MIT Pairs Artist With Astrophysicists to Explore Cosmos

Imagine looking through a telescope and feeling the universe click into place, your understanding shifting from abstract knowledge to lived wonder. MIT's Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research is betting that art can bring that experience to millions.

The institute just launched its first artist-in-residence program, selecting Amy Karle to spend the 2026-27 academic year embedded with world-leading astrophysicists. Her mission: transform their research into an immersive multimedia installation that helps people emotionally connect with cosmic discoveries.

Karle isn't new to this territory. Her first job was at a public observatory, where she watched strangers gasp at Saturn's rings through a telescope. That moment of awe becoming understanding has shaped her entire career as an artist exploring how science and technology reshape humanity's place in the universe.

"What MKI does at the frontier of astrophysics, translating faint signals into knowledge through instruments, computation, and human judgment, is a profound expression of that same process," Karle says. She'll work directly with researchers to understand how they detect and interpret cosmic phenomena, then translate those processes into art that makes the experience tangible.

The collaboration starts with a month of deep immersion this fall. Karle will attend seminars, meet with researchers across multiple departments, and soak in the intellectual energy of an institute with more than 60 years of space instrumentation expertise. Throughout 2027, she'll develop the project through ongoing exchanges with scientists while working in her California studio.

In March, Karle and selected scientific collaborators will take their work to MASS MoCA, one of the world's largest contemporary art museums. There, they'll test ideas alongside 16 other international artists in residence. The final installation will debut to the public in early 2028.

Director Robert Simcoe sees the program as mutually beneficial. "Her approach presents many opportunities to challenge the way we, as scientists and engineers, think about our study of the universe," he says. At the same time, the artwork will be shaped by MKI's deep research and wide-ranging scientific perspectives.

The Ripple Effect

The selection committee praised Karle's unique ability to bridge science communication and artistic vision. Her proposal envisions astrophysical research as a co-creative experience, touching on themes of observation, signals, and inference in ways that make cosmic phenomena feel embodied rather than distant.

The program, supported by the Kavli Foundation's Innovation Fund, represents a new model for public engagement with science. Instead of simplifying discoveries for general audiences, it invites people into the emotional territory where knowing the universe reshapes how we understand ourselves.

Karle's work has already appeared at Centre Pompidou, the Smithsonian, and even on the moon. She's collaborated with NASA, CERN, and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. Now she's bringing that experience to a question both ancient and urgent: How do we help people feel their connection to the cosmos?

The answer might just be waiting in the space where art meets astrophysics.