MIT Museum to unlock the 'alien world' of the deep in major new thematic season
Marshmallow Laser Feast, Seeing Echoes in the Mind of the Whale, 2024, DHub Barcelona, photo by Sandra Campione.
CAMBRIDGE, MASS.—
The MIT Museum announced OCEANS, a new thematic season of programming that will unlock our understanding of one of Earth’s greatest unknowns. Running from September 2026 through March 2027, this series of exhibitions, programs, and events will uncover the complexity, beauty, and critical importance of the world’s oceans, while inspiring curiosity, courage, and human connection. Kicking off on September 30, OCEANS will welcome visitors to immerse themselves in one of the world’s most fascinating and significant subjects.
Global oceans make up 71% of the Earth’s surface yet remain largely unmapped; more is known about the surface of Mars than the ocean floor. As the origin of life on Earth, they sustain more than two hundred thousand species and support humanity’s global trade and food systems, but they contain the ecosystems most threatened by climate change, pollution, and other human activity.
In collaboration with MIT Sea Grant, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Marine Biological Laboratory, and New England Aquarium, the OCEANS thematic season will shine a light on the many facets of the marine ecosystem, exploring complex ocean technologies, marine biodiversity and coral reefs, safeguarding ecosystems, and atmospheric impact, iterated through intersectional displays of art, design, technology, and science.
The Mark R. Epstein (Class of 1963) Director, MIT Museum Michael John Gorman, said: “In his book Alien Ocean: Anthropological Voyages in Microbial Seas, MIT anthropologist Stefan Helmreich describes the ocean as a space where ‘worldly nature oscillates between familiar and strange, in which the very category of 'life' is at sea’. Oceans challenge scientific, cultural and ecological boundaries. As we seek to sense, understand and navigate oceans through technology, from their microbial denizens to their currents and hydrothermal vents, we reveal an alien world that scientists and engineers at MIT and our partner institutions are exploring through a dazzling area of technologies. This is the focus of the MIT Museum’s new thematic season, which brings science, art, design and technology together to immerse us in our ocean planet”
EXHIBITIONS
Sensing Oceans
Opening date: September 28, 2026
Press preview and opening reception: September 30, 2026
Closing Date: February 21, 2027
Sensing Oceans will explore how humans extend perception below the ocean’s surface, an environment that remains beyond direct, unmediated reach. From underwater sensing equipment and animal-inspired robots to autonomous vehicles and immersive artworks, the exhibition brings together the MIT Museum’s collection with contemporary research and artistic practice. A highlight is the US premier of Marshmallow Laser Feast’s large-scale video installation Seeing Echoes in the Mind of the Whale, which merges deep listening and scientific insight to invite viewers to experience the ocean through the sensory abilities of three whale species. Taken together, the exhibition’s works illuminate how we assemble and represent knowledge about the ocean, shaping our understanding and stewardship of this complex, vital realm.
Crochet Coral Reef
Opening date: August 14, 2026
Closing date: February 14, 2027
Crochet Coral Reef will invite visitors into a mesmerizing convergence of art, science, and community. Centered on the work of Margaret and Christine Wertheim and the Institute For Figuring, the exhibition will present hand-crocheted explorations of the complex geometries hidden within nature’s most delicate sea creatures. More than a striking visual experience, the Crochet Coral Reef project is a globally-distributed, community-sourced investigation in applied mathematics and evolutionary theory while serving as a powerful artistic response to climate change.
Water Architectures
Opening date: December 17, 2026
Closing date: June 13, 2027
Water Architectures showcases the MIT Museum’s distinguished collection of architecture student thesis drawings alongside work by recent graduates, drawing from 150 years of innovative designs. The exhibition examines the role of architecture in mediating human activity at waterfronts, revealing both enduring principles and significant changes in design approaches and priorities over time.
PROGRAMMING
A full series of OCEANS themed programs will be announced this summer, deepening the thematic exploration and welcoming the larger community to engage with the museum. A programmatic open call garnered over 550 proposals from around the world, which the MIT Museum is developing into workshops, panel discussions, performances, and film screenings.
Programs will include a participatory performance on sea level rise with Boston Dance Theater, Drifting with Plankton: An Interactive Performance Lecture on Ocean Science, Art, and Sensory Knowledge, a maker workshop titled Molecular Poetry – Reading and Writing Like a Clam, and a Coastal Climate Change Toolkit weekly drop-in learning lab. An OCEANS film series will feature the films Entangled followed by a conversation with filmmaker David Abel and Erica Fuller, Senior Counsel, Conservation Law Foundation, The Coral Rescuers followed by a conversation filmmaker Jason Spingarn-Koff and A Life Illuminated followed by a conversation with producer Jessica Harrop.
The MIT Museum’s popular After Dark series will provide moments to explore subjects such as waves, deep sea exploration, and coral. This event series is held on the second Thursday of each month from 6-9pm for adults aged 18+.
In addition, Community Crochet Coral Reef workshops will be held for the MIT community in collaboration with artists Margaret and Christine Wertheim and MIT Professor in Computer Science Eric Demaine, with partial funding from MIT’s Center for Art, Science, and Technology. Corals crocheted out of yarn and plastics will be assembled into a wall mural in early 2027 to cap off the OCEANS theme.
