Lauder has long been entwined with New York City's art institutions, serving as president and chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as various committees at the Met since the 1980s.

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But the dining room is now streamlined rather than dowdy, with large-scale contemporary art and dramatically lit wine racks serving as room dividers.

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Family visits at the weekend were as much cultural excursions as shopping expeditions: there were art galleries, restaurants serving foreign food and shelves stocked with exotic products from around the globe.

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In 1996, he returned to MIT, serving as the director of research at the Media Lab and taught courses on art and design.

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