To counter the prevailing “technology of rationality,” which guides most human behavior and hampers our openness to new experiences, organizations must adopt a “technology of foolishness,” argues behavioral theorist James G. March. This sensible foolishness paves the way for experimentation and discovery because the members of the organization have been given permission to temporarily suspend their goal-oriented behavior in favor of a more fluid approach to work.
MIT encourages this constructive playfulness each January with The Independent Activities Period (IAP). This special four-week term, which runs from January 8 through February 2, 2018, offers the MIT community opportunities to try all manner of new things—from post-apocalyptic fiber arts to metalsmithing to prog rock to folk dancing. Write art-generating algorithms, learn to play harpsichord or make music from the sound of your microbiome. Produce radio dramas with WMBR. Set type and print broadsides in The Beaver Press Print Shop, MIT’s own handset printing press. Design transforming stage components and morphing wigs and costumes for live performances. Read Socratic dialogues. Bind books. Paint, sculpt, draw, print. Revel in these choices, and enroll in an IAP course (or several).
To help you navigate the profusion of arts courses, we have compiled a list of classes in the visual arts, graphic design, multimedia, music, performing arts, architecture & design, book arts, writing, literature and film.
Register for Arts IAP courses here.
2018 IAP ARTS COURSES
VISUAL ARTS—3D (SCULPTURE/ CERAMICS/ GLASS/ FIBER)
Beginning Pottery Wheel, Darrell Finnegan
Ceramic Pitchers, Darrell Finnegan
Ceramica Botanica, Darrell Finnegan
Metalsmithing, Justin Playl
Mighty Mugs A, Jason Pastorello
Mighty Mugs B, Jason Pastorello
Mighty Mugs C, Jason Pastorello
Super Bowls A, Jason Pastorello
Super Bowls B, Jason Pastorello
Super Bowls C, Jason Pastorello
Totally Teapots, Darrell Finnegan
Enameling: Fused Glass on Metal, Tara Fadenrecht
Ikebana: The Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement, Hiroko Matsuyama
Intro to Jewelry, Tara Fadenrecht
Intro to Metal Sculpture, Tara Fadenrecht
Post-Apocalypse Fiber Arts, Jeanne Marie Wildman
Course 3 movie night: Swords with Prof. Yet-ming Chiang, Elsa Olivetti
Design and build your own skateboard or longboard with a custom decorative wood inlay top, Coby Unger
Nighttime Knitting!, Rachel Kurchin and Fabiola Hernandez
VISUAL ARTS—2D (PAINTING/ DRAWING/ PHOTOGRAPHY)
Basic Drawing—Learn to Draw Anything You Want, Carolyn Jundzilo Comer
Beginning Oil Painting Workshop A, Nicole Tariverdian
Beginning Oil Painting Workshop B, Nicole Tariverdian
Digital to Analog B&W Photography, Nicole Tariverdian
Interpreting a Still Life, Nicole Tariverdian
Introduction to Gum Bichromate Printing, Thery Mislick
Hands on Holography, Greg Balonek
Tradition, Redesigned, Juju Wang
ART TOURS & COLLECTING
Art Collection Workshop, Emily Garner
Rotch Library Limited Access Open House, Anna Boutin-Cooper and Alena McNamara
GRAPHIC DESIGN & MULTIMEDIA
Dance And Design Making Lab, Karole Armitage
Generative (Algorithmic) Art Workshop, George Varnavides and Emma Vargo
Introduction to 3D Scanning, Shirin Anlen
Introduction to Virtual Reality & GIS, Madeline Wrable
The MIT Moderns: Graphic Design in the 1960s-1980s, Gary Van Zante and Julia Meer
MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS
Biota Beats: Your Musical Microbiome, David Sun Kong
A Brief History of Kanye, Max Gold
Esperanto: A Journey Through Music, Francesco Maurelli
Folk Dancing, in time signatures you’ve never heard of!, Prashant Vasudevan and Valarie Rosen
The Game of Music, Sheila Hayman and Colleen Macklin
Heavy Metal 101, Joe Diaz and Tushar Swamy
IAP 2018 MIT Flute Ensemble, Sue-Ellen Hershman-Tcherepnin
Introduction to the Harpsichord for Pianists and Organists, Jean Rife
An Introduction to Prog Rock, Joe Paradiso
Intro to Contra Dancing, with Live Folk Music, Prashant Vasudevan and Ann B. Cowan
Irish Traditional Music Session, Rosanne Santucci and Kevin May
Israeli Folk Dancing, Prashant Vasudevan and Valarie Rosen
Lindy Hop Swing Dancing Lessons, Lindy Hop Society
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Design Lab: You, Jenny Jin and Max Evans
Human Factors Engineering—Designing for the Human, Ben D Sawyer
Images in Translation, Sam Ghantous
Writing Architecture through Fiction; A world-building + design workshop, Zachary Angles and Valentina Rosales
BOOK ARTS, WRITING & LITERATURE
Artists’ Books @ MIT, Anna Boutin-Cooper
Crossed Structure Binding Workshop, Ayako Letizia
Esperanto: a journey through literature, Francesco Maurelli
Handset Printing at the Beaver Press Print Shop, Jeffrey Ravel and Anne McCants
MIT Writers’ Group, Steven Strang
Mobile Reading Marathon 2018 Frederick Douglass, Wyn Kelley
Letterlocking: Queen Elizabeth I’s letterlocking techniques, Jana Dambrogio
Love and Romance in Ancient India, Shekhar Shastri
Planners Read Plato’s “Gorgias,” Ezra Glenn
Pleasures of Poetry 2018, Noel Jackson
Secret Belgian Binding, Kate Beattie
Zine-Making Workshop, Rhonda Kauffman
FILM & STORYTELLING
India and Indianisms: Documentary Master Classes, Anandana Kapur
MITell: Personal Storytelling 101, Kirsty Bennett
Podcast Lunch, Andrew Whitacre
SO BAD IT’S GOOD: An Introduction to Media Analysis Through Watching Bad Media, Kaelan Doyle Myerscough
Storytelling 101, Kirsty Bennett
Unleashing Alternative Futures: Constructing New Worlds through Imagination, Narrative, and Radical Hope, Lawrence Barriner II
Urban Planning Film Series: Imagination and Place / Spotlight on the 1960s, Ezra Glenn
WMBR Presents: Live on the Air, Natalia Guerrero