Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands (with Audio Description) Cooper Hewitt 2026-09-23 | Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands (with Audio Description)
A Conversation with Kongjian Yu, Landscape Architecture Winner Cooper Hewitt 2023-10-08 | Winner of the 2023 National Design Award for Landscape Architecture, Kongjian Yu is a globally recognized landscape designer, founder of Turenscape, and a founder of Peking University College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Several of Yu’s core ideas for nature-based climate adaptations, including the sponge city concept, have been implemented nationwide in China. In this illustrated talk, Yu will discuss his work and how his landscape architecture methods and ideas can help mitigate climate events such as flash floods, superstorms, and tidal surges. After a presentation of his work, Yu will be in conversation with Matilda McQuaid, Acting Director of Curatorial.
Communication Design Across Generations Cooper Hewitt 2023-10-05 | Explore communication design with some of the world’s most creative minds, with work spanning two centuries. Join 2023 National Design Award winners—Seymour Chwast, Design Visionary; Arem Duplessis, Communication Design; and Beatriz Lozano, Emerging Designer—in a conversation about how changes in communication design have shaped their work, as well as where they see the future of the field. Conversation moderated by Ellen Lupton, Curator Emerita, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.
Suzanne Tick: Making Materials Matter Cooper Hewitt 2023-10-03 | In conjunction with the current exhibition A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes, please join a contemporary textile designer and weaver who is equally acclaimed for her experimental approach to materials: Suzanne Tick. In an illustrated conversation with Susan Brown, Cooper Hewitt’s Acting Head of Textiles and co-curator of the exhibition, the program will consider Tick’s designs, how she has helped build sustainability into the contract textile industry, and how her handweaving practice intersects with her commercial designs. As Creative Director of Luum Textiles, Tick combines a cutting-edge approach to technology with industry-leading materials development, recycling, and reuse, with the goal of empowering designers and end-users to make the most sustainable choices whenever possible. In addition to her work in the contract fabrics market, Tick creates woven art from repurposed materials, including mylar balloons scavenged from area beaches. Her work has been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Cooper Hewitt, Museum of Arts and Design, Art Basel, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Samples of Tick’s commercial designs and artwork will be available to view and touch.
AN INFINITE ARCHIVE: A CONVERSATION WITH ES DEVLIN Cooper Hewitt 2023-09-21 | Es Devlin is an artist and stage designer whose multidisciplinary work spans theater, opera, sculpture, dance, arena concerts, and installations. Devlin’s art brings people together—whether in an intimate theatrical setting or a vast stadium venue—to form what she calls temporary societies, united through the experiences she creates. Join Devlin and contemporary design curator Andrea Lipps as they discuss how together they developed Devlin’s first monographic exhibition, An Atlas of Es Devlin, for Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum alongside its accompanying publication, published with Thames & Hudson. This conversation will touch on three decades of Devlin’s extraordinary creative works and processes. It will highlight the transformative role of Devlin’s extensive archive in shaping the exhibition, the stories it tells about Devlin’s art, and how she invites public participation in her multi-genre, communal works to encourage profound experiences, both individually and collectively.
Watercolor Maps by Stamen Design (with Audio Description) Cooper Hewitt 2023-08-30 | For an extended version: youtube.com/watch?v=LyIb3fQO-_k&t=1sStamen Design's founder Eric Rodenbeck discusses the inspiration behind the design of Watercolor Maps, acquired in 2021 by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Watercolor Maps is a web-based open-source mapping tool designed by Stamen Design, a San Francisco-based data visualization and cartography design studio and winner of the 2017 National Design Award in Interaction Design. Launched in 2012, Watercolor Maps is one of three styles in the maps.stamen.com series that offers searchable, zoomable, and downloadable maps available online for free under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. The watercolor style imbues the digital map with the irregularities and textures of a hand-painted object. Hand-painted watercolor washes using a variety of brushes and papers were translated into the map tiles through complex digital image manipulation, scripted by Stamen designers. Watercolor Maps recaptures the tactility and hand-hewn nature of physical maps, qualities that are so often lost with digital maps. Water is rendered in blues mixed with turquoise and violet; green spaces are yellow, forest, and muddy greens; terrain is a combination of peaches, browns, and violet; motorways are oranges, reds, and browns; buildings are lavender gray. The color washes retain the texture of rough paper-- with darker tones where the pigment accumulated, dispersing in lighter hues, the edges soft, yet still defined. The expressiveness of the map’s design not only enhances but drives its function. Map images taken from Watercolor Maps have been used in thousands of open-source projects around the world.Visual description of Eric Rodenbeck:A white man with a long red beard, and medium-long hair combed back. He wears a dark grey suit with red pinstripes. Over his left shoulder is a large screen displaying the Watercolor Maps website. He speaks off-camera from left to right, and briefly uses a mouse to manipulate screen behind him.
