Campus Loan Art Program

Desks at the Hayden Memorial Library line a wall, displaying four framed works from the Campus Loan Program.

Campus Loan installation at Hayden Memorial Library. Left to Right: Bruce Yonemoto, Untitled (NSEW 4), 2007. Digital print on paper. 34 x 28 in., William Kentridge, Nose on a White Horse, 2010, aquatint on paper 18 x 16 in., Raymond Pettibon, Untitled (I See Before Me), 2002 Lithograph 23 1/4 x 18 1/4 in., Fred Tomaselli, July 5, 2012, 2012, Digital print with silkscreen 19 x 15 1/4 in.

The MIT List Visual Arts Center oversees the Institute’s permanent collections of contemporary and modern art, public art, and Percent-for-Art projects. Through our Campus Loan Art Program, we are able to make artwork from our permanent collection available to Administration, Faculty, and Staff offices, so that the MIT campus itself serves as our museum.

Borrowing Artwork

Faculty and Staff interested in borrowing artwork must make an appointment with the Permanent Collections Registrar to visit our offices and see what is currently available for loan. Artwork selection varies throughout the year, as the collection is in a constant state of flux due to office renovations and moves, and an ever-changing Institute population. Typically, a variety of prints, photographs, paintings, and small-scale sculptures in numerous styles is available.

To borrow artwork, you must schedule an appointment with the Permanent Collections Registrar and sign the Borrowing Guidelines for Campus Art Loans. 

Please note: calendar appointments are available on a rotating monthly basis. Reservations go quickly so if there are no appointments available please check back. 

To make an appointment, visit our online scheduler.

When you visit, if you find artwork you’d like to borrow, the Registrar will reserve it for you. The List’s Preparator will subsequently contact you to arrange a time to deliver and install the artwork.

There is a $75 per-object annual fee that is charged to the departmental cost provided by the Borrower.

Please make sure that the account is not a Government-sponsored research WBS element. As a Borrower, you will also be required to sign a loan agreement form.

Where Can Artwork Go?

Artwork from our permanent collection is available for Administrative, Faculty, and Staff offices, and shared workspaces across the Institute. To protect and ensure the safety of the artwork, the List requires that loan locations be attended when open and locked when unoccupied. Artwork cannot be hung near heating or air-conditioning units or in direct sunlight. If there are questions as to the suitability of the space, our Preparator can determine if site conditions are acceptable upon delivery.

Learn More

To learn more about the Campus Loan Art Program, please contact:

Sarah Lili Frey
Registrar, Exhibitions
slfrey [at] mit.edu (slfrey[at]mit[dot]edu)
617.253.6633

Current Borrowers

To return an artwork or in the event of an emergency, please contact:

Sarah Lili Frey
Registrar, Exhibitions
slfrey [at] mit.edu (slfrey[at]mit[dot]edu)
617.253.6633

John Osorio-Buck
Preparator
jfbuck [at] mit.edu (jfbuck[at]mit[dot]edu)
617.253.7243

Hear from participants

"I love seeing how people react to the space. People really enjoy it and are not expecting an aesthetic experience when they come into a random professor's office. It seems like it’s challenging what others may think an office can look like."

Tess Smidt
Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

A young woman wearing all black stands in her office with a teal wall on the left, two framed artworks on the left wall and one large artwork on the back wall.