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Recontextualizing Design
The National Design Triennial asks, “Why Design Now?”
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The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum-Smithsonian brings us its fourth National Design Triennial in May 2010.
The Triennial program began in 2000 with the title and theme of “Design Culture Now” and proved to be a groundbreaking one-of-a-kind exhibition and forum for American design. It showcased 83 designers and firms based in the U.S. and highlighted the “current blurring of traditional boundaries through the exchange of techniques and ideas among once concrete disciplines.” Formulated with the premise of marking milestones in the development of American design, it also presented us with a historical overview that was at the same time analytical.
The 2003 Triennial “Inside Design Now” explored the relationship between the conceptualized and the realized through its selection of works, primarily concerned with “technological innovations, artistic evolution, and cultural impact of design.” “Design Life Now” in 2006 dealt with the experimental, focusing on animation, robotics and even medical design, showing that the Triennial has been pushing boundaries and evolving over the decade.
Entitled “Why Design Now?” the 2010 exhibition will explore the work of designers who have been addressing human and environmental problems from 2006 onwards. In its myriad forms, including architecture, fashion, graphics and new media amongst other mediums, design will tackle issues such as energy, mobility, community, materials, prosperity, health and communication. A key word for this show is “simplicity,” the idea that economy of material and prosperity of ethical value go hand in hand seems to be the optimistic (if not idealistic) goal of this presentation.
The question posed in the title of the exhibition acknowledges several paradoxes at the heart of American design in terms of its role in a political context. By asking “Why design now?” the showcase simultaneously historicizes while also recognizing the urgency of the present or the “now”; it concerns itself with environmental issues, therefore saluting context but is also self-conscious about its distinctly American perspective.
This year’s National Design Triennial will surely be as provocative, dynamic and beautiful as its predecessors whilst forging new potential paths for the aesthetic and social impact of design.
The 2010 National Design Triennial has been organized by Cooper-Hewitt curators Ellen Lupton, Cara McCarty, Matilda McQuaid and Cynthia Smith and runs from May14, 2010-January 9, 2011.