The MIT List Visual Arts Committee Mission Statement says: “To enhance and enliven the quality of MIT’s visual environment and support the above educational initiative by encouraging direct and daily contact with original works of art.”
However, a significant portion of the student body harbors resentment for the public art at MIT. Transparent Horizon, the sculpture by Louise Nevelson, 1975, is a perfect example of repeated outcry from the student body being completely ignored by MIT. Public art on and around campus should make students feel better about the place where they live. It shouldn’t be something that makes students unhappy. There have been many attempts by students over the years to get this situation changed, all of which have been ignored.
1: http://hacks.mit.edu/Hacks/byyear/2004/uglyhorizons/
2: http://tech.mit.edu/V110/N5/jackso.05o.html
3: http://tech.mit.edu/V113/N54/umoc.54n.html
4: http://tech.mit.edu/V116/N53/metal.53c.html
Students have been protesting Transparent Horizon since it was first placed on campus in 1975. There have been articles, protests, even a letter to the artist demanding reparations for the psychological distress caused to the residents of East Campus, the dormitory closest to what students have described as “an ugly piece of scrap metal”.
What could be done to improve the situation? Students could be polled before installing art on campus as to what is and is not acceptable to them. MIT student and alumni artists should be encouraged to contribute to the art on campus, since who would better understand MIT’s artistic inclinations than them? A great example of art that MIT students can identify with is the “Games of Change and Skill” by Matthew Ritche, in the Z Center; it takes theoretical physics and creation myths into account.