A DARK, A LIGHT, A BRIGHT: Unusual Occupations with Dorothy Liebes Cooper Hewitt 2023-07-27 | For visual descriptions, please visit:youtu.be/LbtfTMIaU_cThis 1946 entry of the "Unusual Occupations" series follows American textile designer, color authority and master weaver Dorothy Liebes and details her hand weaving process. Dorothy Liebes, A DARK, A LIGHT, A BRIGHT is now on view through Sunday, February 4, 2024
Engage youth to be innovators in their communities. Cooper Hewitt 2023-07-27 | An Introduction to the Smithsonian's Youth Innovation in Rural America Toolkits. These free resources were developed by Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street and Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and offer educators tools to work with youth and build connections to communities.Download the Designing for Change Toolkits:cooperhewitt.org/publications/designing-for-change-toolkitDownload the Youth Innovation in Rural America Toolkitsmuseumonmainstreet.org/YIRAResources
Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories with Adam Nathanial Furman and Joshua Mardell Cooper Hewitt 2023-07-17 | In celebration of Pride Month, join designer Adam Nathaniel Furman and architecture historian Joshua Mardell, editors of the recent publication Queer Spaces: An Atlas of LGBTQIA+ Places and Stories, to discuss why queer spaces are so important and how they compiled the diverse and international selection of spaces included in the book. For Queer Spaces, Furman and Mardell gathered together a community of contributors to share stories of spaces that range from the educational to the institutional to the re-appropriated, and more. With historic, contemporary, and speculative examples from around the world, Queer Spaces recognizes LGBTQIA+ life past and present as strong, vibrant, vigorous, and worthy of its own place in history. Looking forward, it suggests visions of what form these spaces may take in the future to continue uplifting queer lives.Adam Nathaniel FurmanFurman is an artist and designer based in London who founded an atelier that creates projects of all scales from plates to skyscrapers, in various locations around the world from Tokyo to Milan. Dr. Joshua MardellMardell is an architectural historian. He is a Research Tutor in the School of Architecture at the Royal College of Art, and co-editor of the Journal of Architecture. He has published widely on 19th and 20th century architecture including in AA Files, Architectural History, The Journal of Architecture, and the Antiquaries Journal.George Benson (Moderator), Assistant Educator, Learning & Engagement Department, The Museum of Modern ArtGeorge Benson has worked at some of the largest museums in the world, advocating for greater representation of LGBTQIA+ people, history, and culture in each of them. At The British Museum, Benson advised on their first LGBTQIA+ exhibition, which overviewed 10,000 years of queer history from across the world. At The Museum of Modern Art, Benson co-wrote their first ever public queer tour, inviting participants to discuss what makes an artwork queer. Benson has also written for the NYC LGBT Historic Sites project, a nonprofit organization that documents sites of historical significance to the LGBTQIA+ community across NYC.This event is made possible with major support from PwC Charitable Foundation.
A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes Cooper Hewitt 2023-07-05 | Dorothy Liebes was one of the most influential designers of the 20th century. This overview of her career as a handweaver, textile designer, and color authority explores her impact on the fields of architecture and interior design, fashion, and film.
A DARK, A LIGHT, A BRIGHT: THE DESIGNS OF DOROTHY LIEBES Cooper Hewitt 2023-07-04 | Designer and weaver Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972), who introduced handcraft and brilliant color to the modern interior, was among the most influential designers of the 20th century. The “Liebes Look”—which combined vivid color, lush texture, and often a glint of metallic—became inextricably linked with the American modern aesthetic. Liebes collaborated with the most prominent architects and designers of the mid-20th century, shaping American tastes in areas from interiors to transportation and industrial design, fashion, and film, and worked with dozens of U.S. firms to make her fabrics available at affordable prices. Despite widespread recognition during her lifetime, the details of her long and productive career are largely unknown. This exhibition will establish for the first time the full scope of her contributions as a designer, collaborator, mentor, public figure, and tireless promoter of American modernism.A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes is made possible by The Coby Foundation; The Decorative Arts Trust; the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative, a program of the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum; and the Terra Foundation for American Art.The project received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care and Preservation Fund, administered by the National Collections Program and the Smithsonian Collections Advisory Committee.Generous support is provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation; the Lenore G. Tawney Foundation; Mergentime Family Archive; and the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, administered by the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation.Support is also provided by Elizabeth Whelan, The Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, and Patsy Orlofsky.
2023 National High School Design Competition Presentations Cooper Hewitt 2023-06-12 | The 2023 National High School Design Competition challenged high school students around the country to use design and data to support their community. Watch the finalists deliver their final presentations and stay tuned for the announcement of the winner at the end of the video. The finalists are: Yoona (Sarah) Lee, grade 11, St. Paul’s School, Concord, NH, and Yoojung (Claris) Shin, grade 10, Phillips Academy Andover, Andover, MA; Eleanor Lewis, grade 12, Design and Architecture Senior High, Miami, FL; and Rori Stanford, grade 12, Bergen County Academies, Hackensack, NJ.The judges are: Irene, Au, Design Partner, Khosla Ventures; Kristine Johnson, Co-Founder, Executive Director of Design, Cognition Studio, Inc.; Yeshimabeit Milner, Founder & Executive Director, Data for Black Lives; Maria Nicanor, Director, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum; Eric Rodenbeck, Founding Partner, Stamen DesignTo learn more, visit www.cooperhewitt.org/designcompetition.
