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International Art Treasures Web Magazine April 2005 |
Massive ChangeThe Future of Global Design
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Bruce Mau drinks raw sewage, imported from Singapore, proclaiming the beverage "absolutely delicious." As he says, "Now that we can do anything, what will we do?" We have the technology in a multitude of industries. How can we use it to address current issues? The goal is to provoke conversation, rather than provide the answer, though that is not overlooked. One method is how to take sewage in Singapore and turn it into refreshing water. |
Background
Bruce Grenville, Senior Curator of the Vancouver Art Gallery, discussed their involvement with Massive Change. "Design has a ubiquitous presence in contemporary life. One that guides our everyday actions, shaping our consciousness, reconfiguring the spaces and modifying our lives. The discussion that surrounds design rarely reflects the extent of it's affect. More often than not exhibition related discourse on design appears to concentrate on the celebration of the aesthetic economy of the designed object or to revel in our capacity to design each and every aspect of cultural life." Change was in the air. "The Vancouver Art Gallery wanted to produce an exhibition that would attend to what we perceived to be a significant evolution in the field of design. We wanted an exhibition that would establish a new benchmark in the discourse on design. We wanted an exhibition that would make a clear declaration about the future of design and its place in a global context. We wanted to work with a curator who had thought critically about the nature of contemporary design. A curator, who like us, acknowledged a significant shift in the field of design and a curator who was not afraid to make a comprehensive statement about the nature of design." Their choice was Bruce Mau.
Title: Segway HT Evolution, Movement Gallery
Photographer: Segway LLC
Image Courtesy: Bruce Mau Design
Matthew Teitelbaum, AGO director and CEO, said about Bruce Mau, "I am convinced that he is not somebody who sees the future, but I am convinced that he is somebody who will help lead us there." Matthew discussed the exhibit. "The context of Massive Change, like all good art, challenges the way we look at the world. The exhibition gets people talking about the possibilities and complexities of our planet, which is precisely the kind of dialogue the AGO strives to inspire."
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Bruce states "the ambition of the project was to start a conversation. Its taken on a life of its own." Adding, "The fact of this project is in the plural, it's really a collaborative project with the Institute without Boundaries." |
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He continues, "Two things were important for the project at the outset. One is that it is not about the visual as you imagine what design is today, it is no longer about the object, it's about the flow of material, the flow of energy, how things come to be. It's eventual erosion back to matter. Secondly, it's not about design, it's about the citizen. It's the realms of our lives that are being reshaped. That needs to be understood, thus the exhibit was developed around economies such as the economy of movement."
Title: Image Gallery at the Vancouver Art Gallery
Photographer: Vancouver Art Gallery
Image Courtesy: Bruce Mau Design
Massive Change is an innovative exploration of design and its changing impact upon contemporary culture. It examines the promise and power of design through eleven interconnected economies:
- Urbanism
- Manufacturing
- Movement
- Health and Living
- Energy
- The Image
- Materials
- The Military
- Information
- Markets
- Wealth and Power
Each economy has its own dedicated gallery in the exhibit.
The Singapore sewage is purified using a filament and the end result is refreshing water. Waste=Food! This is one of numerous design breakthroughs such as a cross-bred featherless chicken, self-cleaning glass, self-repairing plastic and so much more, that the exhibit celebrates.