EXHIBIT INTRO

A longstanding motivation of design—and one that is plain in recent developments in technology and design for sustainable behavior—is the improvement of social well-being through the designed world. This aim has inspired utopian design movements throughout history, which have sought to improve society through built form, be it architecture, furniture, or city planning. The contrasting approaches of the Arts and Crafts Movement (1880s-1910s) and Modernism (1920s-30s) illustrate the diverse interpretations of social betterment manifest through design. William Morris led the Arts and Crafts movement of the late 19th century in England; inspired by thinkers like Augustic Pugin and John Ruskin, Morris and his followers sought to save the masses from the moral and physical toxins of industrial city life, envisioning a utopia where urban ills were cured by the return of rustic, authentic, and definitively un-industrial spaces and forms. Their designs thus privileged organic materials and hand-craftsmanship—the very opposite of Modernism’s embrace of technology and scientific form. Mod-ernist design first flourished in the early-mid 20th century, led by designers like Le Corbusier and Gerrit Rietveld. These designers conceived of their buildings, interiors, objects, and cities as capable of rejuvenating a ‘sickly’ society through a physical manifestation of rationality and purity.

UTOPIAN DESIGN

THIS EXHIBIT INCLUDES TWO ADJACENT IMMERSIVE DISPLAYS OF CONTRASTING UTOPIAN DESIGN MOVEMENTS. FURNITURE, MATERI-ALS, AND ARCHITECTURAL AND CITY PLANS AND IMAGES REPRESENTING THE VERNACULAR OF EACH. THE ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLAYS WILL LINE TWO WALLS, WHICH WILL CONVERGE AT THE CENTER OF A CURVED THIRD WALL. AT THE CONVERGENCE, INTERACTIVE MEDIA SCREENS ON THE WALL OFFER VISITORS A CHANCE TO SWIPE THROUGH THE ARCHIVAL MATERIAL RELATING TO BOTH MOVEMENTS. STAND-ING KIOSKS OFFER LIBRARIES OF AUDIO AND VIDEOS OF DESIGNERS FROM BOTH MOVEMENTS, WHERE VISITORS CAN LEARN ABOUT THE POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES UNDERLYING THE MOVEMENTS, AND THEIR UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCES. INTERACTIVE ‘GAME’ SCREENS ALLOW VISITORS TO FIND OUT WHICH UTOPIAN MOVEMENT THEIR AESTHETIC PREFERENCES ALIGN WITH.

REFERENCES

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CHOOSE YOUR UTOPIA INTERACTIVE

ARCHIVAL AND AUDIO/VIDEO MATERIAL BROWSERS

Find out which utopian visionaries you would have followed. Does rationality and “pure” form look like utopia to you? Or do you crave the simplicity of the older times, before the onslaught of technology and the complications of modern life?

MOODBOARDS FOR IMMERSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL DISPLAYS

ARTS AND CRAFTS

MODERNISM