T+L Reports: Designing Minds

In recent years, the boundaries of design have expanded beyond product-as-eye-candy into frontiers of urbanization, transportation, warfare, even human nature. Opening October 2 at the Vancouver Art Gallery and organized by visionary Bruce Mau, "Massive Change: the Future of Global Design" (through January 3; www.massivechange.com) traces this revolutionary movement. The exhibition stems from a single question: Now that we can do anything, what will we do? The answers—explored through interactive displays—range from the familiar (genetically modified foods, "green" cars) to the dizzyingly futuristic (military suits that heal wounds, self-cleaning glass). Visitors can play with unusual man-made materials, wander through the re-created studio of Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human Transportor, and cast their votes on topical bioethical issues such as gene manipulation and cloning—controversial subjects that engender the unpredictable potential of modern design.
—Jaime Gross