“Designs for Different Futures” at Philadelphia Museum of Art
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The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting “Designs for Different Futures”, a show that looks at how designers play a role in shaping how we think about the future. It features some 80 works that address the challenges and opportunities we human“Designs for Different Futures” at Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art is currently hosting “Designs for Different Futures”, a show that looks at how designers play a role in shaping how we think about the future. It features some 80 works that address the challenges and opportunities we humans may come across in our future years, decades, and centuries. It opened on October 22 and runs through March 8, 2020.There are many questions which designers are currently striving to answer. Will technological advancements eventually augment or replace a broad range of human activities? Can intimacy be maintained at a distance? How can we negotiate privacy in a world in which the sharing and use of personal information has blurred every traditional boundary? How might we use design to help heal or transform ourselves, bodily and psychologically? How will we feed an ever-growing population?Via a selection of technological marvels, “Designs for Different Futures” tries to answer a few of these questions. The objects and plans on display provide design solutions for a number of possible scenarios. In some instances, designers’ proposals are born out of anxiety; others originate from a place of excitement about innovation. Timothy Rub, the George D. Widener Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Philadelphia Museum of Art has commented on how the exhibition will reverse the traditional historicizing function of a museum. In his words, “we often think of art museums as places that foster a dialogue between the past and the present, but they also can and should be places that inspire us to think about the future and to ask how artists and designers can help us think creatively about it.”The exhibition has been divided into 11 thematic sections - In “Resources”, visitors come across an inflatable pod measuring 15-ft in diameter. The work is part of “Another Generosity” (2018), first created by Finnish architect Eero Lunden and designed in this form in collaboration with Ron Aasholm and Carmen Lee. The pod slowly expands and contracts in the space, responding to changing levels of carbon dioxide exhaled around it. It serves as an indicator of our carbon emission. The section titled “Generations” looks at how choices that consumers make now can either benefit or harm those who come after us. It will feature a model of the “Svalbard Global Seed Vault,” a facility that stores the world’s largest collection of crop seeds.Speculations on the challenges of extra-terrestrial communication is the subject of the “Earths” section of the show. Notable works here include Lisa Moura’s “Alien Nation” (2016), an installation that showcases the typeface from the science-fiction film “Arrival”. “Bodies” will focus on our physiological and psychological aspects; how humans might look, feel, and function in different future scenarios. The “Intimacies” section considers our social and familial bonds and how technologies may affect love, family, and community. “Foods” deals with the future of our diet, and will feature an edible-insect farm, “Cricket Shelter,” by Terreform ONE.Additional sections of the exhibition include “Job,” “Cities,” “Materials,” “Power,” and “Data”.Organized by the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, and the Art Institute of Chicago, “Designs for Different Futures” will be presented at the Walker and the Art Institute of Chicago following its run in Philadelphia.The exhibition is on view through March 8, 2020, at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia, PA 19130, United States.For details, visit: https://www.blouinartinfo.com/galleryguide/philadelphia-museum-of-art/overviewClick on the slideshow for a sneak peek at the exhibition.https://www.blouinartinfo.com/ Founder: Louise Blouin Read more