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Massachusetts Institute of Technology  /  MIT Museum
Building N51   265 Massachusetts Avenue   Cambridge, MA 02139
Open Daily 10am – 5pm  /  Closed Major Holidays

The MIT Museum is open today, Sunday, April 21. Cambridge Science Festival events will proceed as listed here.

Calendar

Berenice Abbott exhibit

There are many ways to stay on top of what is happening at the MIT Museum:

 

 

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January | February | March | April | Previous Programs


January 2013

Fri. 1/11
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Jump-start your weekend at the MIT Museum during our monthly free evening.

Featured Program: Hello Holography

Shine a light on art and technology as you visit The Jeweled Net: Views of Contemporary Holography. Exhibit curator Seth Riskin will lead tours of the MIT Museum's popular display holography exhibition, while museum educators present hands-on activities and demonstrations exploring the scientific principles behind these amazing images. Recommended for teens and adults, with special opportunities for middle and high school teachers to learn more about the MIT Museum's new holography workshop.
Free admission; tickets required for limited capacity tours at 5:30 and 6:30 p.m. (available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning half an hour before start) Tickets not required for hands-on activities and demonstrations.

Tue. 1/22
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Art and Design Circle
A new, monthly art and design forum, The Art and Design Circle brings together MIT and broader communities for casual, brief presentations that stimulate dialogue and community at the intersection of art, science and technology.

Thu. 1/24
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Technological Worlds
Questions about man’s relationship to his self-created environment are at the heart of the work of Brazilian animator Guilherme Marcondes. In this program, Marcondes shares results from a 2-week workshop that prototyped a spatial narrative with MIT students and faculty from the MIT Game Lab. A gifted animator and filmmaker, Marcondes’ works have appeared on MTV, the BBC, Animal Planet and in film festivals across the globe. Click here for more information and to reserve your free ticket to this program. Tickets are required for entry. Ticket holders have access to the MIT Museum’s galleries, with a special demonstration of the games produced, beginning at 5:15 p.m.

Program is co-presented by the MIT Program in Science, Technology and Society and the MIT Game Lab.



February 2013

Fri. 2/8
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Jump-start your weekend at the MIT Museum during our monthly free evening.

Featured Program: Catalyst Collaborative@MIT Presents Sila - CANCELLED

On remote Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic, a climate scientist, an Inuit activist and her daughter, two officers for the Canadian Coast Guard, an Inuit hunter and a polar bear find their values shifting in response to the rapid changes in the world around them. Join the actors, director, and writer at the MIT Museum for a special preview of this dynamic production. Equal parts Inuit myth and contemporary Arctic policy, this new play in development will - in full production - use puppetry, projections, spoken word poetry and three different languages (English, French & Inuktitut) to examine the competing interests shaping the future of the Canadian Arctic and local Inuit population.
Free admission, performance begins at 6:00 p.m.
This program has been cancelled due to inclement weather. It will not be rescheduled.

Wed. 2/13
5:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
Ask for Evidence

Join the Sense About Science campaign to combat bad science and misrepresented evidence in advertising, the media, and policy statements. On the eve of Valentine's Day, hear from scientists who have asked for evidence behind aphrodisiacs and other romance-themed claims. To register, email cpeters@senseaboutscience.org by Monday, February 5, 2013.
Free admission with registration

Fri. 2/15
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Exhibition Opening

Be among the first to see the Compass Points: Joël Tettamanti, the first US exhibit of an African-born, Swiss photographer of place, newly on display in the MIT Museum's Kurtz Gallery for Photography. The photographs focus on the impact of human settlement on the landscape, from Asia to the Arctic Circle.
Free with Museum admission

Sat. 2/16
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Gallery tours of Compass Points: Joël Tettamanti

Explore our newest exhibition with photographer Joël Tettamanti.
Free with Museum admission. Tickets required for the limited capacity tours (available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning half an hour before each tour)

Mon. 2/18 - Fri. 2/22
10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Celebrate National Engineers Week at the MIT Museum during the Massachusetts February vacation week! Students and their families can enjoy hands-on engineering challenges (10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.) and exciting demonstrations by MIT students, local companies and more (1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.). See details here.
Vacation week activities are presented with support from the Marvin C. '51 and Joanne Grossman Fund. Activities and demonstrations are free with Museum admission.

Mon. 2/18 - Sat. 2/23
10:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.

During the Massachusetts school vacation week, middle and high school students (and teachers!) can experience our hands-on science and engineering workshops. Topics include robotics (Monday), structural engineering (Tuesday), boat design (Wednesday), nanotechnology (Thursday), physics photography (Friday), and holography (Saturday). See our registration page for workshop descriptions and age restrictions.

$10/student/workshop (includes Museum admission) with advance payment and pre-registration required. Presented with support from the Marvin C. '51 and Joanne Grossman Fund.

