Marissa Friedman

In the exhibition 'the sun has its own drum' sound becomes more than vibration, more than metaphor, more than a material that only one artist in the show physically uses. It becomes—through artwork, memory, and Indigenous knowledge systems—a connective intelligence. The exhibition brings together four artists whose practices engage sound not only as an auditory event but as a mode of perception, as a cultural bearer, and as an ancestral technology. Curator Christina Young brought together the works of four artists for this exhibition: Erin Genia (SMACT ’18), Elizabeth James-Perry, Robert Peters, and Duane Slick. It is on view through December 14, 2025. 📍Cohen Gallery, Granoff Center for the Creative Arts at Brown University in Providence, RI 📸 : Rythum Vinoben Link in bio for full article by Marissa Friedman (@mars_musing ) #art #culture #technology #actmit #smact #christinayoung #elizabethjamesperry #eringenia #robertpeters #duaneslick @christiffanyoung @emgenia @elizabethjamesperry

When Gediminas Urbonas discusses MISTI Lithuania, it becomes clear that this is no conventional academic exchange. It is, in his words, a “transatlantic bridge” – one built on the foundations of artistic intelligence, cultural innovation, and a profound belief in the humanities as essential agents of technological transformation. The origins of MISTI Lithuania trace back to the summer of 2022, mere months after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. It was then that Urbonas met with Professor Elizabeth Wood and MIT-Eurasia Managing Director Ekaterina Zabrovski to explore how MIT could foster transatlantic academic bridges with countries facing heightened geopolitical threats, particularly in the Baltic region. What began as a pilot exchange grew into a national consortium involving major universities and companies. Link in bio to learn more about this exciting collaboration! #art #culture #technology #actmit #misti #mistilithuania @mistiatmit @mit_cis @urbonasstudio @mars_musing

Futurity Island, the vivid, pipe-based installation by Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas, has traveled a long way—physically, materially, and conceptually—from its earliest imaginings as a floating playground at the Venice Biennale in 2018 to its latest incarnation in the Nordic wild at the third iteration of the Helsinki Biennial, where it is on view through September 21, 2025. Link in bio for more! Images courtesy of @urbonasstudio . #art #culture #technology #actmit #gediminasurbonas #nomedaurbonas #urbonasstudio

When Vinzenz Aubry (SMACT ’25) joined the Program in Art, Culture, and Technology (ACT) at MIT, he wasn’t looking for a traditional MFA. Aubry, who trained in European art schools where learning happens by “just spending a lot of time in the studio,” came to ACT with a strong hands-on practice and a desire to deepen his conceptual grounding. From Sky Art to reimagining cinema as a physiological phenomenon, sculpting with vibrations to the first full MIT thesis published as a TikTok, Aubry's time at ACT was prolific. Link in bio for more! #art #culture #technology #actmit #smact #smact25 #vinzenzaubry @vinzenzaubry

Wetland Games: Activating Pluriversal Perspectives Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti May 10 – November 23, 2025 The Urbonases’s project—a data-rich, role-playing game about wetland ecology—isn’t your average climate installation. Wetland Games is based on scientific work and experiments in climate focused games, and uses over 20 years of environmental and socioeconomic data to simulate real-life ecological dynamics in areas like the Camargue Wetlands in France. Images: Nomeda & Gediminas Urbonas, Raphael Mathevet, Indrė Umbrasaitė, Alexander Eriksson Furunes. Wetland Games: Activating Pluriversal Perspectives. Stage set for Role-Playing Game, CGI: Umbrasaitė, Urbonas, Dimitrios Moutafidis. 2025 © The authors. Link in bio for more! #art #culture #technology #actmit #wetlandgames #urbonas #urbonasstudio #nomedaurbonas #gediminasurbonas #biennalearchitettura2025 @urbonasstudio @crassociati @labiennale

Following his participation in Sharjah Biennial 16 (SB16), ACT lecturer and alumnus Raafat Majzoub (SMACT ’17) sat down with Marissa Friedman, ACT’s Marketing and Communications Manager, to reflect on streetschool, an ongoing project that reimagines learning through collaboration, resourcefulness, and public space. Their conversation delves into how proposals can become publications, how worldmaking challenges traditional ideas of authorship, and how Majzoub continues to use contemporary art as a strategic loophole for creating real-world cultural prototypes. Together, they explore how streetschool at SB16 became not just an installation, but a negotiation between labor, materials, and shared futures. Link in bio for more! #art #culture #technology #actmit #sharjah #sharjahbiennial #sharjahbiennial16 #sb16 #raafatmajzoub #streetschool @raafatmajzoub