MoMA Talk to Me: Hi, A Real Human Interface | Photo credit: Multitouch Barcelona
Following the success of her last exhibit, "Design and the elastic mind," MoMA design and architecture curator, Paola Antonelli, has embarked again on another magnificent thought exercise in which she demonstrates again her willingness to stir up the thought community on how design can help shape the future.
"Talk to me" is a wonderful exhibition of around 200 products, gadgets, videos and games in which the relationship with people and objects is strengthened and taken to a further, deeper emotional level by means of technology.
Personally, this exhibition is very exciting to me as it highlights the enormous role of design when it comes to humanizing and making acceptable the increasing opportunities offered by technology. As our lives become inevitably more intertwined with technology, it is crucial to investigate how to make objects truly meaningful and avoid our own alienation from them. Exploring and learning how emotional bonds with this new generation of object paradigms are built is the Holy Grail. It is the quest to turn novelty and invention into truly innovative propositions that will be key in shaping our future lives.
Official site of the MoMA Talk to Me exhibit
For a thorough analysis of the exhibition and its implications, read Linda Tischler’s article on Fast Co Design.
For a snappy summary and a visual selection of the projects, read the Dezeen blog post
Lighting is not just about illumination, it also takes human perceptions and reactions into account. Lighting has a profound ability to ignite deep feelings in people and this unique ability can, and should, be nurtured.
After looking at those examples of technology-based objects in which the design perspective manages to achieve new emotional connections with users, how would you imagine this could happen with lighting technologies?
MoMA Talk to Me: Augmented Shadow | Photo credit: Joon Y. Moon
I did originally post this article on the Light Community blog here.