Sat. 2/23
1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
So you want to be an engineer?

Step inside the world of engineering with the MIT Society of Women Engineers. MIT engineering students and professional engineers will give you a glimpse of their world and work in this interactive panel. Participants include MIT Professor Krystyn Van Vliet, Lisa Zagura, graduate student Kanjun Qiu, and MIT undergraduates Jackie Sly, Jean Fang, and Tara Soni. After the panel, chat one-on-one with the presenters as you enjoy hands-on activities such as making a mini-LED flashlight, learning about chromatography, and building a rubber-band rover.
Free with Museum admission - no pre-registration required. All genders and ages welcome, although high school students are especially encouraged to attend. Activities are presented with support from the Marvin C. '51 and Joanne Grossman Fund.


March 2013

Fri. 3/8
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Featured Program: Nautical Night

Set sail for an evening of ocean science, technology and local maritime heritage at MIT. As you journey through our exhibit halls and explore rare artifacts from our collections, enjoy special presentations and interactive show-and-tell by maritime educators, a traditional boatbuilder, ocean engineers, and environmental researchers alike. Bridging the past, present, and future, the MIT Museum's fourth annual Nautical Night celebrates MIT's new Global Environment Initiative through research made accessible through Oceans at MIT . Presenters include award-winning master craftsman Harold Burnham, and Maritime Gloucester, educators from the USS Constitution Museum, the MIT Marine Robotics Team, Joint Program students from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, MIT's Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, and the winners of MIT's annual Head of the Zesiger cardboard boat regatta.

Free admission; program runs 5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m.

Wed. 3/20
6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

TalkBack 360: Science on Trial
Rebuilding Credibility in the Face of Natural Disaster

When natural disaster strikes, who is held responsible? After the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake struck the Italian region of Abruzzo, killing more than 300 people, six seismologists were convicted of manslaughter. Nearly three years later, the city is still rebuilding. Join representatives from the city's reconstruction team in discussion with MIT experts on geology, architecture, and dispute resolution. Share your thoughts on the limitations of scientific data, and the obligation of scientists, city planners, and policy makers alike to predict and plan for the impact of natural disasters on local communities.
Doors open at 5:30 p.m.

 

This program is a co-production of the MIT Museum and the MIT School of Architecture & Planning.

Thu. 3/21
6:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.

Suspended City: Rebuilding L’Aquila After the Earthquake of 2009
As a complement to our TalkBack 360 session on Wednesday, March 20, the MIT Museum, in partnership with the MIT School of Architecture & Planning and the Consulate of Italy in Boston, presents a roundtable discussion at MIT.
Please note that this program will take place in the Bush Room at 77 Massachusetts Avenue.

 

This program is a co-production of the MIT Museum and the MIT School of Architecture & Planning. Funding has been provided by the School of Architecture and Planning, the Consulate of Italy in Boston, and the MIT Museum.


April 2013

Fri. 4/12
5:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.

Get an insider's glimpse of our newest photographic exhibition with curator Gary Van Zante and Simmons College senior lecturer and Boston Center for the Arts artist in residence, Edie Bresler. Tours at 6:00 p.m. and 6:45 p.m.

Free admission; tour tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning at 5:00 p.m.

Sat. 4/13 - Sun 4/21

Cambridge Science Festival
Join us at the MIT Museum for nine days of Festival fun! During the 7th annual Cambridge Science Festival, the MIT Museum will host a range of performances, demonstrations, tours, workshops, and activities. Click here for the full schedule of events at the MIT Museum.

Sun. 4/28

3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
MIT Museum Revealed: A Design Guide

Explore our brand new exhibition, Hidden Heroes: The Genius of Everyday Things, with MIT Museum Director John Durant.  Learn how thirty-six commonplace objects are actually masterpieces of design: simple, ingenious, and ultimate examples of efficiency of materials and functional aesthetics. 

Recommended for teens and adults. Limited to 25 participants. Tickets available day-of on a first come, first served basis, beginning one half-hour before tour start time.

MIT MUSEUM   Building N51   265 Massachusetts Avenue   Cambridge, MA 02139
P: 617.253.5927   F: 617.253.8994   museuminfo@mit.edu
Copyright © 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Massachusetts Institute of Technology   Arts at MIT

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Annual Events:

Friday After Thanksgiving Chain Reaction (affectionately known as F.A.T.) is the MIT Museum's annual family event. Dozens of teams build unique, fanciful machines in the style of Rube Goldberg. At the end of the day, all the machines are linked together and set off in a giant chain reaction!

Man on bike

The Cambridge Science Festival, presented by the MIT Museum, is a multi-day festival during the last week of April. Activities, performances, talks, demonstrations and a carnival take place throughout the city - for all ages!

Archive photos

2012 Archive