CAMBRIDGE, MASS.- Beginning this summer visitors to the campus of MIT will now have an exciting new way to experience notable works of public art and architecture thanks to the development of a new audio guide by the MIT List Visual Arts Center and Acoustiguide. The Acoustiguide Audio Tour offers commentary by artists, architects, scholars, and curators, focusing on 51 works of art and architecture located throughout the campus. MIT’s public art and architecture will have signage with a number to call to listen, and audio can also be accessed through QR codes. For those unable to visit campus, audio will also be available on the List Center’s website: http://listart.mit.edu/audio-guide. These multiple distribution platforms will ensure users have a great degree of flexibility in creating their own customized self guided tours.

Through this guide viewers can hear artists speak on their own work on MIT’s campus. Featured artists include Martin Boyce, Victor Burgin, Petah Coyne, Dan Graham, Cai Guo-Qiang, Beverly Pepper, Jaume Plensa, Matthew Ritchie, Sarah Sze, and Lawrence Weiner, and architects Steven Holl and Kevin Roche. Additional voices in the guide include notable curators and scholars, such as MIT Professor Caroline A. Jones, who provides commentary on numerous modernist works in the collection, and MIT School of Architecture and Planning Associate Dean and Professor Mark Jarzombek, who speaks about MIT’s architectural history, including Eero Saarinen’s MIT Chapel and Kresge Auditorium.

The audio guide also includes an introduction to MIT’s public art collection by actor, film director, and photographer Leonard Nimoy. A Boston native, Nimoy is best known for his portrayal of Spock in the original Star Trek series. Nimoy and his wife Susan have long been friends of MIT and the List Center and over the years the List received several awards through the Nimoy Foundation for a number of exciting artist residency projects which brought contemporary artists and their practices directly to MIT campus communities. Nimoy has an added connection to MIT in that his brother received his master’s degree in engineering from the Institute.

This project is made possible by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation’s 123,000 libraries and 17,500 museums. Through grant making, policy development, and research, IMLS helps communities and individuals thrive through broad public access to knowledge, cultural heritage, and lifelong learning.