EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Leah Talatinian
Senior Officer for Marketing and Communications
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
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
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
How Artist Jackson 2bears Reimagines The Haudenosaunee Longhouse and Creation Story In the beginning, as one version of the Haudenosaunee creation story has it, there was only water and sky. According to oral tradition, when the Sky Woman became … Continued
For the MIT visiting artist Chloé Bensahel, fabric itself tells the story In 2021, a curator at the Smithsonian contacted Chloé Bensahel, currently the MIT 2023-24 Ida Ely Rubin Artist in Residence, and told her about some objects that … Continued
Celebrating the connections between minimalism and pop with the clarinet In his recent concert, Evan Ziporyn Solo: Moondog, Riley, Glass, the composer and clarinetist premiered works by three major figures in American minimalism, while also performing arrangements of pop … Continued
A partnership between ACT and MIT.nano, the class “Creating Art, Thinking Science” asks what it really takes to cultivate dialogue between disciplines MIT has a rich history of productive collaboration between the arts and the sciences, anchored by the … Continued
“I love reading science fiction,” says Nigel Shen, a first-year graduate student in Computational Science and Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. “But the science fiction I love the best is written by people who have a firm grasp on science. That … Continued
Albert Figurt’s residency at MIT CAST has involved Grammy-winning rappers, guerrilla filmmaking, and generating some vapor-rich STEAM from STEM students Cambridge, MA—“Is it possible to make a film without cameras, or to develop a story without sounds?” Albert Figurt … Continued
A CAST Visiting Artist project traces the history of cause and effect that have led India to its current crossroads. Abhijit Banerjee, Ford Foundation International Professor of Economics, and CAST Visiting Artist Sarnath Banerjee (no relation) share a similar … 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
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
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
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
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
“The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace & Babbage,” a graphic novel by Sidney Padua, offers a playful take on the lives of Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage, two seminal figures in the world of computer science. The novel follows their journey … Continued
On Friday at the MIT Theater Arts building, Guerilla Opera presented the world premiere of “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage,” an adaptation of Sydney Padua’s whimsical webcomic series.
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
Sketch a doodle of a drum or a saxophone to conjure a multi-instrumental composition. Look into a webcam, speak, and watch your mouth go bouncing across the screen—the input for a series of charmingly clunky chain-reactions.
A contemporary reinterpretation of an 18th century ballet at MIT reveals the fragility of orientalist fantasies A faraway island. An evil magician. A prince transformed into a teapot. A princess on a rescue mission. When the first performance of … Continued
For compelling proof that painting is, in fact, alive and thriving in the age of A.I., see “The Garden in the Machine,” Matthew Ritchie’s new show at the James Cohan gallery (through Oct. 15).
With its unconventional premise and solutions-geared gameplay, Promesa stands out from other options already on the market.
