This symposium explores the spaces of artistic, artisanal, and intellectual production. From the artist’s studio to the alchemist’s lab, the stateroom to the secret chamber, the brick-and-mortar hall to the winding corridors of cyberspace, rooms and their contents have long influenced history and transformed their inhabitants. Held in conjunction with the special exhibition The Philosophy Chamber: Art and Science in Harvard’s Teaching Cabinet, 1766–1820 (May 19–December 31, 2017), this symposium brings together artists, architects, and historians to consider the spaces where objects and ideas are generated. Saturday, October 14, 2017, Menschel Hall, Harvard Art Museums Part 1: Rooms for Looking: Parlor/Museum/Studio • “‘No One Could Prevent Us Making Good Use of Our Eyes’: Enslaved Spectators and Southern Plantation Spaces,” Jennifer Van Horn, Assistant Professor of Art History and History, University of Delaware. • “The Room of Broken Bodies: Civil War Wounds, the Army Medical Museum, and Perceiving Re-Unification,” Julia B. Rosenbaum, Associate Professor and Chair, Art History, Bard College and Director of Research and Publications, The Olana Partnership, Olana State Historic Site. • “The Symposium on Habitability: Robert Irwin, NASA, and the Case of the Artist as a Meta-Scholar,” Boris Oicherman, Cindy and Jay Ihlenfeld Curator for Creative Collaborations, Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota. The symposium was presented as part of HUBweek 2017 (October 10–15). This project is supported in part by major grants from the Terra Foundation for American Art and the Henry Luce Foundation. For more details, please visit the Harvard Art Museums' calendar at https://www.harvardartmuseums.org/visit/calendar/the-room-where-it-happens-on-the-agency-of-interior-spaces