Syllabus

Professors Tod Machover (MIT Media Lab) and Meejin Yoon (Head, Dept. of Architecture)

February 4                     Introduction to “Empathy, 8th Art, and the Future of Experience”

                                      Tod Machover (MIT Media Lab) and Meejin Yoon (MIT Architecture)

 

February 11                  Cultivating and Curating Empathy

                                      Tenzin Priyadarshi (MIT Dalai Lama Center) and Allegra Libonati (Harvard A.R.T.)

 

                                      * February 14     An Evening with Doug Trumbull (Special Effects guru, “Mod” Pavillions, etc.)

 

February 18                  The 8th Art: Concepts and Technologies for Multisensory Performance

                                      Peter Torpey and Ben Bloomberg, MIT Media Lab

 

                                           * February 21Field Trip to The Donkey Show (Club Oberon, Harvard Square)

 

February 25                  Radical Expos/Transformative Spaces (followed by dinner/conversation)

                                      Tod Machover and Meejin Yoon

 

March 4                         Immersive Performance and the New Art of “Experience” 

                                      Neil Thomas, Atelier One (London)

 

March 11                        Measuring and Reinforcing Affective Empathy

                                       Rosalind Picard, MIT Media Lab

 

March 18                        First Project Review & Critique

 

March 25                        ** Spring Break **

 

April 1                              To Tech or Not to Tech? The Psychology of Empathy

                                         Sherry Turkle, Rockefeller Professor of Psychology and Social Science, MIT

 

                                            * April 3-5Class Trip to New York (Björk@MoMA, FLEXN @ Park Avenue Armory, 9/11 Museum,

  Rubin Museum of Tibetan Buddhist Art, New Museum Triennial, etc.) 

 

April 8                              The Politics and Possibilities of Cross-cultural Empathy

                                         Ethan Zuckerman, MIT Media Lab and Danish Masood (UN Alliance of Civilizations and BeAnotherLab)

 

                                         * April 9- Liz Diller (Diller, Scofidio + Renfro) @ MIT

 

April 15                            Second Project Review/Presentations for ML Members Week

 

April 22                            One-on-One / Two-by-Two Individual + Group Experiences

                                         Tomas Saraceno

 

                                            * April 24-25 - Tomas Saraceno @ MIT

                                                                     

April 29                            Revolutionary Spaces for Performance, Celebration and Contemplation

                                         Craig Dykers, co-founder and co-principal of Snøhetta (Copenhagen and New York)

 

May 6                              Third Project Review/Critique

                                                                     

May 13                            Final Course Presentation