Massive Change
The few pictures below are from the exhibit Massive Change at the Art Gallery of Ontario, which I went to see with a group of friends from my class. As the subtitle from the website puts it, the exhibit is about the future of global design. Design is quite essential to life and it can also be seen as an intrinsic part of our universe. There are however difference between natural design and those that humans have undertaken. We design, as a species, for different reasons. Creativity, practicality, profit, society, freedom, higher evolution, fame etc. What I got out of this exhibit was that in the past humankind has typically designed infrastructures, products, interfaces, information, society ... essentially systems of different scales... in a primarily binary methodology. Massive change is about making everyone realize that design is a holistic process which is continuous, dynamic, non-linear and it does not consist of a designer/client relationship but one in which everyone can contribute valuable input.
Systems should be designed looking not just at its current profit/revenue to your company; but at the social, economic, ecological, long-term and even political affects. Human psychology has also become a valuable design factor which used to be completely overlooked. Now designers are thinking moreso about human comfort, emotional and physical; and large scale social cultures that can develop from using a design. For example, the environmental movement although grassroots about 20-30 years ago has increasingly become part of the psyche since ecological sensitive designs have been brought forth. This requires not just industrial manufacturers or designers to somehow bring about changes on their own accord; but vocal user groups and activists that can leverage an ideological war against those that create simply for profit (and thus negatively affecting anything from human psyche, environment, degradation of infrastructures, large scale economy etc).
This is why design IS a social process that should not eliminate the masses; but allow it to give input and keep a check and balance (unlike communism, where the state determines what and how a product should be thus resulting in massive inefficiencies and deterioration of quality). Obviously, I don't mean that everyone is actively designing every single product; it is more about creating opportunities and a culture that is proactive and involved with the actual producers and designers.
Interestingly enough, the exhibit promotes paradoxical and contradictory design efforts. For example: capitalism and socialism perspectives, stem cells or not, human engineering or not, bioengineering of food or not. This is because monolithic viewpoints are not necessary but in fact promoting alternatives and competition. Keeping an open-mind while keeping the core purpose of design in mind: sustainability. It is very similar to Hegel's philosophy of the universe consisting of contrary elements: thesis and anti-thesis; which then eventually given into a synthesis (this ofcourse becomes a thesis itself which naturally has its own anti-thesis..and so on).
"Massive change is not about the world of design; it's about the design of the world" - exhibit slogan
They get brownie points from me for using a semi-colon in their slogan; aren't they cool.
Systems should be designed looking not just at its current profit/revenue to your company; but at the social, economic, ecological, long-term and even political affects. Human psychology has also become a valuable design factor which used to be completely overlooked. Now designers are thinking moreso about human comfort, emotional and physical; and large scale social cultures that can develop from using a design. For example, the environmental movement although grassroots about 20-30 years ago has increasingly become part of the psyche since ecological sensitive designs have been brought forth. This requires not just industrial manufacturers or designers to somehow bring about changes on their own accord; but vocal user groups and activists that can leverage an ideological war against those that create simply for profit (and thus negatively affecting anything from human psyche, environment, degradation of infrastructures, large scale economy etc).
This is why design IS a social process that should not eliminate the masses; but allow it to give input and keep a check and balance (unlike communism, where the state determines what and how a product should be thus resulting in massive inefficiencies and deterioration of quality). Obviously, I don't mean that everyone is actively designing every single product; it is more about creating opportunities and a culture that is proactive and involved with the actual producers and designers.
Interestingly enough, the exhibit promotes paradoxical and contradictory design efforts. For example: capitalism and socialism perspectives, stem cells or not, human engineering or not, bioengineering of food or not. This is because monolithic viewpoints are not necessary but in fact promoting alternatives and competition. Keeping an open-mind while keeping the core purpose of design in mind: sustainability. It is very similar to Hegel's philosophy of the universe consisting of contrary elements: thesis and anti-thesis; which then eventually given into a synthesis (this ofcourse becomes a thesis itself which naturally has its own anti-thesis..and so on).
"Massive change is not about the world of design; it's about the design of the world" - exhibit slogan
They get brownie points from me for using a semi-colon in their slogan; aren't they cool.
posted by fahd | 10:00 PM
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