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© ROGER ARCHIBALD
© ROGER ARCHIBALD
MIT @ 150 = FAS
© ROGER ARCHIBALD
© ROGER ARCHIBALD
Text & photos by ROGER ARCHIBALD
When the Massachusetts Institute of Technology received its
original charter in 1861 just two days before the outbreak of the Civil
War, few people imagined it would become the powerhouse of
engineering, science and technological innovation that it is today. Now
150 years later, MIT has been celebrating its sesquicentennial all this
past year with numerous exhibitions, performances, presentations and
other events focused not only on its colorful past, but also looking
forward to an even more vibrant future.
Culminating the celebrations was the most colorful event of all,
the Festival of Art, Science and Technology (FAST) that during one
weekend in early May presented for the public a score of different
exhibitions and installations — all involving “kinetic illumination”
— at numerous points on the Cambridge campus and adjacent waters
of the Charles River directly opposite downtown Boston. In MIT’s
variation on scientific notation, the mostly nocturnal display simply
became known as FAST Light.
From the Institute’s Infinite Corridor linking many of its oldest
buildings, to the large grassy courtyard before its signature Great
Dome, to the half-mile long Harvard Bridge connecting the campus to
Boston, and floating upon the waters nearby, twenty different artistic
interpretations of the MIT experience contributed by multiple
members of the Institute community drew the public to experience an
unusual glimpse of the school’s brand of creativity (an installation of
ice erected earlier in the year had already succumbed to campus
warming). As darkness fell, the various exhibits literally lit up
the night.
As with all such anniversary celebrations, the exhibition came to an
end all too soon, leaving observers to wonder what MIT minds might
conjure fifty years hence for their bicentennial. In the meantime, much
more detailed information on the event can be found at its web site:
http://arts.mit.edu/fast/fast-light.
Roger Archibald is the SEJournal Photo Editor.