MIT Future Fest: Exploring Art, Design, Science & Technology

MIT Future Fest runs September 30–October 4, 2026, bringing together conversations, exhibitions, and hands-on experiences across the MIT campus at the intersection of art, design, science, and technology. Led by the MIT Museum in partnership with MIT Technology Review and MIT Morningside Academy for Design, the festival features research and work from across MIT's labs and centers.

A number of researchers and faculty from the Media Lab are participating throughout the festival, contributing their work across panels, performances, installations, and conversations. Find more information below. 

Wednesday, September 30

• 7:30pm - 9pm | Reception: Imagine Tomorrow: MIT Media Lab

VIP Pass-holders are welcomed into the MIT Media Lab for an evening of conversation, discovery, and connection. Following remarks from Media Lab leadership, guests explore labs and participate in demonstrations with students, staff, and faculty, accompanied by refreshments. 

Thursday, October 1

• 12:45pm - 1:45pm | Panel: AI & Human Flourishing | Kresge Auditorium

This panel examines how AI can advance humanity rather than undermine it. Professor Pat Pataranutaporn joins Asu Ozdaglar and Kara Miller to discuss human-robot interaction, AI's potential for global communities, and who benefits from these emerging technologies.

• 2:15pm - 2:45pm | Lecture: Dreaming Together—Collective Imagination and Future-Making

Professor Behnaz Farahi traces the conceptual journey behind Ocean of Dreams, exploring how participatory public art can cultivate collective hope and imagination through interactive design and civic engagement.

• 3pm - 4pm | Performance: Inside jam_bot—Building an AI Musical Partner

Lancelot Blanchard and Perry Naseck, PhD students in Responsive Environments group, demonstrate jambot, an AI music system they developed with keyboardist Jordan Rudess. This intimate performance reveals how the system listens, responds, and creates music alongside a human musician in real time.

• 3:10pm - 3:25pm | Lecture: The Agentic Web

Professor Ramesh Raskar explores the next era of internet infrastructure through the lens of AI agents. He discusses how agents will discover, communicate, collaborate, and establish trust in a decentralized system.

Friday, October 2

• 6pm - 8pm | Book Talk: Artificial Intimacy | MIT Museum

Professor Rosalind Picard joins Sherry Turkle to discuss Turkle's new book exploring our increasingly intimate relationships with AI and machines. The conversation examines what emotional entanglement with AI means for the future of human connection.

Saturday, October 3

• 10am - 11:30am | Walking Tour: Joost Bonsen's MIT Innovation Tour

Lecturer Joost Bonsen leads a campus tour tracing MIT innovations from lab to industry. The tour highlights research across MIT's schools and centers, examining how discoveries translate into startups, ventures, and new industries.

• 11:30am - 12:15pm | Conversation: The Future of Learning—Cultivating Curiosity and Creativity | Kresge Auditorium

Professor Mitch Resnick, Natalie Rusk, research scientist, and Jaleesa Trapp, postdoctoral associate, from the Lifelong Kindergarten group discuss strategies for supporting creative learning in young people. Drawing on their work developing Scratch and other learning technologies, they explore how to cultivate curiosity and creativity across diverse backgrounds.

• 1:30pm - 2:30pm | Panel: The Body Reimagined—When Anatomy Becomes a Site of Design | MET Warehouse

Professor Hugh Herr and Ana Rajčević, research scientist from the Biomechatronics group, explore the future of the human body with MoMA curator Paola Antonelli. The discussion moves from neural interfacing and biomechatronics to designing new body architectures and examining the body as an evolving site of design.

• 3pm - 4pm | Panel: The Reef of the Future—From Vision to Deployment  | MET Warehouse

David S. Kong, research scientist and head of the Community Biotechnology Initiative, joins Skylar Tibbits and Ximena Caminos to discuss coastal resilience. The panel combines the MIT Self-Assembly Lab's work on programmable materials with The ReefLine's cultural-ecological underwater corridor, exploring how design and art become infrastructure for ocean protection.

• 7pm - 8pm | Performance: Terraforming Blues | MIT Museum

Professor Danielle Wood presents an autobiographical performance blending poetry, music, movement, and visual art. The piece explores humanity's relationship with Earth as we expand into space and asks what it means to call Earth home.

Installations: 

• 6pm - 9:30pm | Installation: Ocean of Dreams | Kendall Square Plaza 

Created by Professor Behnaz Farahi and graduate researchers from the Critical Matter group, this interactive installation transforms the plaza into a living ocean where visitors submit their hopes for the future via mobile interface. Animated waves carry the messages across the ground before gradually washing them away.

• 10am - 6pm | Installation: Boston 2036—"…on the line" | Kendall/MIT Open Space 

This interactive listening installation features localized sound zones where visitors encounter stories imagining Boston's future. Designed by the MIT Center for Constructive Communication, participants are invited to contribute their own reflections to this evolving public archive.