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Lunch » Tags » Design » Reviews » Design and the Elastic Mind

Design and the Elastic Mind

1 rating: 4.0

Book by the Museum of Modern Art

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Tags: Technology, Art, Design, Industrial Design, Futurism

1 review about Design and the Elastic Mind

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An Encyclopedia of the Future

May 17, 2009

by sniffcode

Rating:

In a lot of ways this book reminds me of many of the publications that have been put out by COLORS magazine. There is an eccentric encyclopedic quality that makes this book exciting from the very moment you touch it. It's virtually impossible to do a random opening and not land on a page that has an element of surprise and novelty. A random opening for me took me to page 31 where I find "MyBio-dolls" created by Elio Caccavale. These dolls, though cute, are also a bit creepy. For example, a goat doll with a spider web jutting from the udders? Caccavale's intent was to create something that would help kids understand the reality (or maybe surreality) of transgenics.

Not all the entries in this book are as serious as the "MyBio Dolls". Another random opening takes me to "sketch furniture", where the furniture is exactly as it sounds: designed to look like literal 3D interpretations from loose pencil sketches. In this case, fun and futurism go together.

Despite the playful novelty of many of the artifacts presented here, there is a sobering perspective being offered up. Most of the work seems to walk right up to the line of diminishing return for science and technology. It's the line that divides productive progress from over-productive regression. The MyBio Dolls are such artifacts that present this distinction. For this reason, this is a very important book for anyone who is curious about what the future might look like and perhaps what it shouldn't look like.

Art and Design Book by the Museum of Modern Art

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Sharrie September 13, 2009

The future is more or less in the present. I just found out about dynamic architecture in Dubai which will be in motion 24 hours a day! I wonder if those who intend to live in it are sailors or what?

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Tess_Martinez May 18, 2009

Sounds fascinating, I always enjoy futuristic speculation, but the concept of collecting artifacts of the future (not the past) is super-trippy. I bet you'll have fun playing the Best
Dystopia game on ExhilaRATE, and be sure to post a real pic when you get a chance--I'm sure we all want to see what you really look like!

sniffcode May 18, 2009

Super-trippy indeed. I'm only able to go through the book a few pages at a time before my brain overdoses. The MOMA should definitely put up a website for the book, since some of the ideas inside defy description. BTW, I will post up a photo of myself. I'm a newbie with this stuff and even with writing reviews I feel so, so...exposed. But I'm really digging this the more I do it.

Tess_Martinez May 18, 2009

I know if feels like you're plastering your naked self all over the internet, but chill. I'm really digging your stuff.

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