Benedetta Tagliabue joins Merce Cunningham on stage.

Alfred Swenson and his late wife, Pao-Chi Chang, were drawn to the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) for one reason: Mies van der Rohe. Both studied architecture there under Mies during the 1950s.

Retrospectives, by their very name, entail a lengthy look back at an artist’s career. But Sol LeWitt: A Wall Drawing Retrospective, which was conceived by the Yale University Art Gallery and opened on November 16 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA), in North Adams, is looking ahead — 25 years ahead. This semipermanent exhibition will be on view at least that long.

Swiss designer Hannes Wettstein was not as well known as some of his contemporaries. But his work reached a wide audience, with designs that ranged from high-tech innovations and high-end furniture to more accessible consumer products like bicycles, lamps, pens, razors, and watches. His products, while simple and straightforward in appearance, were the result of a rigorous design process. On July 5, his life was cut short at the age of 50 after a lengthy battle with cancer.