Designing Gender Inclusive Spaces Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-26 | How does design impact gendered experience? Or rather, how does gendered experience impact design? Historically, design has neglected the needs of women, girls, transgender people, and gender minorities. In recent years, designers have worked to change gender-biased systems in their practice. View a conversation with architects and urban designers as they consider the role that design plays in creating safe and inclusive spaces for all genders. This panel was held in conjunction with Cooper Hewitt’s Designing Peace exhibition. In context of their work, panelists discuss the obligation that architects and designers have in protecting the public’s health, welfare, and safety. Lori Brown speaks on safe access to abortion clinics. Seb Choe discusses the equitable design of public restrooms. Chelina Odbert shares about gender-inclusive urban planning. Cooper Hewitt curator Cynthia E. Smith moderates the discussion and audience Q&A. SPEAKERS Lori Brown’s (she/her) creative practice examines the relationships between architecture and social justice with an emphasis on gender and its impact on spatial relationships. She is the author of Contested Spaces: Abortion Clinics, Women’s Shelters and Hospitals, the editor of Feminist Practices: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Women in Architecture and the forthcoming Bloomsbury Global Encyclopedia of Women in Architecture, 1960-2015 co-edited with Dr. Karen Burns. She co-founded and leads ArchiteXX, a gender equity in architecture organization in New York City. Brown is a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects and a 2021 Architectural League of New York Emerging Voices recipient. She is a Professor at the School of Architecture at Syracuse University and a registered architect in New York state. Seb Choe (they/them) is an architectural activist and community organizer based in New York and Hawai’i. Choe is Associate Director of JSA/MIXdesign, an architecture studio and inclusive design consultancy that works to make everyday building types, including restrooms, university campuses, and art museums, accessible and welcoming to people of different ages, cultures, disabilities, genders, and religions. Choe is a director with Friends of Gadsden Creek, an environmental justice campaign based in Charleston, and regularly works as an educator with marginalized youth across the country. Choe’s creative practice, which spans music, film, and writing, has been featured in The New York Times, 99% Invisible, PIN-UP Magazine, and the 2021 Venice Biennale. Choe holds a B.A in Architecture from Columbia University. Chelina Odbert (she/her) believes in the power of community-engaged design to advance racial, environmental, and economic equity in neighborhoods and cities. As Founding Principal and Chief Executive Officer of National Design Award-winning firm Kounkuey Design Initiative (KDI), she aims to bring good design to under-resourced communities and connects localized design interventions to large-scale policy change. Recognized by the Aspen Institute, Ashoka Changemakers, and Van Alen Institute, she has also been named an Emerging Voice by The Architectural League of New York and a Knight Foundation Public Space Fellow. Odbert has held teaching appointments at Harvard Graduate School of Design and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. She earned a BA from Claremont McKenna College and a Master of Urban Planning from Harvard University. Cynthia E. Smith (Moderator) (she/her) serves as Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design organizing an exhibition and publication series on humanitarian-focused design. She integrates her training as an industrial designer with her advocacy on human rights and social justice issues, serves on international design juries, and lectures widely on socially responsible design. Her most recent exhibition Designing Peace is on view in New York until August 2023.
Deconstructing Power: An Evening with Mona Chalabi Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-23 | Tune in to a conversation with data journalist Mona Chalabi and curators Christina L. De León and Devon Zimmerman as they celebrate the closing of Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World’s Fair. The exhibition places decorative arts from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection in dialogue with 20 innovative data visualizations that Du Bois created for the 1900 Paris World’s Fair to explore how design can both reveal and mask dynamics of power and equity. Through the lens of Chalabi’s contemporary data visualizations, the panelists discuss the enduring legacy of Du Bois’ work and data as a source of power in today’s world.
W. E. B. Du Boiss Data Portraits: A Conversation with Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-10 | In W. E. B. Du Bois’s Data Portraits: Visualizing Black America (Princeton Architectural Press, 2018), editors Whitney Battle-Baptiste and Britt Rusert brought together the first complete publication of Du Bois’s groundbreaking charts, graphs, and maps presented at the 1900 Paris Exposition. A selection of Du Bois’ pioneering data visualizations are currently on display at Cooper Hewitt in the exhibition Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World’s Fair. Tune into a conversation with the editors as they discuss these data portraits through the lens of Du Bois’s life, work, and scholarship.
Madeleine Moore-Burrell Documentary: So Good, So Far, 2015 Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-09 | For visual descriptions, please visit: youtu.be/FI7TjjaGOnkIn the mid-1960s, Madeleine Moore-Burrell began her career in industrial design at Henry Dreyfuss’s firm in New York City, where she was the only woman of color on staff. She contributed to the design of important new symbols for major clients including American Airlines, John Deere, Polaroid, and Singer Manufacturing Company. Her symbols for camera functions were suggested as the international standard in the Symbol Sourcebook’s Photography section. Watch and hear Madeleine Moore-Burrell talk about how her experiences with dyslexia gave her the insight to advise Henry Dreyfuss on the development and readability of symbol designs.
What Emoji Are Missing from Your Keyboard? Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-09 | For video descriptions, please visit:youtu.be/AwTE9b8zuLgEmoji are picture-based characters that have transformed our online communication by instantly conveying details about who we are, how we are feeling, and what we believe in. The governing body Unicode Consortium annually approves and standardizes each new emoji, but anyone can submit a design. Watch and hear the stories of designers who have made it possible for more people to see themselves and the causes that they care about on the emoji keyboard.
Our Search for Symbols Cooper Hewitt 2023-05-09 | Symbols are important communication tools in our daily lives, constantly evolving based on new needs and users. Symbols have the power to instruct, protect, entertain, connect, and even divide us. From 1969 to 1972, the visionary designer Henry Dreyfuss (American, 1904–1972) oversaw the making of the Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols, a manual that compiled and categorized thousands of symbols in use internationally. The Symbol Sourcebook wasn’t meant to be the final say on symbols. In fact, Henry Dreyfuss hoped that the project would inspire others to explore how important these tools are in our daily lives.
