Design
and the Elastic Mind
February 24 / May 12, 2008
Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York
In the past few decades,
individuals have experienced dramatic changes in some of the most established
dimensions of human life: time, space, matter, and individuality. Working
across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite
maps and nanoscale images, gleefully drowning in information, acting fast
in order to preserve some slow downtime, people cope daily with dozens
of changes in scale. Minds adapt and acquire enough elasticity to be able
to synthesize such abundance. One of design's most fundamental tasks is
to stand between revolutions and life, and to help people deal with change.
Designers have coped with these displacements by contributing thoughtful
concepts that can provide guidance and ease as science and technology
evolve. Several of them—the Mosaic graphic user's interface for
the Internet, for instance—have truly changed the world. Design
and the Elastic Mind is a survey of the latest developments in the field.
It focuses on designers' ability to grasp momentous changes in technology,
science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments
in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people
understand and use.
Design and the Elastic Mind
The exhibition will
highlight examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation,
examples based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future
responsibilities of design. Of particular interest will be the exploration
of the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale.
The exhibition will include objects, projects, and concepts offered by
teams of designers, scientists, and engineers from all over the world,
ranging from the nanoscale to the cosmological scale. The objects range
from nanodevices to vehicles, from appliances to interfaces, and from
pragmatic solutions for everyday use to provocative ideas meant to influence
our future choices. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated
catalogue.
Organized by Paola Antonelli, Curator, and Patricia Juncosa Vecchierini,
Curatorial Assistant, MoMA Department of Architecture and Design.
Graphic design catalogue by Irma Boom