This DVD marks the twentieth anniversary of the Visual Arts Program, founded in 1989 within the School of Architecture and Planning at MIT by Professor Ed Levine. From the outside, the VAP is best known for its Masters of Science in Visual Studies (SMVisS), a two-year graduate program. In 2009, the Visual Arts Program became the program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT), merging with the Center for Advanced Visual Studies, which was created in 1967 by Hungarian emigre Gyorgy Kepes. The visual arts at MIT are influenced by a Bauhaus tradition that integrates art into all sectors of life; this lineage is also reflected in the position of the visual arts at MIT within a school of Architecture and Planning. Presented on this DVD are works by core faculty, past and present, and a selection of works by alumni. From the wide range of projects developed over the past twenty years, this DVD focuses on one strand of practice--the engagement and reflection of the public sphere, as embodied by the street, the mass media, architecture, institutions, and the performing body. In the work by the faculty there is a predominant focus upon analysis and reflection, whereas in the student work elements of performance and play are foregrounded. more

This first-of-its-kind exhibition presents installation artwork dependent upon and subject to the intuitive and nontechnical physical actions of the visitor. Among the works featured are talking tables, virtual snowstorms, and glowing pools of organic patterns by artists Janet Cardiff, Brian Knep, Liz Phillips, Daniel Rozin, Scott Snibbe, and Camille Utterback. more

Health narratives from artists living in the South End neighborhood of Boston become content for building an interactive sculptural installation. The complex relationships between body, health, self, and community are examined from a combined anthropological and artistic perspective. This project pivots around the general assumption that a series of seemingly small changes can, over time, have a significant impact on the lives of individuals. This interdisciplinary team has worked to discern what small events (tipping points) in the lives of artists have changed their understanding of self, health and body. From this research an interactive robotic sculpture was designed to respond to these individual narratives. DVD includes a documentary tracking the process and progress of the work, artist drawings, and documentation of the finished piece. more

Douglas Weathersby creates site-specific installations by combining artmaking with the business of cleaning, home repair, art installation, and other services. Weathersby uses his commercial enterprise, EnvironMental SerVices, as a means to support and create his art. Clients hire him to perform an agreed upon service while giving him permission to make art. Using light and the dust and detritus accumulated while performing these services he creates temporary installations which he documents with video and photographs. DVD includes: 18 videos and over 40 still images. more