DECONSTRUCTING POWER: USING DATA IN THE CLASSROOM Cooper Hewitt 2023-04-11 | Data shapes our world. W. E. B. Du Bois’ pioneering data visualizations —currently on display in the exhibition Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World’s Fair —use shape, line, and color to showcase the success Black Americans had achieved despite facing pervasive racism in the United States and the global community. This professional development focuses on how Du Bois and the work of other data storytellers can help our students translate complex facts and figures into powerful imagery that can help them better understand themselves and their communities. Speakers include Christina L. De León, Acting Deputy Director of Curatorial and Associate Curator of Latino Design, and members of the museum’s Learning team. Recommended for educators of all disciplines in grades 5-12. Lesson Plan: cooperhewitt.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/Deconstructing-Power-Lesson-Plan-5-12.pdfAdditional Resources: cooperhewitt.org/design-competition-teacher-and-student-resources
Designing Place, Considering Power Cooper Hewitt 2023-04-07 | How can design create spaces that are peaceful, safe, and equitable for everyone? What role do designers and creatives have in contributing to systems of power within placemaking? Join us for a conversation on the importance of place and power when designing for public dialogues and spaces. This virtual panel discussion is being held in conjunction with Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition Designing Peace. Panelists will present examples of their own creative work that have sought to support more just and inclusive places. Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski will share about their project Conflict Kitchen. Bryan C. Lee Jr. will discuss Paper Monuments. Jonas Staal will share about New World Summit – Rojava. Jamie Bennett will moderate the discussion and audience Q&A. About the Speakers Jamie Bennett (Moderator) works at the intersections of nonprofits, philanthropy, and the public sector with arts, culture, and community development. Bennett, former Executive Director of ArtPlace America, has held leadership positions at the Agnes Gund Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York Philharmonic, and United States Artists. He sits on the board and advisory councils for the David Rockefeller Fund, HERE Arts Center, The Heritage Center (Itówapi Owápazo) of the Red Cloud Indian School, the Make Music Alliance, the Starfish Accelerator, The Nature of Cities, and Weeksville Heritage Center. Bryan C. Lee Jr. is an architect, educator, writer, and design justice activist. He is the Founder and Design Principal of Colloqate Design, a nonprofit design practice. Lee Jr. is also a founding organizer of the Design As Protest Collective and Dark Matter University. He has led two award-winning architecture and design programs for high school students through the Arts Council of New Orleans (local) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (national), respectively. He is the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) South Vice President. Lee Jr. is the recipient of many awards and fellowships including the 2018 Fast Company Most Creative People in Business, the youngest firm to win the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award in 2019, and the 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Emerging Designer. Jon Rubin is an interdisciplinary artist whose public initiatives create platforms for collaboration, participation, and exchange. He has exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Mercosul Biennial, Brazil; the Shanghai Biennial; the Carnegie International, The Lyon Biennale; the Solomon Guggenheim Museum; as well as in backyards, living rooms, and street corners. He recently collaborated with Iranian-based artist Sohrab Kashani on The Other Apartment, a Creative Capital funded project occurring both in Tehran, Iran and Pittsburgh, PA. Rubin’s work has been reported on internationally by outlets including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, La Repubblica, and Al Jazeera. Rubin is a professor and chair of the Social Practice area in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Jonas Staal is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, propaganda, and democracy. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp Training for the Future (2018-ongoing). With human rights lawyer Jan Fermon, he initiated the collective action lawsuit Collectivize Facebook (2020-ongoing). With writer and lawyer Radha D’Souza, he founded the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (2021-ongoing) and with Laure Prouvost, he is co-administrator of the Obscure Union. Staal completed his PhD research on propaganda art at the PhDArts program of Leiden University, the Netherlands. Dawn Weleski co-founded and co-directed Conflict Kitchen. Their practice administers a political stress test, analyzing cultural behavior by staging underground brawls, revolutionary protests, and political offices as transformative social scenes. Previous work includes City Council Wrestling, a series of public wrestling matches where residents, wrestlers, and city council members personified their political passions into wrestling characters. They also worked on Fair Share Fare, a food futures research and climate emergency relief collective. Weleski has worked in hospitality and food service for over 25 years. Their current work as a bartender, baker, line cook, house cleaner, and emergency medical technician impacts their work with emergentCNY, a Central New York mutual aid network that exchanges goods and services during times of ever-present crisis.
Designing Place, Considering Power Cooper Hewitt 2023-03-31 | How can design create spaces that are peaceful, safe, and equitable for everyone? What role do designers and creatives have in contributing to systems of power within placemaking? Join us for a conversation on the importance of place and power when designing for public dialogues and spaces. This virtual panel discussion is being held in conjunction with Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition Designing Peace. Panelists will present examples of their own creative work that have sought to support more just and inclusive places. Jon Rubin and Dawn Weleski will share about their project Conflict Kitchen. Bryan C. Lee Jr. will discuss Paper Monuments. Jonas Staal will share about New World Summit – Rojava. Jamie Bennett will moderate the discussion and audience Q&A. About the Speakers Jamie Bennett (Moderator) works at the intersections of nonprofits, philanthropy, and the public sector with arts, culture, and community development. Bennett, former Executive Director of ArtPlace America, has held leadership positions at the Agnes Gund Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, the New York Philharmonic, and United States Artists. He sits on the board and advisory councils for the David Rockefeller Fund, HERE Arts Center, The Heritage Center (Itówapi Owápazo) of the Red Cloud Indian School, the Make Music Alliance, the Starfish Accelerator, The Nature of Cities, and Weeksville Heritage Center. Bryan C. Lee Jr. is an architect, educator, writer, and design justice activist. He is the Founder and Design Principal of Colloqate Design, a nonprofit design practice. Lee Jr. is also a founding organizer of the Design As Protest Collective and Dark Matter University. He has led two award-winning architecture and design programs for high school students through the Arts Council of New Orleans (local) and the National