Jonathan Nelson | Submerged

Jonathan Nelson, Submerged, 2026. Scrim rendering. Courtesy of the artist.
Jonathan Nelson, Submerged, 2026. Scrim rendering. Courtesy of the artist.

Submerged
Work by Jonathan Nelson (SMACT ’27)
Wiesner Student Art Gallery
September 2–25, 2026

In the Anthropocene, humans, microbes, soil, and water are entangled in a web of dependencies. Beneath the soil of this building lie dormant fungi, bacteria, and yeast—trapped within historic timber piles and submerged anaerobically below the groundwater line. Driven into artificial land on the site of a former tidal flat to build MIT, these piles now threaten this campus’s very foundation.

Submerged is a speculative fiction, imagining what might happen when dependencies unravel. As the groundwater drips away, fungi awaken and begin to feed on the foundations. The very ground beneath your feet begins to creak and crumble . . .

On Display: September 2–25, 2026 / Open 9:00am–9:00pm daily
Wiesner Student Art Gallery, Stratton Student Center, W20 Room 209, 84 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA

Opening Reception: September 14, 2026 / 5:00–7:00pm
Free and open to the public; no reservations needed.

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