Description

The best way to know MIT is through its models. Models (the things) and modeling (the process) have been vital to the work (and play) of the Institute from its founding. The MIT Museum’s collection has models that range from rough prototypes to beautiful display objects. These artifacts reveal inspiration, creativity, and a passion for discovery that are at the heart of the Institute and central to its pedagogical and research-driven values.

Creators of all kinds, from artists to engineers, make models to work through problems. Models bring the world into our grasp and reduce it to its essentials. They help us understand complexity. Modeling is also a practice, one that provides a platform for experimentation and testing across variables and that can help evolve thinking from the abstract to the concrete. This exhibit is a survey of the myriad types of models in the MIT Museum’s collection, a celebration of the exuberance of models, and an appreciation of MIT as a place where we model everything.