Organization of Minority Architects (national), respectively. He is the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) South Vice President. Lee Jr. is the recipient of many awards and fellowships including the 2018 Fast Company Most Creative People in Business, the youngest firm to win the Architectural League’s Emerging Voices award in 2019, and the 2021 Cooper Hewitt National Design Award for Emerging Designer. Jon Rubin is an interdisciplinary artist whose public initiatives create platforms for collaboration, participation, and exchange. He has exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Mercosul Biennial, Brazil; the Shanghai Biennial; the Carnegie International, The Lyon Biennale; the Solomon Guggenheim Museum; as well as in backyards, living rooms, and street corners. He recently collaborated with Iranian-based artist Sohrab Kashani on The Other Apartment, a Creative Capital funded project occurring both in Tehran, Iran and Pittsburgh, PA. Rubin’s work has been reported on internationally by outlets including The New York Times, The Boston Globe, La Repubblica, and Al Jazeera. Rubin is a professor and chair of the Social Practice area in the School of Art at Carnegie Mellon University. Jonas Staal is a visual artist whose work deals with the relation between art, propaganda, and democracy. He is the founder of the artistic and political organization New World Summit (2012–ongoing). Together with Florian Malzacher he co-directs the training camp Training for the Future (2018-ongoing). With human rights lawyer Jan Fermon, he initiated the collective action lawsuit Collectivize Facebook (2020-ongoing). With writer and lawyer Radha D’Souza, he founded the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes (2021-ongoing) and with Laure Prouvost, he is co-administrator of the Obscure Union. Staal completed his PhD research on propaganda art at the PhDArts program of Leiden University, the Netherlands. Dawn Weleski co-founded and co-directed Conflict Kitchen. Their practice administers a political stress test, analyzing cultural behavior by staging underground brawls, revolutionary protests, and political offices as transformative social scenes. Previous work includes City Council Wrestling, a series of public wrestling matches where residents, wrestlers, and city council members personified their political passions into wrestling characters. They also worked on Fair Share Fare, a food futures research and climate emergency relief collective. Weleski has worked in hospitality and food service for over 25 years. Their current work as a bartender, baker, line cook, house cleaner, and emergency medical technician impacts their work with emergentCNY, a Central New York mutual aid network that exchanges goods and services during times of ever-present crisis.
Illuminating Du Bois: Examining the Legacy of a Sociologist through Research and Design Cooper Hewitt 2023-02-22 | "Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World’s Fair" places decorative arts from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection in dialogue with 20 of W. E. B. Du Bois’ innovative data visualizations. On loan from the Library of Congress, these groundbreaking visualizations document the progress of Black Americans and life inside the veil of systemic oppression. This conversation, hosted by Cooper Hewitt and Smithsonian Libraries and Archives, highlights the legacy of Du Bois’ work as a sociologist and historian, which has inspired researchers and designers across disciplines.Moderated by Lanisa Kitchiner, consulting curator of Deconstructing Power, this discussion marks the launch of Smithsonian Libraries and Archives’ Research Collections in Conversations series. Speakers include Hollis L. Gentry Brown, Nilda Lopez, Cheryl D. Miller, and Kara Tucina Olidge.
The Antique in Print: The Classical Past and the Visual Arts in the Long 18th Century Cooper Hewitt 2023-01-19 | Classical reliefs, sarcophagi, frescoes, coins, and gems were frequently copied and readapted by Renaissance artists from the 15th century onwards. Yet it was only in the age of the Enlightenment that a selection of them was canonized, illustrated, and diffused in Europe through antiquarian publications. Scholars and travelers on the Grand Tour viewed antiquity through the lens of these books. Their printed illustrations offered a range of images and symbolic references for artists, decorators, and architects whenever they wanted to quote the Antique in their creations.In this lecture, Dr. Adriano Aymonino explores how the print culture of the long 18th century shaped the visual and allegorical language of Neoclassicism. At the same time, he contextualizes Michel Angelo Pergolesi’s drawings and popular set of prints (Designs for Various Ornaments, 1777–1801). Dr. Julia Siemon, curator of Cooper Hewitt’s Mr. Pergolesi’s Curious Things: Ornament in 18th Century Britain provides a brief overview of the exhibition at the start of the program.About the SpeakersDr. Adriano Aymonino is Director of Undergraduate Programmes in the Department of History of Art at the University of Buckingham and Programme Director for the MA in the Art Market and the History of Collecting. He has curated several exhibitions, such as Drawn from the Antique: Artists and the Classical Ideal, held at the Sir John Soane’s Museum in London in 2015. His book Enlightened Eclecticism was published by Yale University Press in June 2021 and has won the 2022 William MB Berger Prize for British Art History. He is currently working on a revised edition of Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny’s Taste and the Antique (2023); and on a critical edition of Robert Adam’s Grand Tour correspondence, which will be hosted on the Sir John Soane’s Museum website (2024). He is also co-editor of the series Paper Worlds published by MIT Press and associate editor of the Journal of the History of Collections. Dr. Julia Siemon is Assistant Curator of Paintings at the J. Paul Getty Museum. Prior to joining the Getty, she was Assistant Curator of Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, where she organized Mr. Pergolesi’s Curious Things: Ornament in 18th Century Britain, on view through January 29, 2023. Previously, as Assistant Research Curator in the Department of European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she organized The Silver Caesars: A Renaissance Mystery (2017-18) and was editor and co-author of the related volume. Her other publications include contributions to The Medici: Portraits and Politics 1512–1570 (Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2021), and A Royal Renaissance Treasure and its Afterlives: The Royal Clock Salt (British Museum Research Publications, 2021). She holds a PhD from Columbia University (2015), where she specialized in Italian RenaissanceSpecial ThanksMr. Pergolesi’s Curious Things: Ornament in 18th-Century Britain is made possible with generous support from the Marks Family Foundation Endowment Fund.
Hector Guimards Standard-Construction System Cooper Hewitt 2022-11-15 | A photo album in Cooper Hewitt’s collection documents the construction of a prototype house in Paris, France, that demonstrates the principles of Standard-Construction, a patented modular building system designed by French architect Hector Guimard in the early 20th century. Like many architects of his time, Guimard explored the possibility for standardization and prefabrication to streamline the construction process with the aim of building more efficient and affordable housing in Paris. On view at Cooper Hewitt in the exhibition “Hector Guimard: How Paris Got Its Curves” through May 2023.
