The Lab at Harvard is a new forum and platform for idea experimentation in the arts and sciences at Harvard University.

This year The Lab debuts as a part of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and continues to work  to break down boundaries between the arts and sciences to accelerate learning. We catalyze the development of Harvard student and faculty ideas through work-in-progress exhibits, monthly Idea Nights, and annual experiments between leading international artists and Harvard University scientists.

The Lab is principally an exhibition and meeting space for student idea development within and between the arts and sciences, and serve as a forum for interfaculty and public creative expression and dialog.

Programs

Idea Translation

Harvard students develop surprising and innovative ideas at the university in classes where student idea conception, formulation, and development propel student learning. Educating students through idea development encourages aesthetic and analytical processes of creative thought. Outcomes range from new designs, books and films, to new companies and humanitarian organizations.

The Idea Translation program of The Lab will include exhibitions of current and ongoing past student ideas selected, prepared, and exhibited through the Idea Translation Lab at Harvard University. The Idea Translation program will also include monthly Idea Nights, where exhibited ideas will be discussed with Harvard faculty and other thought leaders.

Artscience Exhibition

Contemporary artists and designers increasingly create and propel innovations atthe cutting edge of science. The Artscience Exhibition program will invite leading contemporary artists and designers to develop works of art and design around science themes relevant to major science partners to The Laboratory. These works, developed in partnership with the Paris-based art and design innovation center Le Laboratoire, will be exhibited in the lobby and hall areas and frame the context for public exhibition evenings, conferences, and interdisciplinary faculty discussions around issues that bridge the arts and sciences.
Space

The Laboratory at Harvard is housed in the Atrium and B-1 Level of the Northwest Science Building. The building’s design fosters the interdisciplinary nature of today’s science, locating researchers by shared interests rather than by specific departmental affiliation to create opportunities for interdisciplinary collaboration.

The Northwest Building also provides teaching laboratories that dramatically increase our capacity to provide every student taking a science or engineering course the opportunity for experiential learning.

FAS Center for Systems Biology
Center for Brain Science
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology
Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology
Museum of Comparative Zoology
Microbial Sciences Initiative
Laboratory for Particle Physics and Cosmology