Public Art Tour

June 16, 2023
Public Art Tour
Concrete cut-out sculpture representing a bird with head and beak to the right, tail to the left, feet below, and spread wings above

Pablo Picasso, Figure découpée [Cut-Out Figure], 1975, Purchased with MIT Percent-for-Art funds. © 2022 Estate of Pablo Picasso / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.


 

Location
MIT List Visual Arts Center, 20 Ames Street, Building E15, Cambridge, MA 02139
Day & Time
-
Admission
Free, but registration required.
Register

Join MIT List Visual Arts Center on a public art walking tour showcasing the MIT Public Art Collection throughout campus.

View select artworks and consider how art and the architectural environment have enhanced MITs campus design on this tour featuring renowned contemporary artists such as Alexander Calder, Louise Nevelson, and Olafur Eliasson.

MIT’s Percent-for-Art Program, administered by the List Visual Arts Center, now allocates up to $500,000 to commission art for each new major renovation or campus construction project. The policy was formally instituted in 1968, but earlier collaborations between artists and architects can be found on MIT’s campus. When architect Eero Saarinen designed the MIT Chapel in 1955, sculptor Theodore Roszak designed the Bell Tower and sculptor Harry Bertoia designed the Altarpiece. In 1985, architect I.M. Pei and artists Scott Burton, Kenneth Noland, and Richard Fleischner collaborated on Percent-for-Art projects for the Wiesner Building and plaza, home to the MIT List Visual Arts Center and the Media Laboratory.

This program is weather dependent. Registered attendees will receive an email the day before the tour date if needed to cancel due to weather conditions.