The History of Carnegie Hill Lecture with Keith Taillon of KeithYorkCity Cooper Hewitt 2022-10-27 | In this illustrated talk presented at Cooper Hewitt, historian Keith Taillon takes us through a history of the mansion built by Andrew Carnegie, the current home of the museum, placed within the greater timeline of New York City’s rapid growth and transformation during the period known as the Gilded Age (approximately 1870–1910). Why was it built here and when? What was the neighborhood like before Carnegie’s arrival? About the SpeakerKeith Taillon is a writer and historian in New York City. He holds degrees in History and Urban Planning, graduating with honors from New York’s Hunter College Master of Urban Planning program in 2019. His popular Instagram account @KeithYorkCity has more than 44,000 highly engaged followers. He is a licensed New York City Tour Guide and operates his own Manhattan walking tour company as KeithYorkCity. He is a writer for The Fifth Avenue Association and The Daily Beast and has been a guest lecturer at Cooper Hewitt, RAMSA, RoundTable Cultural Seminars, Parsons School of Design, and Landmark West. In 2022, he was a featured historian in the documentary series “American Dynasty,” discussing the lives and impact of the Vanderbilt family. He has been profiled by The New Yorker, The Times of London, Elle Decor, Condé Nast Traveler España, and Surface Magazine. He lives with his partner in Harlem. Special ThanksNational Design Week programs are made possible with major support from Adobe.Generous support is provided by The Hirsch Family Foundation and The Pinkerton Foundation.
Henry Dreyfuss: His Life with Symbols Cooper Hewitt 2022-09-28 | For audio descriptions, please visit:youtu.be/_kB4p_XTX-gAmerican industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss' (1904–1972) discipline-defining Symbol Sourcebook: An Authoritative Guide to International Graphic Symbols was published in 1972. Learn about the book's profound influence underpinning our current day immersion in emojis, icons, and symbols. Go behind the scenes, into Cooper Hewitt’s Henry Dreyfuss Archive to discover the design story and examine the legacy of Dreyfuss’ Symbol Sourcebook.
The Morse Historic Design Lecture | Jorge F. Rivas Pérez: Design by Transformation Cooper Hewitt 2022-09-19 | Design by Transformation: Inventiveness and Cultural Persistence in Spanish America The Morse Historic Design Lecture Series examines design and decorative arts from the Renaissance to the present.Celebrating the exhibition Foreign Exchange: 18th-Century Design on the Move, this lecture will examine the historical context that gave rise to the unique material culture of Spanish America during the colonial age (1500–1830). Dr. Jorge F. Rivas Pérez will highlight the originality, ingenuity, and visual traditions of local artists. He will explore how they contributed to the development of a new cross-cultural world after the profound processes of readjustment and transformation ensued from the conquest and colonization of the Americas. Among the works he will consider from Cooper Hewitt’s collection, include a Comb Case with Wigs and Lice Combs from 1671; an 18th-century Armchair, which is currently on view in Foreign Exchange; a 19th-century Peineta (Comb); an Incense Burner from 1823; and a 17th-century Casket, as well as objects from other American museums. About the SpeakerJorge F. Rivas Pérez, Ph.D.Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator and department head of Latin American Art, Denver Art MuseumAn art historian, architect, and designer, Jorge F. Rivas Pérez, Ph.D., is the Frederick and Jan Mayer Curator of Spanish Colonial Art and department head at the Denver Art Museum. He previously served as the curator of Spanish colonial art at the Colección Patricia Phelps de Cisneros in Venezuela, and as the associate curator of Latin American art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. He is the Latin American art editor and organizer of the Mayer Center Symposium program and publications and has curated exhibitions and contributed essays to publications on a wide range of Latin American art, architecture, design, and material culture topics. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, received his architecture degree from Universidad Central de Venezuela, master’s degree from the University of Florence, Italy, and his master of philosophy and Ph.D. from the Bard Graduate Center in New York City.Special ThanksThe Enid and Lester Morse Historic Design Lecture Series is made possible by the generous support of Mr. and Mrs. Lester S. Morse, Jr.
Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands (full film) Cooper Hewitt 2022-07-01 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/YZldXBwtuCk Set in the remote San Luis Valley of Colorado, Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands is Cooper Hewitt's first feature-length documentary film, and follows design studio Rael San Fratello’s experimentation with 3D-printing technology and traditional adobe architecture. The film offers an intimate, tactile look at Mud Frontiers, a project led by artist-architects Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello, who use 3D-printing technology to build adobe structures on Rael’s ancestral homelands in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. In an area where Indigenous and European colonists have historically lived both in harmony and in conflict with one another, Rael San Fratello reflect on this legacy to forge new methods of creative production.The film is presented by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum.To learn more about the project, and to download a classroom guide, please visit cooperhewitt.org/mud-frontier
Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvezs family blankets | Mud Frontier excerpt Cooper Hewitt 2022-07-01 | Dr. Estevan Rael-Gálvez shares the story of two family blankets that were handed down to him through generations.This video is an excerpt of the feature documentary Mud Frontier: Architecture at the Borderlands. To learn more, please visit cooperhewitt.org/mud-frontier
Papers, Please | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-07-01 | For audio description, please visit youtube.com/watch?v=tNyPqRpzr7Y Building empathy is the goal of the game Papers, Please. Rather than playing as an elite international spy, gamers take on the persona of a low-level border agent for the fictional communist state of Arstotzka. Tasked with deciding who can enter the country or be turned away and/or arrested, players are dropped into a complex scenario of borders, power dynamics, administrative operations, and moral dilemmas. By shifting the perspective around these politicized issues, the game sheds light on immigration questions and builds empathy for those affected, a central aim in conflict resolution and peace education.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.https://www.cooperhewitt.org/channel/...
