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Sol Lewitt, Bars of Color within Squares (MIT), 2007
Photograph by George Bouret

Sol Lewitt: Bars of Color within Squares (MIT), 2007

The MIT List Visual Arts Center (LVAC) is pleased to announce the installation of Bars of Color within Squares (MIT) the first major public work by Sol LeWitt to be completed since his death in April 2007.  LeWitt designed a 5,500-square-foot floor for the U-shaped atrium of MIT’s Physics, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and Spectroscopy Lab Infrastructure Project that will house the Physics Department and provide a new “front door” for the Department of Materials Science and Engineering.  MIT’s Percent for Art Program, which is administered by the List Visual Arts Center, commissioned the work.

LeWitt’s design consists of 15 large squares of vibrantly colored geometric patterns set off by bands of white and gray that shift ambiguously between flatness and the illusion of depth.  Each block is approximately 18-feet square; and the work’s bold colors are realized in glass and epoxy terrazzo that was poured in place.  The new PDSI project is constructed within the space that is between MIT’s new Green Center (designed by Payette) and MIT’s earlier Buildings 4, 6, and 8.  The Green Center is connected to the existing buildings by a series of walkways on the upper floors.  LeWitt’s atrium floor is visible from many viewpoints as people move in and around the new building.

Sol LeWittt was selected for the project by a committee that included:  Marc Kastner, Head, MIT Department of Physics; Samuel Allen, MIT Professor, Department of Materials Sciences and Engineering; Washington Taylor, MIT Professor of Physics; Virginia Esau, Physics Space and Renovation Manager; Marc Jones, Assistant Dean, MIT School of Science; Jim Collins of Payette Architects; and Jane Farver, Director of the MIT List Visual Arts Center.

Andrea Miller-Keller has written an essay for a brochure on LeWitt’s Bars of Color within Squares (MIT), 2007.

Download the brochure for LeWitt’s Bars of Color within Squares (pdf)