The Polaroid Project:

At the Intersection of Art & Technology

A color photograph of four vertically-oriented abstract stapes, the bottom half of each is black, and the tops are blue, red, and yellow.
June 3–September 3, 2017
Second floor

The Polaroid Project surveys the history of the innovative photographic company Polaroid and its intersection with art, science, and technology during the second half of the 20th century. The company’s ability to create a camera-based image in one relatively seamless process revolutionized the ways photography was used by amateurs, artists, and professionals. Featuring a wide-ranging group of artists including Ansel Adams, Rien Bazen, Phillipe Halsman, Robert Mapplethorpe, and Andrea Wolff, The Polaroid Project showcases the diversity of works produced over several decades and a variety of image sizes and formats, highlighting the rich legacy of technological and artistic experimentation that the company enabled prior to its obsolescence.

Pulls (CMY), 1997

Polaroid 20 x 24

A color photograph of four vertically-oriented abstract stapes, the bottom half of each is black, and the tops are blue, red, and yellow.

Guy Bourdin

Charles Jourdan, 1978, 1978

C-Print on Fujiflex paper

A color photograph of a White hand with red fingernails holding a black-and-white photo of a Woman walking in front of empty storefronts up in front of empty storefronts.

Dennis Hopper

Los Angeles, Back Alley, 1987

Polaroid SX-70

A color Polaroid photograph of a sidewalk, faded fence, telephone pole, palm tree, and the roofs of houses and other structures.

Mark Klett

Contemplating the view at Muley Point, Utah 1994, 1994

Polaroid Type 55 negative

A black-and-white photograph taken from under a cliff ledge showing feet dangling over with canyon rock formations in the distance.

David Levinthal

Untitled, 1983-85

Polaroid SX-70

A very soft-focus color photograph of a model of a street corner movie theater with cars parked nearby and people on the sidewalk.

Barbara Crane

Private Views, 1981

Polaroid Polacolor 4x5 film Type 58

A close-cropped color photograph of the hips and thigh of a White adult next to a White child wearing an orange sun visor with yellow wings and a balloon string around their wrist.

André Kertész

August 13, 1979, 1979

Polaroid SX-70

An abstract color photograph of a glass heart with a photo or painting of a blue eye in the center.

Installation Photos

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From the Shop

The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology

The Polaroid Project provides a unique perspective on the Polaroid phenomenon—a technology, an art form, a convergence of both—and its enduring cultural legacy.

Cover of the book titled, "The Polaroid Project: At the Intersection of Art and Technology."
All Exhibitions

This exhibition has been organized by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Minneapolis/New York/Paris/Lausanne, in collaboration with the MIT Museum, Cambridge, Mass., and the WestLicht Museum for Photography, Vienna.