-
“The only intuitive interface is the nipple. After that everything is learned.”
That is just one gem from this extraordinary talk by Wilson Miner - When We Build.
Miner shares many wonderful observations about the way we design and why we design.
His talk is beautifully constructed, majestically paced and emotively soundtracked for maximum impact. The medium is the message - indeed.
The thinking of Marshall McLuhan is clearly important, as is the zen philosophy of the ‘don’t know mind’. But really, my favourite part is Miner’s explanation of Robert Irwin’s work; his study of spaces, his visual reactions to them and the way his beautifully minimal installations change people’s perceptions of their environment.
Something to truly aspire to.
Thanks to Simon Collison for posting and to those who tweeted his link.
-
I’ll be having more of this too, in 2011.
Yesterday’s invigorating walk and this stunning view over the South Downs made me realise 2010 was rather too sedentary and indoorsy for my liking. So much timing writing and designing for the environment, but really not very much time spent in it.
Need to find a better balance of action and beauty in the outdoors in 2011, please!
-
Lucy + Jorge Orta’s Amazonia show is quite breathtakingly gorgeous. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Frieze breakfast at The Natural History Museum this morning to celebrate the Orta’s work. It was wonderfully revitalising way to start the day.
The exhibition coincides with the International Year of Biodiversity and documents the Ortas’ expedition to the Peruvian Amazon in all its vibrant multicoloured glory. This multimedia exhibition (sculptures, photography, ceramics, film, drawings) is a positive celebration of the beauty of the Amazon rainforest and a stark reminder of what we stand to lose in this age of the 6th mass extinction.
There were some powerful quotes dotted around the walls of the exhibition - this was one of my favourites:
“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with live & respect.” Aldo Leopoldo, forester & environmentalist (1886-1948)
There were also some beautiful posters that the Orta’s are giving away for free, but in doing so ask for a donation to the ongoing conservation of a hectare of Amazon rainforest they documented in their photographs. Rather though provokingly they ask: “What price would you pay for Amazonia?”
-
After the eating there is the walking and there is the putting the tinfoil and paper and all of the wrapping into the garbage and there is the rushing off to your gate. But when you have gone to your gate, there are the bags and the bins and the men with the trucks and the roads and the gates and there are the engines doing the beeping and the backs of the trucks doing the tilting and doing the dumping and the garbage doing the sliding and the garbage hitting the ground and the holes in the ground getting fuller and you can hear the ground groaning.
You can hear the ground groaning and you can hear it saying, “No, please, not more, I just can’t take any more, please, won’t you stop? Won’t you please stop? It is hurting so much and there is no room, please won’t you stop? It is getting too much. It was OK for so long but now it is getting too much. Why can’t you see? Isn’t it clear? I thought it was clear. Why don’t you see? If you don’t stop I don’t know what I will do. I don’t know what I will do, but I think I will have to fight back. I mean it, I will have to fight back. I will have to do something because I cannot do what I am doing. I do not know what it will be but it will be something and it will be painful and you will not like it and it will be harder than eating a sandwich held in your hand and exposed to the air. It will be harder than that, much harder than that. I don’t mean to be mean but it’s all I can do and can’t you see I’m hurting? Can’t you see I’m full? Can’t you see I’m empty? Can’t you see it? ! But you don’t see it. You don’t see it. Why don’t you see it? You just keep going and going and wrapping and taping and bagging and eating and throwing and rushing until it’s too late and I hope it’s not too late for you I hope it’s not too late for me I hope it’s not too late.”
-
What’s the Pantone colour for CO2? This brilliant image makes a very simple but direct point. Thanks to @hannnahthompson for the tip. Gotta love this concise storytelling.
Via FFFFOUND!
-
The Toxic Side of Being, Literally, Green
Very interesting article by Alice Rawsthorn on the toxicity of the colour green. As someone who is increasingly allergic to the banality of enviro buzz words such ‘green’ and ‘eco-friendly’ I’m delighted by Ms Rawthorn’s little design chemistry insight.
Field Notes Theme. Designed by Manasto Jones. Powered by Tumblr.
