Thank you for joining us online on September 3 and 4, 2020 to learn more about a range of arts-related topics, spanning the myriad opportunities for making, learning, and experiencing the arts at MIT this academic year. If you missed it or just want to revisit the events, please explore the recordings of the info sessions, virtual student art gallery tour, workshops on remote artistic collaboration, and more found below.
There are many departments, labs, centers, and initiatives at the Institute that offer resources and support for students interested in pursuing the arts at MIT. We know that the vast number of options can be dizzying, so we joined up to host a series of events to help put the arts on your radar!
Arts on the Radar is hosted by the Program in Art, Culture and Technology (ACT), Music and Theater Arts (MTA), List Visual Arts Center, and Office of the Arts.
If you have any questions, you can contact us at artsontheradar@mit.edu or follow us on social media:
Past Events
Thursday, September 3, 2020
7:00–9:30pm
Info Booth / Arts Lounge
Open for the duration of the event | Event was not recorded
Do you want to learn more about opportunities in the arts at MIT? Do you have specific questions about a program or opportunity you’re interested in pursuing? Having technical difficulties with one of the Arts on the Radar activities? We’re here for you! Drop in any time during the Arts on the Radar events to speak to arts staff from across the institute, get your questions answered, or just hang out.
7:00–7:45pm
Making Music Virtually
How do you create music without physical access to the stage, the practice room, the studio, and your fellow musicians? There are many ways to keep making music while physically distancing, and virtual connection creates many possibilities for collaboration. Join student performers and music producers from MIT a cappella groups Syncopasian and Logarhythms to learn about their experiences rehearsing, performing, and recording music in a physically-distanced world, and hear from MTA Lecturer Ian Hattwick about recommended techniques and best practices.
Creating Dance Virtually
The virtual world offers new ways to choreograph, rehearse, and perform dance online, even when collaborators are half a world away. Hear from student dancers Joy Feng ’22, Faraaz Nadeem G, and Aniket Dehadrai ‘22 about how they are creating collaborative dance projects in new virtual spaces, and learn techniques and best practices from MTA Lecturer, dancer, and choreographer Dan Safer.
8:00–8:45pm
Panel: MIT Students in the Arts
Hear from fellow MIT students about the many ways they have been engaged with the arts during their MIT careers — as learners, makers, thinkers, performers, appreciators, and more! From fashion design to filmmaking, from trying out a new hobby to majoring in the arts, this panel showcases the depth and breadth of MIT’s arts scene. Feel free to come with questions!
ACT Maker Workshop: Making from Memory
Hosted by the Program in Art, Culture and Technology | Event was not recorded
Do you make art, machines, food, music, trouble, or something else? Join Graham Yeager, Fabrication Associate in MIT’s Program in Art, Culture, and Technology, for a maker workshop: Making from Memory. Participants will discuss their making backgrounds (or lack thereof) and generate a list of prompts based on the objects, tools, or materials used. Together we will draw pictures of those prompts from memory and casually discuss the role making has in each of our lives. Please bring a few sheets of paper or a sketch book, something to draw with, and a willingness to make less than perfect drawings.
8:45–9:30pm
Artists’ Tour of Misalignments: A Live Web Conversation
Join Dalma Földesi and Jung In Seo (both M.Arch ’20) for a walk-through and conversation about Misalignments, their exhibition in the online Wiesner Student Art Gallery. The artist-architects have created an enticing series of gallery rooms, each illuminating a different aspect of their robotically-fabricated ceramics. Strikingly beautiful and conceptually rigorous, Földesi and Seo’s vessels and forms are created with clay extruding and carving mechanisms of their own design. Join us for a gallery tour and Q&A session with the artists as we consider the tension between hand and machine, the controlled and the accidental.
Friday, September 4, 2020
4:00–6:00pm
Info Booth / Arts Lounge
Open for the duration of the event | Event was not recorded
Do you want to learn more about opportunities in the arts at MIT? Do you have specific questions about a program or opportunity you’re interested in pursuing? Having technical difficulties with one of the Arts on the Radar activities? We’re here for you! Drop in any time during the Arts on the Radar events to speak to arts staff from across the institute, get your questions answered, or just hang out.
4:00–4:45pm
Creating Successful Virtual Events
Transitioning to virtual events presents many challenges, but it also opens up many opportunities. Hear from Peter Godart G and Tiandra Ray ‘15 about how they have been creating engaging online events, including Space for Action: Rebuilding a Sustainable World, a 90-minute performance-conversation in April that brought together leading musicians, scientists, politicians, and activists to reflect on how the pandemic is reshaping our relationship with the earth.
5:00–6:00pm
Artist Tour: Who Feels at Home in the Visible World
Event was not recorded
Join ACT students for a walk-through and conversation about Who Feels at Home in the Visible World, the current exhibition in the virtual ACT Student Art Gallery. Exhibiting artists include: Casey Tang, Luíza Bastos Lages, Matthew Ledwidge, Nancy Valladares, Rae Yuping Hsu, Ryan Aasen, Aarti Sunder, Chucho Ocampo, Emma (Yimeng) Zhu, Faruk Sabanovic, and Po-hao Chi.
Participate in an Art Activity
Drawing on Love and Justice
Hosted by the List Visual Arts Center
Share your art from September 1 – November 3 (Election Day)
Drawing on Love and Justice, a project by artist Evelyn Rydz, is an open call for participation, a call for change. Create art addressing what you see in the world and what you want to see in the future.
Postcard Mail Art Exchange: Works in Progress
Hosted by the List Visual Arts Center
Sign up deadline: Friday, September 11, 2020
MIT List Visual Arts Center invites community members to participate in a mail art exchange and share “Works in Progress.” We hope to overcome physical distance with an offline project that encourages a dynamic conversation on how we keep afloat projects that have been interrupted or put on hold because of COVID-19.
Proof of Concept
Conceived and performed by Stratton Coffman (M.Arch ’20) and Isadora Dannin (M.Arch ’21), with support from the Transmedia Storytelling Initiative, the NuVu Research Fund, and Lord Jim
On view for two weeks starting on September 4th, the north-facing facade of the MIT Wiesner Building (E15) will display selected footage and documentation of Proof of Concept, an ongoing series of guerilla performances staged in the various halls, conference rooms, labs, and lobbies belonging to the nebulous phenomenon called design thinking. The projection will be visible at night throughout this period, with special programming four nights a week (Thursday-Sunday), weather permitting.
Explore More Opportunities in the Arts at MIT
Whether aiming to make, experience, or study art, or simply seeking to connect with others who share a passion for the arts, there are many opportunities to explore the arts for MIT students.
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More about the Hosts
Program in Art, Culture and Technology
Academic program in the School of Architecture + Planning
A hub of critical art practice and discourse, ACT offers a community of artist-thinkers exploring art’s complex relationship to culture and technology.
List Visual Arts Center
The contemporary art museum at MIT
A creative laboratory that provides artists with a space to freely experiment and push existing boundaries.
Music and Theater Arts
Academic program in the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Music and Theater Arts invites students to explore these disciplines as artistic practices and as cultural, intellectual, and personal avenues of inquiry and discovery. Students may pursue concentrations, minors, or majors in either music or theater, as well as joint majors with engineering or science.
Office of the Arts
Extra-academic programs, events, and resources for students, staff, faculty, and the general public
Includes the Council for the Arts at MIT, Center for Art, Science & Technology, Student Art Association, Student Art Programs, and more.