Future Sketches: Future Type

How can code be used as a creative tool by artists and designers?

This question motivates the work of the Future Sketches group at the MIT Media Lab. 

Led by artist and educator Zach Lieberman, the group aims to help us “see” code by using it to make artistically controlled, computer-generated visuals.

The Future Sketches group investigates software as a creative medium for art and design—exploring how toolkits and teaching methods can shape a new generation of computational craft. Through their projects and courses, they use computational sketches to connect with the past and imagine multiple possible futures.

Their work centers on the tools that enable creative coding—studying existing platforms while also designing and building new ones for artistic expression. Because the tools they create today shape the art of tomorrow, their current research delves into generative form, machine learning, and augmented reality, with a focus on uncovering the poetic potential of these emerging technologies.

Explore some of the latest research from the group that uses typography and digital tools to create interactive, creative, and immersive work in Future Type.

Located in our Martin J. (1959) and Eleanor C. Gruber Gallery.