Research and Creative Projects for Undergraduates

Creative Projects

WM50274-(1).jpgCreative Projects

Have you ever done any of the following?

  • Made a sculpture 
  • Wrote a poem or a song
  • Created an artistic abstract
  • Wrote a short story
  • Designed custom bookmarks
  • Created digital artwork
  • Taken a photo series
  • Created a vision board
  • Choreographed a dance

Talk to your advisor or a faculty member in your field, you may be up to something big. We support creative works and want you to be successful in whatever you dream about. Any student can be part of this either by doing this creative work as an extracurricular activity with a mentor or by enrolling in a special independent course. You can also checkout some scholarships that may help you in your journey.

 

Examples

Below are some examples of faculty creative projects and research.

Wavelines 2012

light and wavelengths are installation with guests interacting with the space

Six channel video and five channel sound installation 
Center on Contemporary Art (CoCA) Seattle 
May 18 - July 14, 2012 

Wavelines was a video and sound installation for CoCA based on two previous works, Sewing Sonifications (2009) and Waveforms (2010). Both projects used data from ecosystem models along the Washington Coast to create a multimodal experience of art through scientific research. In CoCA’s 4,600 sq. ft. space, a six-channel video installation layered five dimensions of oceanographic data on large semi-transparent textile screens, while a five-channel sonification engaged viewers/ listeners with references to underlying systems of data.

In the adjoining window gallery, Sewing Sonifications was displayed. In Sewing Sonifications sound was translated from data, then visualized and made tactile by the artist stitching the sound waves by a computer-to-embroidery machine interface. A video grid of the sewing process captured the rhythm between fabric and thread. Learn more about the Wavelines Installation.

 

Sonification/Listening Up (2005)

Picture of speakers attached to a building, looking from the side with blue sky in the background.

35 channel sound installation across 300 ft. building MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA 
September 9-16 2005 

Sonification/Listening Up was a multi-speaker site-specific sound installation on I.M. Pei’s iconic Building 54 at MIT. The speakers, temporarily installed across the facade of Building 54, broadcast audio representations of sound waves embedded in the Earth’s charged upper atmosphere, or ionosphere, a region under active radar study by the Atmospheric Sciences Group at MIT’s Haystack Observatory. This project utilized sound as a representation of research at MIT, extending to the public what is normally invisible.

Funded by MIT Office of the Provost, MIT Vice President for Research and Associate Provost, MIT Associate Provost for the Arts, MIT Department of Architecture, MIT Visual Arts Program, and MIT Council for the Arts.

Learn more about this and installation and view website.
Watch project video.

Check out the Collaboratory for a space to work or use some tools to make your project. They have 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines, and much more.