Conflict Kitchen | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit: youtu.be/u9Uf33yWEn8 Conflict Kitchen, a takeout restaurant in Pittsburgh, served food from countries in conflict with the United States. From Afghanistan to Cuba, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (an alliance of six Indigenous nations—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora), Iran, North Korea, Palestine, and Venezuela, the restaurant’s rotating identities included not only changes in menu, but events and performances, which offered further engagement with the cultures and issues at stake in those regions. Using food to bring people together, the kitchen encouraged learning and exchange, and ultimately confronted the limited and often biased understanding among people for the “other’s” culture.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Teeter-Totter Wall | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Two communities in Mexico and the United States, long separated by a border wall, came together to play on three oversized teeter-totters that spanned the US-Mexico border. The wall itself acted as a fulcrum for the teeter-totter installation. Echoing US-Mexico relations, movements and actions taken on one side of the border directly impacted the other, as children and adults alike enjoyed the see-saws. The installation temporarily transformed this small section of the border into a space of hope and elation, exposing the borderlands as a place where women and children live with dignity in spite of the xenophobia and violence perpetuated by the wall and its construction.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023. cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
RefAid App | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/cT77g1J8DKw RefAid is a mobile application designed with the understanding that people fleeing conflict often travel with few possessions except a phone. The app shows refugees, and those who help them, where services are nearby, geolocating them on a map. Available in a growing number of languages, the interface uses simple, color-coded icons to indicate necessities such as food, shelter, toilets/showers, and legal help. The app has transformed the speed with which organizations can update their services and communicate with people on the move in realtime by aggregating information into a single platform, pushing the entire sector to be more digital.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Recoding Post-War Syria | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Recoding Post-War Syria is a research and open-data platform that offers a new process for rethinking and revitalizing cities in the wake of conflict. After witnessing firsthand the destructive legacy of war in their own cities of Damascus, Syria, and Beirut, Lebanon, two architects propose a new methodology that fuses state-of-the-art technology and community participation to plan, design, and rebuild damaged post-conflict cities. Challenging typical rebuilding approaches that demolish entire neighborhoods, the studio aims to recycle the rubble and use existing functional buildings. Advanced 3D scanning and digital modeling of the destruction provides an accurate reconstruction plan.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Regreening Africa | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.More than 80 percent of people living in sub-Saharan Africa are dependent on land, yet almost half of the land is degraded, making the soil vulnerable to droughts, storms, and nutrient deficiencies. This massive loss of productive land increases competition for dwindling resources, which can lead to migration and conflict. The Regreening Africa initiative was developed to meet this urgent challenge. Its mobile app tracks and disseminates local and scientific knowledge. Farmers can record and share their own proven regreening approaches and applied restoration efforts. Collected data is analyzed to adjust and optimize the sustainable practices underway.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
HarassMap | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.After experiencing daily sexual harassment on Egypt’s streets, four women designed an online crowd-mapped anonymous reporting system, HarassMap. Anyone can share an incident—via text message, online, email, and social media—noting the location, date and time, giving either a personal or witness account, and telling whether an intervention occurred. The posts are then geotagged and aggregated to reveal harassment hotspots on a digital map. The anonymity of the reporting platform has eased the burden of a topic that can be taboo, and the posts provide clear evidence to instigate social and policy changes that can lead to more secure and safe public spaces for all.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Island Tracker | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/47uih1p_MMc Island Tracker is an innovative, public-facing online tool, part of the Center’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative that uses easily attained commercial satellite imagery to record activity in the South China Seas—one of the world’s most disputed waterways. The Tracker documents artificial island building and construction projects, such as new airstrips and ports, in the almost 70 disputed reefs and islands to which China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam lay claim. By increasing transparency in these remote locations, the tracker helps to prevent miscalculations and discourages assertive behavior, instead generating opportunities for collective actions that support regional stability.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
STALLED! | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Public restrooms have been at the center of societal shifts for decades—the latest debate concerns transgender individuals using facilities that align with their gender identity. In response, Stalled!, an ongoing design and research initiative, considers the cultural, political, and historical aspects of restroom designs. By placing restrooms within broader discussions about who public spaces are designed for, working with experts from the humanities, law, medicine, and public health, the Stalled team is reimagining the relationship between people and the built environment. Their work focuses on designing safe, inclusive gathering places for people of different ages, genders, races, cultures, religions, and abilities.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
RefAid App | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.RefAid is a mobile application designed with the understanding that people fleeing conflict often travel with few possessions except a phone. The app shows refugees, and those who help them, where services are nearby, geolocating them on a map. Available in a growing number of languages, the interface uses simple, color-coded icons to indicate necessities such as food, shelter, toilets/showers, and legal help. The app has transformed the speed with which organizations can update their services and communicate with people on the move in realtime by aggregating information into a single platform, pushing the entire sector to be more digital.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Teeter-Totter Wall | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/y0qqMKNPiqkTwo communities in Mexico and the United States, long separated by a border wall, came together to play on three oversized teeter-totters that spanned the US-Mexico border. The wall itself acted as a fulcrum for the teeter-totter installation. Echoing US-Mexico relations, movements and actions taken on one side of the border directly impacted the other, as children and adults alike enjoyed the see-saws. The installation temporarily transformed this small section of the border into a space of hope and elation, exposing the borderlands as a place where women and children live with dignity in spite of the xenophobia and violence perpetuated by the wall and its construction.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
