5/14
prompts. But the four plinths of Lobby 7 have not remained empty. Rather, they have hosted performances, presentations, hacks, and acts of social congregation. Our proposal encourages these and other temporary acts in celebration of MIT’s history and community.The plinths should not become pedestals for static objects, but continue their relevance as platforms for dynamic subjects.
9/2
SUBJECTS NOT OBJECTS continues the use of Lobby 7’s plinths for assembly and action. We pro-
The 1975 performance Three Period Pieces, by CAVS artists Otto Piene and Paul Earls, repurposed Lobby 7’s plinths as speaker stands.
12/7
Test tube menorah is lit to celebrate Hanukah (photo Rabbi Michelle Fisher).
2/16
Lobby 7 Design Competition first round ends. SUBJECTS NOT OBJECTS proposes that the plinths continue their relevance not as pedestals for static objects, but as platforms for dynamic subjects.
purchase-ready infrastructural amenities, from a simple stepladder to more expansive safety devices. The infrastructural support will be developed through conversations with project producers and MIT facilities advisors.
12/6
11/12
G09
1992’s hack, “The Cathedral of Our Lady of the All-Night Tool,” introduced faux stained glass overlays over the Lobby’s double-height windows and used the plinths as ersatz altars for gilded computer monitors as idols.
pose to produce re-stagings of past occupations, to facilitate new temporary actions a commissioning The Lobby 7 Design Competition through 11h00. Hitchhiker’s Guide Library body, and to provide guiderequests proposals to fill the Lobby 7 meets for a walking tour of all lines for theTour ongoing use of Lobby 7’s plinths as Libraries. sites plinths. the MIT of agency and expression. SUBJECTS NOT OBJECTS will introduce flexible,
2010 201 1
11/5
Today, the plinths are highly desired places for sitting, working, and observing the Lobby.
1/15 “This building contains too much jargon and may need simplification or further explanation” (photo Emad Taliep).
2/24
Winter Break in Lobby 7. Hot cocoa, cider, and donuts surround the balconies. Hungry students line up.
2/1 Registration day. Resonance a capella group sings using plinths for “resonance” backdrop.
2/26
16h20. “MIThenge,” sun shines through lobby and aligns with infinite corridor (photo John S. Y. Lee).
1/14 12h17. Princess Peach is kidnapped during her own wedding by Bowser, initiating the 2011 Mystery Hunt.
2/11
SUBJECTS N O T OBJECTS
WMBR Pre-Dance Party Party!
3/1
@microkubo
Full chorus singing Katy Perry in lobby, and guy practicing his pop-locking at bus stop. Strange days here... #seenatMIT
Noon. Blimp floats around lobby advertising engineering class: “Shape the future.”
3/5 11h00. HSSB event, high school students race Lego (TM) constructions down strings stretched from the 2nd and 3rd floor balconies.
23h30. Tweeted: Six girls sing Kate Perry’s “Teenage Dream” leaning against one of the plinths.
3/12 17h30. Students offer free hugs at East plinth. One student climbs on North plinth for the first time. Another student reclines on West plinth, listening to her earphones.
“Who So Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil is the Rightwise Born Chancellor of The Institute.”
12h00. MIT welcomes Chancellor Eric Grimson (photo Yuanyu Chen).
4/6 SUBJECTS NOT OBJECTS presents two new commissioned works: Composer Ben Houge’s A Reading From Lobby 7 acoustically remixes the lobby’s history, and artist Sarah Witt’s Wait serves deconstructed delicacies to an eager crowd of guests and passers-by.
Fill in the blank.
This calendar is part of SUBJECTS NOT OBJECTS, a proposal for MIT’s Lobby 7 Design Competition 2011. The proposal is featured with other finalists in an exhibition on view at MIT’s Wolk Gallery from April 15 to May 15, 2011 (photo 1983 Ping-pong hack courtesy MIT Museum).