Letter from the editor 2022 - A Heartfelt Presence
Dear the MIT SA+P Community and beyond,
With every part of me filled with sparkling delight and excitement, I am humbled to continue out of frame (oof) as its editor for the 2022-2023 academic year. I hesitate, however, as I type and delete again and again the first few words of this letter.
I must admit that taking on such a responsibility is intimidating at first: amid the pandemic, oof has grown from its unique position situated in between the personal and the institutional. A space where many students (including myself) are comfortable sharing insights and feel confident that such thoughts embrace the presence of each other. The dedicated editors before me have put tremendous effort into nurturing the platform, adding their respective visions with each iteration. I am particularly honored to inherit their work, by continuing out of frame as a platform for you.
Almost a year has slipped since we started to carefully meet and greet each other in person, and out of frame has stayed online, by students and for students. As we continue with uncertainty into the fall, I wanted to think about out of frame’s presence in our community.
The question of presence is urgent, especially as the bounds of our community remain, unfortunately, closed to our neighbors. Therefore, out of frame remains as a digital platform so that it not only mediates your personal discoveries and ambitions but also echoes your presence outward. I hope that out of frame continues to serve as a safe, family-like space. It is here for you to scribble down otherwise fleeting ideas, revisit (or rediscover) old interests, develop key points for your thesis, take a stance on current events, experiment with formats, showcase cool projects, to plan out what to eat for tomorrow, to sing a song or to read a poem, and sharing it with everyone… or to take a break. A growing archive weaving in and out of our academic lives.
However, this does not mean that oof cannot be felt offline – watch out for different stickers available each month, and featured posts in print format on exhibit outside of the Department of Architecture’s office space. On that note, the redesigned website is inspired by sticky notes and polaroid photos.
Lastly, I wanted to express my sincerest thanks to the 2021-2022 editor, Angela Loescher-Montal, for all her guidance and sustained support over the summer. I am grateful to build from all the incredible work she has done.
With excitement, I look forward to supporting students through out of frame, and I encourage students from across MIT SA+P and beyond to submit their proposals for the fall 2022 column cycle.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Mingjia Chen, Editor for out of frame (2022-2023)