building Experience
Norhan Bayomi, Supreetha Krishnan, Sara L. Wilson, and John Fernandez from the MIT Climate Machine, a research group in the Environmental Solutions Initiative
An interactive visual and sonic performance at MIT displaying local biodiversity and real-time crowdsourced data about climate change.
THE CONSUMED CITY: Rethinking urban tourism in Venice through big data
Carmelo Ignaccolo (G, DUSP)
An exhibition at MIT and at the 2023 Venice Biennale focusing on the effects of over-tourism on cities.
VL2600 Lights
E33 Productions
Moving lights for E33 Productions, MIT’s student-run lighting production group that serves DLCs and student groups from across the Institute.
VocalCords: Exploring Tactile Interaction with the Singing Voice
Max Addae (G, Media Arts & Sciences)
Design, fabrication, and performances of a digital music instrument that allows tactile manipulation of vocal sounds.
Wok Palace 88
Felix Li ’23
An installation focusing on the processes of excavating, archiving, and displaying through the lens of a fictional defunct Chinese-American restaurant.
Graduate Seed Grants
Arts Seed Grants provide funding of up to $500 to graduate students to support ideation, planning, proof-of-concept development, or prototyping for arts projects whose end goal is to directly engage the MIT community.
A Target
Tristan Searight, M.Arch ’23
A photographic exhibition at MIT’s Rotch Library documenting the spaces in and around a Target store, telling a story about the changing urban fabric and public life around Union Square in Somerville.
Architectures of Belonging: Public Narrative + Public Body
Amanda Ugorji (G, Architecture)
Design and prototyping of an interactive installation intended to be a place of rest that explores questions of belonging and intimacy in public space.
Caustic Lights: A meditation tool to reconnect with nature
Kevin Malca, SMArchS ’23
Prototype of a device that reflects light from a beam to a preprogrammed surface and guides users to meditate while following its programmed light patterns.
Chikchan Fire Obsidian Mayan Pendant
Samuel Figueroa (G, Mechanical Engineering)
Creation of a Mayan pendant in fire obsidian using Japanese kintsugi and modern mechanical fabrication techniques, with detailed documentation of the process.
Cogito MIT HUMAN Project
Chiwon Lee, SM ’23
Workshops exploring upcycling techniques, working with small waste that is difficult to recycle.
Hugging the Sun
Ous Abou Ras, M.Arch ’23
Development and fabrication of a spherical object that concentrates the warmth of the sun to allow the holder to feel it even on a cloudy day in December.
Imprinting the Enchanted Everyday
Daisy Ziyan Zhang, M.Arch ’23
An examination of everyday spaces using photogrammetry, data processing software, and animation to build an alternative vocabulary of architectural representation and image-making.
Individual Pixel Control of LED Tape over DMX
Cici Mao ’22, SM Aero Astro ’23
Prototype of a system that allows the user to program LED tape by the pixel over DMX control, with applications for lighting design and engineering for theater.
Network Relay/tions
Mark Anthony Hernandez Motaghy, SMArchS ’23
This project explores digital sovereignty through a collective physical/digital installation and website dedicated to and stewarded by students at MIT.
Limits of Expression: On Touch, Emotion, and Communication
Deborah Tsogbe, SMArchS ’23
Development of a jacket that detects touch, woven with regular yarn and conductive fibers as well as other technological components.
Text(a)le
Ganit Goldstein, SMArchS ’23
A research project in programmable interactive woven textiles that explores the dynamic relationship between physical and virtual hand gestures, simultaneously working both as a digital and a tangible fabric system.
Z is for Zeitgeist
Jay Maddox, MCP ’23
A showcase in MIT Lobby 9 of artwork by students in the School of Architecture + Planning.
Undergraduate Mini-Grants
Mini-Grants providing funding of up to $500 to undergraduates and students groups to launch a project, test an idea, create a community arts engagement experience, or provide supplementary support for student organization projects that engage the MIT community.
Around the MIT makerspaces with fire fans
Rihn H. ’23
Exploring MIT makerspaces through the design and fabrication of fire spinning fans.
Circadian
Grace Smith ’24
Development of a lighting installation that changes color tone based on the time of day.
Collaborative Mural for Justice
A mural project in support of a local social justice campaign, created by MIT students and community members.
Experimental Fire Props
Audrey Cui ’24 and MIT Spinning Arts
Prototyping and development of new styles of props for fire spinning.
Footwork 2023
A dance showcase and workshops at MIT featuring 400 dancers from the New England area and two professional headliners.
FredFest
East Campus Concert Committee
A concert in the East Campus courtyard for local Boston bands as well as MIT community student bands.
Immersive Sound Reactive Display
Joseph Ntaimo ’23
A portable large-scale sound reactive LED display that responds to music and sounds made by those around it.
Indian Classical Dance Fall Showcase: Synergy
MIT Nritya
A showcase of Indian classical dance across a range of styles, exploring contemporary stories of love, conflict, gender, parenthood, and unity.
Jekyll and Hyde
Live and streamed performances of the musical Jekyll and Hyde, produced and performed by MIT students.
Mission: ImpLOGible
Concert by the MIT Logarhythms featuring the premiere of a set of new songs, a short film, and a guest performance by MIT’s Sakata Afrique.
BWA Totes
A tote bag-making workshop focusing on a message of inclusion and a sense of justice surrounding Black women with the phrase “Love. Protect. Respect.”
MIT IAP Orchestra 2023
Tristan Shin ’23
Performance of Dvořák‘s Symphony No. 8 by the student-run IAP Orchestra in its first performance since 2020.
MIT LIVE
Joey Zheng ’24
A new student initiative and ASA-recognized group dedicated to performing and showcasing live music on campus.
MIT MINCE
Joanna Cao ’24
A student-run pilot program exploring culinary arts and fine dining.
MIT Taiko pilot
Gabi Ogata ’23 and Angela Zhang ’24
Pilot program for the MIT students to learn, rehearse, and perform Japanese Taiko drumming.
Neon Signs for ESG
Experimental Study Group
A workshop for first-year students in the Experimental Study Group to design and fabricate neon signs for the ESG common space.
Next Act 2023: Remembering Her
Campus Preview Weekend 2023 production of Remembering Her, a musical comedy written, directed, and performed by MIT students.
Next Haunt 2022
Next Haunt
A real-life haunted house-themed escape-the-room game held in Next House basement in October, created by and for the MIT community.
Painting from memory
Yanjun (Emily) Liu ’24
A painting series exploring the relationship between time, space, and emotions of the artist’s past self.
Reference Frames
Julia Hoeffner ’26
A project exploring the relation between scale and function by designing and fabricating a 3D shape that can act as both a chair and ring.
Ring the Alarm
A collegiate dance competition featuring dance teams from MIT and around the Boston area, as well as professional headliners.
Spring Recital
MIT Chinese Music Ensemble
A concert of Chinese music played on traditional Eastern and classical Western instruments including the guqin, guzheng, dizi, erhu, bamboo flute, piano, and violin.
Stand-UP, MIT!
Anusha Puri ’24 and coMITy
A stand-up comedy show for the MIT community featuring student performers and a professional headliner.
Things Left Unsaid
Diani Jones ’23
A zine of photography and poetry exploring personal growth, relationships, and the college experience.