'By the People: Designing a Better America', Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York

摘要

Years of field research in urban ag- glomerations, rural areas, and border regions preceded the exhibition "By the People". It is the third exhibition in the Cooper Hewitt Museum's series on socially responsible design. In what ways can design act as a catalyst for change? How can design help people learn? How might design improve how people live? What design strategies help make better local and regional economies? How can design save what is authentic and essential to help communities thrive? These are the five key questions which organize the exhibition, "By the People: Designing a Better America" curated by Cynthia E. Smith at the Cooper Hewitt Museum in New York. Act, learn, live, make, save are the exhibiton's five themes. But what is design itself, an act or a product? In the questions and the examples shown in the exhibition, design is neither fully a product, nor an act. Rather, throughout the exhibition, design is an agent that enables actors and leads to actions.