Media Lab student presents work in Italy
Flavia Sparacino (S.M. 1997, Ph.D.) has developed a multimedia interactive component to "La Scena di Puccini" (Puccini's stage design), an exhibition at the Ragghianti Foundation in Lucca, Italy on view through Jan. 11. With the aid of technology she originally created at the Media Lab, Sparacino's contribution to the exhibition allows visitors to experience the evocative atmospheres of Puccini's innovative set designs, which included technologies new in his day, such as electric stage lighting. Holograms designed for the show by Sparacino and the Media Lab's Spatial Imaging Group offer 3-D views of the sketches of some stage sets.
Pair of 'Bills' honored in Boston Magazine
A pair of MIT "Bills" have been included in the September issue of Boston Magazine in its "Hot List" of Boston's "most sizzling talent" in the arts. The magazine calls Bill Arning, curator of the List Visual Arts Center, the "cowboy curator of cutting-edge, contemporary art" and says he "creates shows that are scholarly yet accessible, sometimes poignant, and occasionally very funny." William Mitchell, academic head of the Program in Media Arts and Sciences and professor of architecture, was praised as an "unpretentious and indefatigable Aussie ... [who is] shaking the foundations of the region's architectural landscape."
Concert benefits MS study
When Art Mellor (S.B. 1985) was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis three years ago, he formed a company called the Boston Cure Project to coordinate the research being done on MS. A benefit concert for the foundation, titled "Sing to Cure MS: The Boston Cure Project Halloween Concert" will be held on Sunday, Oct. 26 at the Pleasant Street Congregational Church at 75 Pleasant St. in Arlington at 3 p.m.
Featured among the 20 solo and/or ensemble singers, three pianists and 70-voice children's choir are soprano Marion Leeds Carroll, a web assistant with the MIT Libraries who also has MS, and Daniel Kamalic (S.B. 1999), who enrolled in the opera department at New England Conservatory after graduating from MIT. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door, or $10 with a valid MIT student ID. For more information or to order tickets, call Randi Kestin at (508) 226-7760 or e-mail cupid@mit.edu.
'Sonic Forest' in New York
"Sonic Forest," the latest piece by Chris Janney (S.M. 1978) was installed at New York's Lincoln Center as part of its annual Out-of-Doors Festival this summer. The work, part of Janney's "Urban Musical Instruments" series, includes a series of 42-inch-tall poles with speakers, lights and electronic sensors that are tripped by movement. "Sonic Forest" will find its permanent home in downtown Dallas.
Jonas shows in Queens
The New York Times' Michael Kimmelman eagerly anticipates the Queens Museum's survey of work by video/installation artist and Professor of Architecture Joan Jonas, on view from Dec. 14 through March 14. Kimmelman wrote that it's "high time" for an American museum to give Jonas the respect and recognition she's achieved around the world. Jonas will also perform at the installation, which will include works from the 1970s to the present. "Her art, which may sound funny, is hard to summarize and made to be experienced," wrote Kimmelman. "Suffice it to say, it's serious and playful."
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on October 22, 2003.
