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Tony Torn stars in Dan Safer's Spider Rabbit, MIT W97 Theater Building. Photo: HErickson/MIT.

Down the Spider Rabbit Hole

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

2026 Arts Scholars experience the Vienna Philharmonic. Credit Rayna Yun Chou.

Student Voices: Arts Scholars Experience the Vienna Philharmonic’s Return to Boston

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

Cover art for Yowana Sari's new self-titled album, courtesy of the artists.

Gamelan at MIT 

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

Encoding-Decoding Constellations by Rebecca Lin. Credit Jimmy Day/MIT Media Lab.

Polyglot Geometry

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

A silver machine in a dark room with red lights.
Hotel Room #2: Communal Dreams by Carsten Höller, Adam Haar, and Seth Riskin. Credit Anna Olivella.

Inside the Dream Hotel 

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

The Attestation by Jeanette Andrews. Credit HErickson/MIT.

Investigating With Illusion

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

Connecting Gaia exhibition, MIT Wiesner Student Art Gallery, 2025. Credit: Yitong Tseo.

Connecting Gaia

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

Arts Scholars with Hamilton cast and crew. Image credit Rayna Yun Chou.

Photo Essay: Arts Scholars at Hamilton

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

2025 Wiesner Student Art Gallery Exhibition: Primacy of Shape by Coco Allred. Credit HErickson/MIT.

Learning from Shapes

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

2025 Schnitzer Prize Recipient Chenyue “xdd” Dai's Light Up the Way to the Moon, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

The 2025 Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts

The Council for the Arts at MIT congratulates the recipients of the 2025 Schnitzer Prize in the Visual Arts, awarded for excellence in a body of work. Cheng Qin, Chenyue “xdd44” Dai, and Vinzenz Aubry are all artists who capture … Continued

2025 Sudler Prize winner Holden Mui with Keith Lockhart after performing with the Boston Pops during Tech Night. Courtesy of the MIT Alumni Association.

Louis Sudler Prize: Holden Mui

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

2025 Wiesner Award recipient Vivian Chinoda '25. Credit Jack Field Studio.

Four Honorees Earn Laya and Jerome B. Wiesner Student Art Awards for 2025

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

MIT Flow’s Debut Chinese Dance Showcase: Origins, photo by Robin Xiong

Council for the Arts at MIT Spring 2025 Grant Recipients

The Council for the Arts at MIT provides funding for arts projects that engage the MIT community. The Council’s Grants Committee considers proposals for projects in the fall and spring semesters. Spring 2025 Grants Committee Funding Recipients Twenty-one projects by MIT students, staff, and … Continued

2025 MIT Arts Startup Incubator Pitch Finale. Credit HErickson/MIT.
2025 MIT Arts Startup Incubator Pitch Finale. Credit HErickson/MIT.

Creative and not Common: The 2025 MIT Arts Startup Incubator

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

Sonic Jubilance concert at the opening of the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building.
Sonic Jubilance concert at the opening of the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building. Credit Caroline Alden.

The Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building Opens with Sonic Jubilance

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

Wild Surroundings: Kinetic in Concert performed as part of Artfinity. Credit Caroline Alden.

Kinetic Ensemble Comes to MIT

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

MIT dome with projection artwork of an eye
"Gaze to the Stars" rendering by Behnaz Farahi. Courtesy of the artist.

Artfinity: Celebrating the Ecosystem of the Arts at MIT

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

MIT Arts Scholars with the Berlin Philharmonic. Image credit

Student Voices: MIT Arts Scholars Experience an Exclusive Evening with the Berliner Philharmoniker

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

BRICK X BRICK: Drawing A Particular Survey. Image credit xdd44.

BRICK X BRICK

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

Two images of a ceramic cup, one cracked apart and one mended.
Conductive Ceramics, Sam Chin, 2024. Courtesy of the artist.

Council for the Arts at MIT Fall 2024 Grant Recipients

The Council for the Arts at MIT provides funding for arts projects that engage the MIT community. The Council’s Grants Committee considers proposals for projects in the fall and spring semesters. Fall 2024 Grants Committee Funding Recipients Fourteen projects by MIT students, … Continued

Departamento del Distrito, When Models are Systems, produced for the 2022 Architectural League of New York Prize. Image credit: Adriana Hamui

Thinking On a Big Scale

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

Gallery visitors in the exhibition Interwoven. Photo credit Marwa AlAlawi.

Craft, Community, and Climate

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

Jordan Rudess performs with the jam_bot and Camilla Bäckman. Credit Caroline Alden.

A Model of Virtuosity

Acclaimed keyboardist Jordan Rudess’s collaboration with the MIT Media Lab culminates in live improvisation between AI and artist A crowd gathered at the MIT Media Lab in September for a concert by musician Jordan Rudess and two collaborators. One of … Continued

Two people performing at a stage in the center of a. crowed room colorfully lighted by projections on each wall.
Ancestral Memory, credit Doug Segars

Ancestral Storytelling: Movement and Memory

This article was originally published by the MIT Media Lab. Ancestral Storytelling: Movement + Memory embodies motion capture techniques for an interactive and immersive movement and sonic healing performance, living video archive, and workshop utilizing traditional ancestral storytelling and folkloric … Continued

Model poses with a wing-like structure attached to the back of a black dress.
MIT Gala 2024, credit Jack Field Studio.

Student Voices: Lights! Camera! Fashion! The 2024 MIT Gala Finds Success On- and Off-Stage

This article was originally published by The Tech. The epitome of fashion and art Students on the second floor of the Student Center peered inside Lobdell, amazed by the sights. Outside, a sparkly photo booth for all guests, dutifully manned … Continued

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