4.A20

First Year Advising Seminar: DNA Origami Art

Fold DNA to create nanometer-scale art! Learn the basic theory, CAD tools, and methods for folding DNA to create designed geometric shapes. This seminar will provide participants with hands-on experience in creating art using DNA origami technology, from design to assembly. We will also explore DNA imaging techniques utilizing atomic force microscopy. Students will integrate scientific approaches with aesthetics and design, considering the cultural implications of this emerging technology.

Fall
2026
TBA
U
Schedule
TBA
Location
TBA
Prerequisites
None
Can Be Repeated for Credit
Yes
4.301

Introduction to Artistic Experimentation: Transdisciplinary Approaches

This course introduces artistic practice and critical visual thinking through studio-based projects that explore diverse media, scales, and contexts. Through hands-on experimentation, perceptual games, and creative exercises, students activate their artistic curiosity—reimagining materials, objects, and everyday environments. Projects may incorporate sculptural construction, drawing and painting, weaving, performance, theater-based methods, sound and video, and/or site-specific interventions. Studio practice is complemented by lectures, screenings, field trips, readings, guest presentations, and discussions that examine the historical, cultural, and environmental forces shaping both the development of artistic vision and the reception of a work of art. Project themes such as Body Extensions / Embodied Knowledge, Public Making / Collaborative Practices, and Networked Cultres / Interdisciplinary Exchanges invite students to develop an expansive, interdisciplinary approach to art-making. Each project culminates in a final presentation and group critique. 

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

Fall
2025
3-3-6
U
Schedule
TW 9:30-12:30
Location
E15-235
Prerequisites
None
Required Of
Restricted elective for BSAD, A Minor, D Minor
Enrollment
Limited to 20
HASS
A
Open Only To
Undergraduates
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No
4.s33
4.s37

Special Subject: Art, Culture, and Technology — Beginner’s Guide to Visualizing Data and Life-Like Processes in Digital Art

4.s37 UG | 4.s33 G

This is an incredible opportunity to dive into the basics of biomimicry and natural algorithms in computational design and artificial life. Prior programming or modeling software experience is not needed. Advanced folks will be accommodated on an individual project-based track. Students learn about the cultural and visual implications of automation and biotechnological advancements driven by computational technology, exploring their aesthetic significance through the analysis of data and algorithms.  

This course is designed as a beginner's guide to ethical solutions to design problems in computational design and data concerning nature through visualization and art. It is structured to be accessible and considerate of the broader impact of design decisions on communities, society, and culture. Students will receive a low-level, beginner-friendly introduction to the basics of data visualization in processing and Python, biomimicry, agent-based systems in Grasshopper visual coding, and C# and animation in Maya.

  • Learning Objectives/Pedagogy:
  • Understand the historical context and evolution of data visualization, biomimicry, and Artificial life as an art form.
  • Explore the ethical considerations and social implications of data visualization, biomimicry, and Artificial life.
  • Acquire practical skills and techniques for creating bio-inspired artworks.
  • Engage in critical discussions on the intersection of art and biology.
  • Collaborate with peers to develop innovative data-based projects.
  • Analyze and interpret databases from various perspectives.
  • Develop a strong foundation for future research in data visualization, biomimicry, and Artificial life.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

Fall
2025
3-3-6 (4.s37)
U
3-3-3 (4.s33)
G
Schedule
TR 9:30-12:30
Location
E15-054
Prerequisites
Permission of Instructor
Enrollment
Limited to 20
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt.
Can Be Repeated for Credit
Yes
4.s34

Special Subject: Art, Culture, and Technology — Publication as Worldmaking: Performative Approaches to Fiction and Publishing

Cancelled

This course investigates the interdisciplinary and generative possibilities of publication, emphasizing its role as a practice of expanding public engagement and imagination. Throughout the semester, students will explore worldmaking strategies, speculative fiction and an array of publication methods ranging from traditional techniques—leveraging ACT and MIT’s extensive resources such as riso printing, book binding and maker labs—to experimental approaches in digital media, performance, political systems, architecture, contemporary art, design and AI.Specific expectations and/or deliverable product resulting from course.

