3-D at MIT

The 3-D at MIT Initiative investigates the commercial, research, and cultural applications of 3-D. At MIT ‘3-D’ means a new research frontier of spatial depth information in fields ranging from astronomy to brain science to genetics. It also means new forms of visual display and communication in the media arts and sciences, entertainment, architecture and design.

The MIT Museum is creating a 3-D spatial imaging network at MIT and a world resource for public engagement and learning about 3-D. Situated in one of the world’s leading research universities and holding the world’s largest and most significant collection of holograms, the MIT Museum is committed to the advancement of 3-D.

Drawing from the MIT Museum’s historical perspective and cross-campus connections, the 3-D at MIT initiative will reflect MIT’s legacy of imaging innovation and engage MIT’s renowned cross-disciplinary methods to stimulate the development of visualization and communicate the importance of
3-D in contemporary culture.

Initial 3-D at MIT partners:
(*) Holographic Video, Object-based MediaGroup, MIT Media Lab
(*) 3-D Computational Photography and Display, Camera Culture Group, MIT Media Lab
(*) Volume Holographic Imaging, 3-D Optical Systems Group, MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering

In its third year, the annual Luminous Windows is a highly visible, much anticipated exhibition of 3-D at MIT. Every evening December - March state-of-the-art holograms “reach out” of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the Museum on Massachusetts Ave., engaging viewers in mesmerizing experiences
of 3-D light and color. The display receives extensive media coverage and is seen by thousands of pedestrians and bikers, drivers and passengers.

Photons, Neurons and Bits is an MIT biennial, international forum on 3-D, inaugurated in 2009. “3-D day”, as described by MIT News, stimulates exchange across the leading edges of 3-D and brings together research, industry and lay communities. The 2011 event will forge pathways of the 3-D at MIT network across the Institute.

As opportunities for 3-D capture and display expand with the power of digital technologies, and as excitement grows in research and social circles, the MIT Museum seeks sponsors for the first stage of the 3-D at MIT initiative to build a network of exchange for the technological, social and cultural advancement of 3-D.