"Urban Design and Civil Protest," a new exhibition conceived as a multimedia laboratory for examining the social and spatial dynamics of protests, will be on view from Feb. 28 to June 9 in the MIT Museum Compton Gallery.
The exhibit, created by visiting architect and urban designer Tali Hatuka, celebrates the 75th anniversary of MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning.
Hatuka's study of urban protests includes a lexicon of their different shapes--they occur in circular, grid and concentric forms--and a code for identifying key moments during protests when the outcome turns to violence. In addition, the voices and faces of people engaged in protest bring the process alive for viewers: A sound installation from various events plays individual and crowd voices in public space; a video screen projects messages, slogans and banners from protests around the world and still photographs capture singular, intimate moments in a protesting crowd.
The Marie Curie Research Fellow in urban studies and planning, Hatuka received the PhD from Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology. Her research awards include the European Community Marie Curie Fellowship (2005-2008) and a Fulbright Postdoctoral Fellowship (2004-2005).
The Compton Gallery is free and open daily 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on February 27, 2008 (download PDF).