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

Fall
2025
3-3-6
G
Schedule
TR 2-5
Location
E15-207
Prerequisites
Permission of instructor
Enrollment
Limited to 20
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
Yes
4.354
4.355

Introduction to Video and Related Media

UG: 4.354; G: 4.355

This course introduces global traditions of counter-cinema and experimental video through a combined studio and seminar format. We trace how artists and collectives develop form under pressure, studying methods that arise from protest, censorship, displacement, and environmental crisis. Topics include montage and materiality, index and memory, sound as testimony, and architectures of spectatorship. Screenings, lectures, and readings provide a theoretical and historical framework for rigorous discussion. Short weekly exercises translate these frameworks into practice through image and sound manipulation, camera and editing experiments, and iterative prototyping toward a final piece. Peer-to-peer critique emphasizes clarity of intention, ethical stakes, and technical execution.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

Fall
2025
3-3-6
U/G
3-3-3
G
Schedule
TR 2-5
Location
Tues room: E15-070
Thurs room: E15-054
Restricted Elective
BSA, BSAD, A minor, D minor
HASS
A/E
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No
4.341
4.342

Introduction to Photography and Related Media

4.341 U / 4.342 G

Introduces history and contemporary practices in artistic photography through projects, lectures, artist visits, group discussions, readings, and field trips. Fosters visual literacy and aesthetic appreciation of photography/digital imaging, as well as critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Provides instruction in the fundamentals of different camera formats, film exposure and development, lighting, black and white darkroom printing, and digital imaging. Assignments allow for incorporation of a range of traditional and experimental techniques, development of technical skills, and personal exploration. Throughout the term, present and discuss projects in a critical forum. 

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

MIT Certificate Protected Syllabus

TA: xdd (Chenyue) Dai
Fall
2025
3-3-6
U
3-3-3
G
Schedule
MW 2-5
Location
E15-054
Prerequisites
permission of instructor
Restricted Elective
BSA, BSAD, D minor
Enrollment
Limited to 20
HASS
A/E
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No
4.314
4.315

Advanced Workshop in Artistic Practice and Transdisciplinary Research

This interdisciplinary course fosters collaboration across art, science, and engineering, exploring the intersections of creative practice and research in science and technology. In partnership with MIT.nano and associated laboratories, students are introduced to advanced research environments and work alongside graduate mentors to develop projects that merge artistic vision with scientific methods and tools.

Emphasizing artistic practice as a form of critical inquiry, the course supports experimental research, interdisciplinary collaboration, and the development of both individual and collective projects. Students engage with the social, cultural, and ecological dimensions of technology, challenging traditional disciplinary boundaries to create new frameworks for transdisciplinary exploration and innovation.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version. 

Fall
2025
3-3-6
U
3-3-3
G
Schedule
TR 9:30-12:30
Location
E15-207
Prerequisites
4.301 or 4.302 or permission of instructor
Restricted Elective
Architecture minor
Enrollment
Limited to 20
HASS
A/E
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No
4.360

Transversal Design for Social Impact (H1 half term)

Cancelled

This subject has been canceled for the Fall 2025 term

Fall
2025
2-0-4
G
Schedule
F 9:30-12:30
Location
E15-207
Enrollment
Limited to 20
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No
4.378
4.379

Future Heritage Workshop — Experiments in Textile Crafts

UG: 4.378 | G: 4.379

In an era shaped by AI, digital fabrication, and mass production, this course explores the embodied knowledge of the traditional crafts as a radical frontier of design. We will examine how endangered textile techniques can be reimagined to create new cultural and economic value. From Bengali jamdaani weaving to American quilting and Egyptian khayamiya appliqué, students investigate how textile crafts connect art with innovative models of sustainability, material experimentation, and ethical production beyond fast fashion and industrial systems.

Through research-creation and collaboration with master craftspeople and contemporary designers, students will translate historical textile traditions into experimental fabric applications, from fashion prototypes to installations. The course emphasizes hands-on workshops, process documentation, and iterative prototyping, culminating in two final projects that integrate weaving, screen printing, and reverse appliqué techniques to envision future applications of crafts in design. Readings and guest lectures complement hands-on practice.

Additional work required of students taking the graduate version.

Fall
2025
3-3-6
U/G
Schedule
W 2-5
Location
E15-235
Enrollment
Limited to 20
Lab Fee
Per-term $75 fee after Add Date; SMACT students are exempt
Can Be Repeated for Credit
No