Perspective Moving UP: Scratch Pad

Nov 07, 2022 By Yasmin Spiro

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What to read, watch, experience, and where to go this winter

By Yasmin Spiro Nov 07, 2022

Published in Perspective

What to See

Design Miami
Convention Center Drive & 19th Street, Miami, FL
November 30th- December 4th

If you find yourself in Miami in late November/early December, make sure to make your way to the 18th edition of the always inspiring Design Miami. Artfully organized by curatorial director Christina Didero around the theme "The Golden Age: Looking to the Future"—it’s a nod to the past while both anticipating and fantasizing about the future. While there, check out these exhibitors’ focused explorations of cutting edge design thinking. If you can’t make it biophysically—you can always join the design crowd through virtual programming on designmiami.com.

Now part of Sandra and Charley Vezza’s Italian Radical Design group, Gufram exhibits at Miami Design Week. Image courtesy of Miami Design

Arranged chronologically, The Energy Show takes visitors on a journey through the history of the sun. Image courtesy of The Energy Show

"The Energy Show – Sun, Solar and Human Power"
Het Nieuwe Instituut
Rotterdam, Netherlands
September 2022 through 5 March 2023

Organized by curator and designer Matylda Krzykowski in collaboration with The Solar Biennale, The Energy Show at the Het Nieuwe Instituut, takes a turn around the sun to examine its design possibilities for the future. Featuring installations that showcase innovative solar technology, it explores what our future world might look like if run on solar energy and human power alone. With Europe and much of the world facing an energy crisis, and extreme weather reminding us of the impact of climate change, this couldn’t be more timely.

"Just Above Midtown | Changing Spaces"
Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), New York
Through February 18, 2023

Open from 1974 until 1986, JAM established by Linda Goode Bryant, was an art gallery and incubator space that was a platform for African American artists and artists of color to show work and be in dialogue with the community. The gallery helped to showcase the work of artists now recognized as pivotal figures in late-20th-century art, including David Hammons, Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris, Senga Nengudi, Lorraine O’Grady, Albert Chong, and Howardena Pindell. This incredible grouping of radical artists shows us that sometimes looking back is essential to shape a new vision for the future.

Installation view of "Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces." Photograph by Emile Askey

What to Watch

Architecture and Design Film Festival
Multiple locations in the U.S, Canada, and online
Through February 17th

The fall season delivers the inspiring Architecture & Design Film Festival (ADFF) with a global eye to the future of architecture, design, and sustainability, in multiple locations across the U.S. and now Canada. The season that kicked off in NY, and then Toronto, follows with ADFF:Vancouver (November 9-12), ADFF:LA (January 19-22), and ADFF:DC (January 26-29), and ADFF: Chicago (February 2-5) in association with the Chicago Architecture Center. The Festival's virtual offering, ADFF:ONLINE, will be available for U.S. and Canadian audiences from February 8-17.

(Below: Still from ADFF feature Builders, Housewives and the Construction of Modern Athens, examining the distinctive Athenian polykatoikí buildings of which were often "co-authored" by lay builders and their housewives.)

What to Read

The Architecture of Health: Hospital Design and the Construction of Dignity
By Michael P. Murphy, Jr. and Jeffrey Mansfield of MASS Design Group
Cooper Hewitt Museum, 2021

Looking to the future of healthcare, this publication gives insight into the life and design of hospitals and health systems—how they are created, and continue to evolve over time, responding to human and social conditions. Looking at past structures and newer projects, The Architecture of Health examines historical epidemics in the context of modern and contemporary architectural transformations in service of medicine, health, and habitation. It explores how infrastructure facilitates healing and architecture's greater role in shaping our societies.

The Architecture of Health: Hospital Design and the Construction of Dignity, image courtesy of Cooper Hewitt Museum

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future, image courtesy of Phaidon

Design Emergency: Building a Better Future
By Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli
Phaidon, 2022

Design Emergency shares the stories of designers, artists, architects, scientists, environmentalists, and thinkers who are shaping modern society with groundbreaking, and progressive work, much of which is focused on societal change and environmental impact. Formed around four distinct themes—Technology, Society, Communication, and Ecology—Alice Rawsthorn and Paola Antonelli help craft a view of a world where design solutions are essential for dealing with crises, catastrophes, and other emergencies, and are also the foundation for our progress, and Building a Better Future.