Light often goes unnoticed until it’s gone. At MIT Museum’s “Lighten Up! On Biology and Time” exhibit, however, it becomes the main character in an interactive display as visitors walk a brightened path. The exhibit combines two often unnoticed but powerful world mechanisms, light and biology, and dedicates 18 immersive artworks to exploring the connection between living organisms and the natural cycle of light and dark.
After a thorough examination of MIT’s latest inventions, visitors immediately find a series of colorful, dancing flowers on a huge, black digital screen. Museum goers watch words spreading across the leaves, stems and petals of these eccentric flowers — no two flowers appearing alike. “The Window,” a community data project, is meant to represent the diverse population of MIT. Students, staff, alumni and museum visitors have created these dancing flowers by answering a series of personal questions that are then transformed and processed to create one-of-a-kind digital flowers. These flowers dance and bounce as visitors add to the piece with their own responses, making “The Window” individualized and ever-changing.
“The data represented in the art makes you feel connected … I really enjoy this piece,” said Shaad Qureshi, a Northeastern University graduate student majoring in computer science. Qureshi said the exhibit helped him engage and feel part of the community since he recently moved to the U.S.
As they move further into the museum, visitors enter a dark room with a white circle in the middle. Ominous and bold, this circle is a 3D interactive twin of “Circadian House,” a 2021 architectural design project by Colin Fournier, illuminated only by natural light. The circle-house consists of a circular bed and a rug that runs like a track alongside the bed. The white bed, with two white pillows, is canopied by white drapes and dimly lit with blue and orange hues. The light patterns shift to mimic that of the sun, with blue equating to sleep and orange equating to activity and alertness.
Jodie Bermant, a third-year painting major at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, spoke about how the changing light made her body react. “The light made me feel anxious, like it was an aspect of my psychology,” Bermant said. The exhibit probes into the way human biology responds to natural light cycles.
Bermant walked the track and sat in the bed, taking in the light blanketing the room. While pacing the exhibit, Bermant noted that this was her second visit and she learns more each time she goes.
Further into the museum, there is a cylindrical metal sculpture with red lights swinging over its grooves. “Hotel Room #2: Communal Dreams” mixes biology, psychology and a dash of light studies. From the minds of artists and researchers Carsten Höller, Adam Haar and Seth Riskin, the piece reveals a collaborative effort to show how dreams are shaped in real time, highlighting the influence of external light, sound and motion on the brain.
“The exhibit was not only cool, but provocative and engaging,” said Alesha Cesar, a graduate student at Boston College obtaining her masters in organizational leadership.
After walking through the exhibit twice in its entirety, “I’m leaving with much more innovative knowledge than I came with,” Cesar said.
Open until August, MIT Museum’s “Lighten Up!” is entertaining, engaging and subtly educational, bridging the gap between art and science and offering patrons an immersive look into biological rhythms. With a “Please touch!” ethos, museum goers are encouraged to explore interactive activities, move and play. Do not miss out.