Radical Atoms: Making Bits Tangible and Atoms Dance

The MIT Media Lab's Tangible Media Group (TMG) explores the tangible and dynamic relationship between the digital and physical realms. In this exhibition, MIT Media Lab Professor Hiroshi Ishii will showcase the evolution of TMG's vision from Tangible Bits to Radical Atoms, demonstrating how they make bits (digital information) tangible and atoms dance. Through interactive exhibits of SandScape, inFORM, and TRANSFORM, the group aims to inspire future creators by exploring new forms of human expression, communication, and design. The work highlights the value of transdisciplinary research, where the boundaries between art, design, science, and technology are blurred. They seek not only to invent but also to inspire the next generation of creators through the restoration and preservation of our research artifacts.

The Museum's new installation, Radical Atoms, will be on view on the third floor. 

MIT Museum Radical Atoms Exhibition webpage

Please support our work to preserve the legacy of Tangible Media Group's research over the past 30 years!

▶︎ https://giving.mit.edu/search/node/2741502

Credits  for the Radical Atoms Exhibition 2024

SandScape 2003  https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/sandscape
Ben Piper, Yao Wang, Carlo Ratti, Assaf Biderman, Eran Ben-Jospeh, Hiroshi Ishii, 

SandScape 2022 - MIT Museum 2022 Inaugration Version 
Ken Nakagaki, Keru Wang (NYU), Jonathan Williams, Paula Aguilera, Hiroshi Ishii

inFORM 2013-14   https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/inform (original)
https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/physical-telepresence (Telepresence)
https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/inform-at-cooper-hewitt (Cooper Hewitt)
Daniel Leithinger, Sean Follmer, Alex Olwal, Philipp Schoessler, Jared Counts, Ken Nakagaki, David Doan, Akimitsu Hogge, Basheer Tome, Hiroshi Ishii

TRANSFORM 2014
https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/transform (Milano Design Week)
https://tangible.media.mit.edu/project/transform-as-dynamic-and-adaptive-furniture/ (Video)
Hiroshi Ishii, Daniel Leithinger, Sean Follmer, Amit Zoran, Philipp Schoessler, Jared Counts, Dan Levine, Luke Vink, Ken Nakagaki, Xiao Xiao

MIT Museum Exhibition 2024-2025 (Reconstruction Team)
Paula Aguilera, Jonathan Williams, Daniel Levine, Amy Oh, Marissa Liu, Jessica Guo, Amos Batalden, Liam May, Charley Reischer, Alisa Ishii, Hiroshi Ishii

SandScape

inFORM

TRANSFORM

Radical Atoms Exhibition at Ars Electronica Center 2016-2019

Radical Atoms Vision - ACM Interactions Magazine 2012

Radical Atoms: Making Bits Tangible and Atoms Dance - Lecture by Hiroshi Ishii on Feb. 24, 2025 at MIT Museum

TMG's Evolving Visions from Tangible Bits to Radical Atoms

Radical Atoms takes a leap beyond Tangible Bits by envisioning a hypothetical generation of materials that can dynamically change form and appearance, becoming as reconfigurable as pixels on a screen.

Radical Atoms are computationally transformable and reconfigurable materials that are bidirectionally coupled to an underlying digital model (bits). This allows dynamic changes in physical form to be reflected in digital states in real-time and vice versa.

Radical Atoms are future materials that can change shape, conform to constraints, and inform users of their affordances. They represent a vision for the future of human-material interaction, where all digital information has a physical manifestation so that we can interact directly with it. We no longer focus on designing the interface; rather, the material itself becomes the interface, which we call a Material User Interface (MUI).