About the Artists

Artfinity features the innovative work of MIT faculty, students, staff, and alumni, alongside guest artists from the Greater Boston area and beyond.

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About the Activities & Events

All 80 events are open to the public, including dozens of concerts and performances plus an array of visual arts such as projections, films, installations, exhibitions, and augmented reality experiences, as well as lectures and workshops for attendees to participate in. With a wide range of visual and performing arts events open to all, Artfinity embodies MIT’s commitment to the arts and the intersection of art, science, and technology. 

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About the Presenters

Artfinity is an institute-sponsored event organized by the Office of the Arts at MIT with faculty leads Institute Professor of Music Marcus Thompson and Professor of Art, Culture and Technology Azra Akšamija. Departments, labs, centers, and student groups across MIT are presenting partners.

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Visit arts.mit.edu for more information about the arts at MIT.

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Acknowledgements

Sally Kornbluth, MIT President

Cynthia Barnhart, MIT Provost

Philip S. Khoury, MIT Vice Provost for the Arts

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In addition to all the artists, collaborators, and presenters, Artfinity was made possible thanks to the efforts a great many individuals and departments at MIT, including:

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Azra Akšamija, Director and Professor of Art, Culture and Technology, Artfinity faculty co-lead

Marcus Thompson, Institute Professor of Music, Artfinity faculty co-lead

Leila W. Kinney, Executive Director of Arts Initiatives and the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology

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Office of the Arts
‍Lydia Brosnahan
Philana Brown
Rayna Yun Chou
David Colfer
Stacy DeBartolo
Heidi Erickson
Sarah Hirzel
Stephanie Irigoyen
Marisa McCarthy
Tim Lemp
Emily Peckham
Leah Talatinian
Isaac Tardy

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Office of the President
Martha Eddison
Susan Cassidy

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Office of the Provost
Kim Haberlin
Catherine Williams

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Vice Provost
Brent D. Ryan

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MIT Institute Events
Ted Johnson
Greg Raposa

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Music and Theater Arts
John Congdon
Cuco Daglio
Joshua Higgason
Joseph Lark-Riley
Maggie Moore
Dan Pecci
Dan Safer
Yi Jennifer Tu
Andy Wilds

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MIT Museum
Michael John Gorman
Ann Neumann
Kate Silverman Wilson
Sasha Wallinger

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E33
Audrey Lee
Alayo Oloko

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List Visual Arts Center
Emily Garner
Paul Ha
Chris Hoodlet
Sarah Oh

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MIT Open Spaces
Sasha Martin
Jess Smith

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School of Architecture + Planning
Maria Iacobo
Melissa Vaughn
Selby Nimrod

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Department of Architecture
‍Joél Carela

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Media Lab
Sarah Beckman
Jimmy Day
Chia Evers
Alexandra Kahn
David Sweeney

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Art, Culture and Technology program
Marissa Friedman
Charles Morris

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School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Michael Brindley
Benjamin Daniel 
Hanley Valentin

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Department of Campus Construction
Joanne Kuo, Artfinity Project Manager
Christos Maravelias
Paul J. Murphy, III
Gerhard Sinani

EHS
Shannon Russell
Alice Ursella

Grounds
Michael Seaberg
Sogna Scott

Electrical
Jay Giangregorio
John Ledbury

IS&T
Dan Michaud

MIT Student Life and Campus Activities Center
Erin Farrell
Lianne Martin
Paul Murphy
Ana Lucena Navarro
Meredith Sibley
Jennifer Smith
Gabriela Hott Soares

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MIT Contracts
Hayden Gramolini
Allison Stepp

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MIT Audiovisual Services
John Prendergast
Paul Shay

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MIT Video Productions
Clayton Hainsworth

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Special Thanks

Corinthian Events
Katherine Higgins
MIT CopyTech
Opus Design Studios
Bruce Petschek
Ken Shulman
Yari Wollinsky

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About the Arts at MIT

The Institute is home to a creative culture where experimentation and innovation cross all disciplines and break all boundaries. More than half of all undergraduates expand their horizons by enrolling in arts classes each year, on a campus that features more than 3,500 noted works of contemporary art and landmark buildings designed by legendary architects like Frank Gehry and MIT alum I.M. Pei.

Since the 1960s, MIT has been forging connections between the fields of science and engineering and the worlds of visual and performing arts. From the founding of the Center for Art, Science & Technology (CAST) to the new MIT Museum, and new performance space for our preeminent prominent music and theater program, to the planned new music building and new building for architecture and planning, investment in the arts at MIT has never been stronger.

The arts have been an essential part of the MIT culture from the start

The MIT School of Architecture, founded in 1865, was the first architecture program in the United States and remains at the forefront of design innovation today. In 1967, Bauhaus artist György Kepes created the Center for Advanced Visual Studies to bring together artists, scientists, and engineers, and to pioneer the use of new technology as an artistic medium. The legacy of those collaborations continues through the Media Lab, Art, Culture, and Technology program, Comparative Media Studies, and the Center for Art, Science & Technology. 

The List Visual Arts Center, founded in 1985, is one of the region’s most esteemed venues for cutting-edge contemporary art exhibitions. In the performing arts, two professors of music hold the highest honor awarded to MIT faculty, Institute Professor; the award-winning faculty provide conservatory-level training and compose, commission, and perform classical, contemporary, and world music.  

With over 25 majors, minors, and degree programs; hands-on classes; makerspaces; and 100+ concerts and exhibitions open to the public each year, there are more ways than ever for the campus community to express itself through the arts at MIT.

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Facts about the arts at MIT

• The newest arts building on campus opening February 15, 2025 is the Edward and Joyce Linde Music Building, which contains the Thomas Tull Concert Hall (flexible seating up to 390)
• More than 50% of undergraduates enroll in arts classes each academic year
• 1,500 students study music at MIT
• The department of architecture is the oldest in the US

• Students can major, minor, concentrate or earn a graduate degree in a range of visual and performing arts. 

• Music and design are among the top 5 minors for undergraduates 
• Arts faculty and alumni have won Emmy, Grammy, Guggenheim, MacArthur, Obie, Pritzker, Pulitzer, and Tony awards

• 60+ works of public art are on view around campus
• The MIT Museum has 1.5 million objects in their collection, including the world’s largest collection of holograms
• Alumnus IM Pei designed four buildings on campus 
• The List Visual Arts Center and the Media Lab will celebrate their 40th anniversaries in 2025  

• A new Music Technology and Computation graduate program will begin in the fall of 2025 in partnership with the School of Engineering.

• A building for the School of Architecture and Planning and Morningside Academy for Design is under construction on Mass Ave with an anticipated opening in 2026.