Exhibitions

The Children's Museum. 300 Congress Street, 426-8855. Current exhibits include: Climbing Sculpture, a two-story suspended puzzle piece climbing maze; Climbing the Wall, a rock climbing exhibit; El Mercado De Barrio, a replica of a Latino neighborhood market in Boston; Teen Tokyo, an exhibition on fashion, food, sports, music, art, and school and family life for kids in Japan; Jump Up! Boston's Caribbean Carnival; and Powwow, an photo exhibition of Arapahoe and Shoshone Powwows.

Compton Gallery. 77 Mass Ave., M.I.T., Cambridge. 253-4444. Through March 17. "AIDS: The Challenge to Educate."

Hart Nautical Gallery. 55 Mass Ave., M.I.T., Cambridge. 253-5942. Ongoing. "Course 13, 1893-1993: From Naval Architecture to Ocean Engineering" and "Permanent Exhibition of Ship Models."

M.I.T. Museum. 265 Mass Ave., Cambridge. 253-4444. Through June 18. "From Louis Sullivan to SOM: Boston Grads Go to Chicago." Through drawings and artifacts, this exhibition explores the explosive growth of the city of Chicago in the last quarter of the 19th century and the contributions to this building boom by MIT and Boston architects.

Ongoing. "Holography: Artists and Inventors." "MIT Hall of Hacks." "Light Sculptures by Bill Parker." "Math in 3D: Geometric Sculptures by Morton G. Bradley, Jr." "Math Space."

Museum of Fine Arts. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 267-9300.

Through April 16. "Sweet Dreams: Bedcovers and Bed Clothes." This exhibition of quilts, coverlets, blankets, futon covers, lingerie and sleeping caps will be drawn primarily from the permanent collection.

Through May. "Monet Installation." The Museum's entire collection of paintings by Claude Monet will be installed in the impressionist galleries for the first time in nearly 20 years. No institution outside of France holds a larger collection of paintings by Monet than the MFA. The installation will be complimented by a selection of works by other impressionists such as Renoir, Degas, Manet and Gauguin.

Through May 7. "Emil Nolde: The Painter's Prints." Nolde, known for his vibrantly colored oil paintings and watercolors, will be the focus of the first major U.S. exhibition of one of the greatest modern German artist.

Through June 4. "Dennis Miller Bunker: American Impressionist." Featuring 50 of the artist's finest works, this exhibition will be the first comprehensive exhibition accompanied by an extensive catalogue.

Through June 25. "The Renaissance Print: France and Italy." This exhibition presents a provocative dialogue between French and Italian graphic works from the 16th century.

Through July 25, 1995." The Taste for Luxury: English Furniture, Silver and Ceramics, 1690-1790," exploring the influence of stylistic developments in the decorative arts through the 18th century.

Through Oct. 22. "Degrees of Abstraction: From Morris Louis to Mapplethorpe." The selection of objects and the installation of this exhibition will play "pure" abstraction against representaion.

Museum of Science. Science Park, Boston. 723-2500. Exhibits include "The Observatory," featuring infrared and ultrasonic sounds and images of unseen events; and "The Test Tube," an exhibit of some of the museum's work-in-progress for upcoming exhibits. Laser show "Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon," "The Police," "Lollapalaser," and "Dream On: The Music of Aerosmith." Omni Theater. Planetarium.