Public Art Tour

June 22, 2022
Event Types
Public Art Tour
Public Program
Many stainless steel rods are lit and photographed from under.

Leo Villareal, Light Matrix (MIT), 2016. 240 stainless steel rods, 17,280 LED lights. Photo: John Kennard.

Join MIT List Visual Arts Center on a public art walking tour showcasing the MIT public art collection across the east side of campus.

View select artworks and consider how art and the architectural environment have enhanced MIT's campus design on this tour featuring renowned contemporary artists such as Pablo PicassoSol LeWitt and Cai Guo-Qiang.

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 altar-piece. 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 if there is cancelation due to weather conditions. 

We will continue to follow MIT’s COVID protocols.