General Information

About the List Visual Arts Center

Just as MIT pushes at the frontiers of scientific inquiry, it is the mission of the List Visual Arts Center, located on the campus of MIT, to explore challenging, intellectually inquisitive, contemporary art making in all media. The purpose is to not only enjoy art's traditional focus on aesthetics, but to explore art that examines the cultural, social, and sometimes, scientific or economic, contexts that surround us; to expose, rethink, and represent aspects of our world. Artists of national and international stature, as well as emerging artists, are featured.

MIT has been involved in the collection and exhibition of contemporary art since 1950, when the Hayden Gallery was established after a donation of art from Standard Oil. The gallery was renamed the List Visual Arts Center in 1985 in recognition of a generous gift from Vera and Albert List that relocated the program to three galleries on the first floor of an I.M. Pei '40 designed-building. Pei collaborated with artists, Scott Burton (interior balconies, public seating), Richard Fleischner (plaza, landscaping), and Kenneth Noland (interior/exterior mural), in a prime example of MIT's Percent-for-Art Program (begun in the 1960s) which is overseen by the List Visual Arts Center.

An Artist-in-Residence program permits contemporary visual artists to work with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's most remarkable asset— the extraordinary intellectual richness of its students and faculty; anda new program permits guest curators to propose and develop exhibitions for the galleries.

Although best known for annually presenting five to eight changing exhibitions, most accompanied by catalogues, the List Visual Arts Center is active in many areas. The Percent-for-Art Program is developing at an extraordinary rate, as internationally-known artists and architects collaborate on the many new buildings being constructed on campus. The staff of the List Visual Arts Center maintains and develops a Permanent Collection that includes dozens of publicly-sited sculptures by such artists as Henry Moore, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, and Alexander Calder, and hundreds of paintings, prints, and photographs located throughout campus buildings and offices. Each year over 300 works of art, primarily prints and photographs, are borrowed by MIT students through a highly popular Student Loan Art Program.

A wide range of educational programs are offered to enhance visitor appreciation of the visual arts, including free gallery tours, artists' talks, film and video screenings, and the annual Max Wasserman Forum, a panel of nationally renowned speakers who explore issues in contemporary art.

Location

The List Visual Arts Center
20 Ames Street Building E15, Atrium level
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139
617-253-4680

The MIT List Visual Arts Center occupies the first floor of the Wiesner Building, 20 Ames St., located at the eastern edge of the MIT campus. It is in close proximity to Kendall Square, Memorial Drive, and the Longfellow Bridge.

© MIT Committee on the Visual Arts and Steve Rosenthal, 1985.	© MIT Committee on the Visual Arts and Steve Rosenthal, 1985.

By T subway, take the red line to the Kendall/MIT stop, follow Main St. west to Ames St., turn left, walk the distance of about one block to the cross walk and the List Visual Arts Center, housed in a building identifiable by its white gridded exterior, will be on your left. Signage is on the building.

By car, coming across the Longfellow Bridge or from Memorial Drive, follow signs for Kendall Square.

Parking: public parking is available at 4 Cambridge Center, located next to the Marriott Hotel, with entrances on Ames Street and Broadway. Additional parking is available at the Cambridge Center West Garage, located on Ames Place, between the Broad Institute/Seven Cambridge Center and the Residential Inn by Marriott (both on Ames Street). Parking is also available on campus after business hours and on weekends.

Gallery Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 12-6PM;
Thursdays 12-8PM.
Closed November 22 (Thanksgiving) and December 25 (Christmas).

At any time of the year, you may wish to take a self-guided tour of the public artworks and buildings by notable artists and architects that dot the MIT campus.
A free map of the public art is available from the List Visual Arts Center.

Admission and Tours

Admission to all exhibitions and related events is free and open to the general public. The galleries and Bartos Theatre (20 Ames Street, lower level), are wheelchair accessible. Other assistive accommodations (listening devices, ASL interpretation) may be arranged two weeks in advance by calling 617-253-4400. The Massachusetts Relay Service number (for calls originating within Massachusetts) is 800-439-2370 (TTY). Group tours, of exhibitions and of the outdoor public sculpture collection, may be arranged by calling 617-253-4400.

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