MIT sees itself not as a place, but as a “unique collection of exceptional people.” The Community Wall is the first major media moment visitors encounter at the museum. It offers a playful, generative data visualization of the MIT community, showcasing the radical ideas and innovations that define MIT. At input stations, visitors complete a survey to generate a personal avatar that reflects MIT's fun and quirky spirit. These avatars bounce, play, and interact on a large media surface.

Custom-designed audio cones offer a unique listening experience, allowing visitors to hear directly from MIT’s celebrated researchers and thinkers. The recordings are triggered when visitors step in front of each cone, with pulsing interior lights accentuating the speakers’ voices and an outer LED ring highlighting the cones’ sculptural quality. Subtle floor projections indicate where visitors should stand and provide short titles summarizing the content.

This application teaches visitors about AI by inviting them to write poetry with an AI specifically trained to write poetry. Visitors can alternate writing lines with the AI, which suggests contributions based on the user’s input. Completed poems are added to an archive and displayed on the curving screens overhead, forming a river of collaborative poetry.

Visitors draw a face on a touchscreen, which is transferred to a three-layer holographic projection. The projection visualizes the neural network’s process of analyzing the face and determining its expressed emotion. Bluecadet trained an AI for this experience, creating a custom online application that captured thousands of facial expression drawings from the MIT Museum community.

The MIT Museum makes complex scientific concepts accessible through interactive and engaging experiences. Bluecadet designed the Sara Seager Equation interactive to guide visitors step-by-step through predicting the likelihood of discovering extraterrestrial life. Custom-built knobs with integrated LED lighting allow visitors to adjust variables. A dynamic starfield responds in real time, illustrating the conditions and odds of finding life in the universe.

This interactive table allows up to four users to explore the long-term impact of gene editing on a species. Real-time simulations use scientific data to show the consequences of their choices. Users learn the risks and rewards of gene editing and vote on whether their methods deserve further research.

The Identity interactive stations share audio recordings and oral histories of Black people working in STEAM. Visitors can select playlists or browse the Museum’s entire audio collection. Nearby projections and in-station slideshows illustrate the commentary with relevant visuals. A docent mode allows museum guides to control the full experience via personal iPad.

The model wall showcases significant items from the museum’s collection of 1.5 million scientific objects. Integrated minimalist motion graphics animate the space between vitrines, illustrating the models’ movements or functions. Visitors can use digital key stations to learn more about the displayed objects.