Public Programs And Events

From Enzo Mari’s self-fabricated furniture of the 1970s to today’s open source movement, designers have questioned processes of prototyping, fabrication and use. At Parsons Paris our MA History of Design and Curatorial Studies and BBA Strategic Design and Management programs reconsider the traditional separation between designer, producer and consumer to discover what things we hold in common. While exploitation of the ecosystem has been the centerpiece of questions about The Commons, technological innovations have generated new forms of sharing that directly transform how we design for the future.

Why does open design matter? What issues and histories are at the root of the current trend in democratized fabrication? Where might open design lead us? In this exhibition our students explore how we collectively share materials, in libraries and collections, online and experiential resources, knowledge and savoir-faire suggesting how designers and educators can both define and expand the notion of common objects and spaces.

Rooted in open design and DIY culture, projects such as Sketch Chair, Kinematics and Fattelo Lamps exemplify how the internet and access to new tools can change our relationship to the things we choose to own and our understanding of ownership and collective stewardship. Born within the strong leftist tradition of Italian design, Mari’s Autoprogettazione (1974), conceived as a critical and pedagogical tool, forms both a conceptual framework and the structural backbone for the exhibition. In a two day workshop students constructed an Enzo Mari round table where visitors are invited to examine books that exist in the public domain and download texts from “The Commons Box”, an offline file sharing system designed to promote knowledge sharing.

The displays in the exhibition reclaim production techniques but also probe deeper concerns about access and justice, materiality and sustainability. In a global socio-economic and political system that continues to favor privatization and concentrations of wealth and power, these works represent efforts to create systems of collective benefit and shared responsibility.

EXTENDED until Nov 21st!