By the People: Designing a Better America

摘要

By the People: Designing a Better America is the third in a laudable, important and compelling series of exhibitions at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (the first was Design for the Other 90% in 2007 and the second, Design with the Other 90%: CITIES, in 2011). Over the last decade, as scholarly and curatorial definitions of design have (in the words of critic Alice Rawsthorn) 'evolved into an increasingly eclectic and elastic medium ... [that encompasses] complex social and political challenges', these three exhibitions have asked audiences to interrogate the ways that contemporary design and architecture connects (and often, does not) to communities, individuals and innovations. The exhibitions, each with an accompanying publication, offer a snapshot of design's moral and ethical compass in the contemporary climate; By the People is the most incisive iteration yet.