Lady Gaga at MIT: A Polaroid Moment

“With aviator sunglasses hiding her eyes, lips painted fire-engine red, crystals dripping down her neck, and platinum blonde hair whisked to the side, the world-famous pop singer and recording artist Lady Gaga made a guest appearance to the MIT campus,” writes Ana Lyons ’12 in The Tech’s coverage of Lady Gaga’s June 30 visit.

Of course, she did not stop by to brush up on astro physics. Her visit was part of the buzz around the Polaroid Corporation’s recent gift of ten thousand items to MIT. As Polaroid’s creative director, Lady Gaga came to the MIT Museum to have her photo taken by a rare Polaroid 20x24 camera. The photo, pictured above, will remain on permanent display at the MIT museum, alongside other Polaroid items that span some 70 years of the company’s technological history.

Lady Gaga did sign a few autographs. Zhu Yan ’12 blogs about her Lady G encounter that included “Lady Gaga defacing my MIT ID with a permanent marker.”

What you can see now: Lady Gaga's portrait is part of a small display that opened in June called "Meet the Swinger....and other treasures from the Polaroid Collection." The display features about 3 dozen artifacts from the Model 95 (Polaroid's first) to the Model 300 (Polaroid'slatest) along with WW2 flying goggles (Polaroid made the lenses), prototypes, and favorites such as the SX-70 and One-Step cameras.

What's next: The MIT Museum expects to unveil a major Polaroid exhibit in 2013. The donated artifacts include original newsprint sketches by Polaroid founder Edwin H. Land and a range of instant-photography cameras.