Public Art Tour

July 15, 2022
Event Types
Public Art Tour
Public Program
Detail of large steel sculpture with pointed edges. A blue sky is peeking through in the background.

Alexander Calder, La Grande Voile [The Big Sail], 1965, Painted steel, 480 x 420 x 300 in. (1219.2 x 1066.8 x 762 cm), © 2022 Calder Foundation, New York / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene McDermott. Photo: Chuck Mayer Photography.

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

We will continue to follow MIT’s COVID protocols.