New World Summit–Rojava | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.New World Summit – Rojava consists of the design and construction of a new public parliament for the stateless government of Rojava in northern Syria—an alliance of Kurdish revolutionaries, Assyrians, and Arabs—and served as the location for an international summit that aimed to confront common crises through power and resource sharing with a diversity of peoples. Described by one of its revolutionary leaders as the “People’s Parliament of Rojava,” the circular, open public forum embodies this new democracy’s foundational value of collective self-representation, not a separate space for elite representatives but one for all to gather, to imagine new worlds and bring them to life.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
STALLED! | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/Q1q_vlvjp9gPublic restrooms have been at the center of societal shifts for decades—the latest debate concerns transgender individuals using facilities that align with their gender identity. In response, Stalled!, an ongoing design and research initiative, considers the cultural, political, and historical aspects of restroom designs. By placing restrooms within broader discussions about who public spaces are designed for, working with experts from the humanities, law, medicine, and public health, the Stalled team is reimagining the relationship between people and the built environment. Their work focuses on designing safe, inclusive gathering places for people of different ages, genders, races, cultures, religions, and abilities.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Ideas Box | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Ideas Box is a portable library and pop-up multimedia center that can be easily shipped, is energy independent, and can be set up in 20 minutes. It was designed to be deployed to areas of hardship—refugee camps, isolated communities, underserved urban spaces, and remote Indigenous peoples’ land around the world. Each box’s contents are tailored to the community’s needs. Ideas Box has been distributed across six continents, offering free access to information, culture, and educational resources, which are key tools in promoting healing and building more tolerant communities.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
New World Summit–Rojava | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/Qws-PVqNLQUNew World Summit – Rojava consists of the design and construction of a new public parliament for the stateless government of Rojava in northern Syria—an alliance of Kurdish revolutionaries, Assyrians, and Arabs—and served as the location for an international summit that aimed to confront common crises through power and resource sharing with a diversity of peoples. Described by one of its revolutionary leaders as the “People’s Parliament of Rojava,” the circular, open public forum embodies this new democracy’s foundational value of collective self-representation, not a separate space for elite representatives but one for all to gather, to imagine new worlds and bring them to life.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
HarassMap | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/XBB4trw2AnY After experiencing daily sexual harassment on Egypt’s streets, four women designed an online crowd-mapped anonymous reporting system, HarassMap. Anyone can share an incident—via text message, online, email, and social media—noting the location, date and time, giving either a personal or witness account, and telling whether an intervention occurred. The posts are then geotagged and aggregated to reveal harassment hotspots on a digital map. The anonymity of the reporting platform has eased the burden of a topic that can be taboo, and the posts provide clear evidence to instigate social and policy changes that can lead to more secure and safe public spaces for all.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Regreening Africa | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For audio descriptions, please visit youtu.be/SYbJ50nQxKoMore than 80 percent of people living in sub-Saharan Africa are dependent on land, yet almost half of the land is degraded, making the soil vulnerable to droughts, storms, and nutrient deficiencies. This massive loss of productive land increases competition for dwindling resources, which can lead to migration and conflict. The Regreening Africa initiative was developed to meet this urgent challenge. Its mobile app tracks and disseminates local and scientific knowledge. Farmers can record and share their own proven regreening approaches and applied restoration efforts. Collected data is analyzed to adjust and optimize the sustainable practices underway.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Island Tracker | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Island Tracker is an innovative, public-facing online tool, part of the Center’s Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative that uses easily attained commercial satellite imagery to record activity in the South China Seas—one of the world’s most disputed waterways. The Tracker documents artificial island building and construction projects, such as new airstrips and ports, in the almost 70 disputed reefs and islands to which China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam lay claim. By increasing transparency in these remote locations, the tracker helps to prevent miscalculations and discourages assertive behavior, instead generating opportunities for collective actions that support regional stability.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Ideas Box | Designing Peace exhibition video Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | For Audio Description, please visit: youtu.be/CjDKmR1me2Q Ideas Box is a portable library and pop-up multimedia center that can be easily shipped, is energy independent, and can be set up in 20 minutes. It was designed to be deployed to areas of hardship—refugee camps, isolated communities, underserved urban spaces, and remote Indigenous peoples’ land around the world. Each box’s contents are tailored to the community’s needs. Ideas Box has been distributed across six continents, offering free access to information, culture, and educational resources, which are key tools in promoting healing and building more tolerant communities.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Papers, Please | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Building empathy is the goal of the game Papers, Please. Rather than playing as an elite international spy, gamers take on the persona of a low-level border agent for the fictional communist state of Arstotzka. Tasked with deciding who can enter the country or be turned away and/or arrested, players are dropped into a complex scenario of borders, power dynamics, administrative operations, and moral dilemmas. By shifting the perspective around these politicized issues, the game sheds light on immigration questions and builds empathy for those affected, a central aim in conflict resolution and peace education.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
Conflict Kitchen | Designing Peace exhibition video AD Cooper Hewitt 2022-06-30 | This video includes audio descriptions.Conflict Kitchen, a takeout restaurant in Pittsburgh, served food from countries in conflict with the United States. From Afghanistan to Cuba, the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (an alliance of six Indigenous nations—the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora), Iran, North Korea, Palestine, and Venezuela, the restaurant’s rotating identities included not only changes in menu, but events and performances, which offered further engagement with the cultures and issues at stake in those regions. Using food to bring people together, the kitchen encouraged learning and exchange, and ultimately confronted the limited and often biased understanding among people for the “other’s” culture.Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. The exhibition features design projects from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.On view at Cooper Hewitt through Summer 2023.cooperhewitt.org/channel/designing-peace
