Guest Speaker: Laura Knott

The Arts Administration department is excited to welcome curator Laura Knott to be a guest lecturer in The Art World. Laura Knott specializes in work created at the intersections of art and technology. She has had an active art career as well, with presentations of her work at the documenta exhibition, on public television, and in venues ranging from the California desert to a revolving door on the MIT campus.  

A graduate of the Center for Advanced Visual Studies at MIT, Laura studied environmental art and performance with Otto Piene and took every film and video course offered at the Media Lab by Ricky Leacock and Glorianna Davenport. Laura was trained as a choreographer. She was the first dance graduate of Duke University, where she also studied political science and international relations. In 1998, she created Worldwide Simultaneous Dance, in which dancers danced at the same time in 11 countries around the world, live streamed. At ACT, Laura is working on projects related to the CAVS 50th anniversary.

One of her most recent curatorial works is an exhibition of kinetic art in which complex machines float on an invisible force field, roll like waves and massage your hand with a soothing touch. To learn more about this exhibition, read this article.

Photo credit: “lalu,” by John Douglas Powers – Courtesy Photo/Tina McCarthy, MIT Museum