SKIN: Surface, Substance + Design

Opening this month at the Smithsonian 's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York is a new exhibit, "Skin: Surface, Substance + Design." The show focuses on works designed between 1997 and the present, with products, fashion, furniture, architecture and media that expand the conventional definition of surface, responding to a culture obsessed with physical appearances and transformed by biotechnology.

As pointed out in the accompanying materials, any object would be relevant to this show, as everything has a skin. To help organize the breadth of products available to them, the show's organizers categorized the objects into five sub-topics "Beauty, Horror + Biotechnology," "Padding + Protection," "Intelligence + Touch," "Vessels + Membranes," and "Artificial Light + Artificial Life."

The use of innovative and interactive technologies to stretch the physical properties of exposed layers provides particular interest to the design audience. Concepts like Knowear's "Skinthetic" and "Technolust," clothing like Alba D'Urbano's "Il Sarto Immortale" and Tonia Abeyta's "Sensate," and accessories like ixilab's "Homewear" line and Philips' "Industrial Clothing Line," serve their wearers to extensive fashionable and usable ends ( yes, some even have built-in male / female condoms). Lunar's "Blu" lines and Kennedy and Violich's "Electric Plywood Desk" provide great gist for milling more interactivity within common surface materials like polymer layered wood and electronically programmable paper.

Shedding their art critic exteriors, a multitude of New York design fans took advantage of the museum's hospitality, moving from the inside galleries and donning their party skins at the opening for the exhibit, on May 6th, out to the museum's beautiful outdoor garden.

The exhibit continues through September 15th.

http://ndm.si.edu/EXHIBITIONS/index.html

Assorted Links

We get a lot of links sent to us for inclusion on our site. This month we finally went through them, and have a few below worth noting.

http://aquabotic.com/portfolio/ - Online portfolio of Ben Aqua - very nice collection of graphics, photography and artwork. Part of a larger site - Aquabotic, featuring music, news and more graphic goodies.

http://www.basefield.com - A collection of printed posters for sale from a variety of new media designers, artists and collectives. All the proceeds go to fund charities that help disadvantaged children. A great example of talented people using their skills, and the power of the internet for good, rather than evil. Feel good about yourself while getting some cool, limited edition art for your walls.

http://www.copyrightmagazine.com - A graphic/new media magazine site from Barcelona. Features a great collection of desktops, links and news. Mostly in Spanish.

http://www.lofimusicrevolution.com - Electronic music geek Trash80 features an online Gameboy done in Java that I couldn't figure out, but it looks cool. Also has downloads of MP3's for video games.

http://www.tallinn.info - Digital Tallinn - the official web site of the Capital of Estonia. Crazy cathedral/cyborg and completely over-the-top flash interface, but the "Virtual Tour" allows you to make a robot walk around the old city and see dozens of QTVRs.

http://www.monoone.com - Online design product shop. The virtual store is staffed by robots, the navigation and the sound track are nice. The only thing they are missing is a better selection of products!

http://www.moebio.com/ki2D/ - Spanish electronic music site. If you can figure out the interface you can program the app to make some interesting "music".

Life in the Fast Lane

Los Angeles based RKS Design is preparing for "Life in the Fast Lane" their third annual mentoring workshop, scheduled for June 7 - 9. Each year the firm takes 6 exceptional junior and senior level design students from an international list of applicants, and provides them an expense paid, hands-on, intensive workshop in real world product design.

Working with a team of RKS staff members, the students participate in a fast-track product design process. Creating sketches, renderings, addressing engineering and CAD CAM issues, the students get a quick and thorough education in the overall process. Key to the success of the program is the teamwork approach, use of real facilities, the help of real designers and projects that are chosen to simulate a real-world industrial design process. The three day workshop provides the students with valuable experineces and a real-world perspective on their school's educational slant.

According to company President and CEO Ravi K. Sawhney, "RKS started Life In The Fast Lane in order to cultivate the passing of RKS's philosophy, techniques, and technology to a select group of students in exchange for enrichment and a heightened sense of purpose for RKS team members as mentors. Knowledge is the one gift you can share and get far more than you gave back in return."

In 2000 the students designed an MP3 player, and last year the project was an urban grill. If earlier years are any indication, students will come away inspired about the industry, excited about their future careers, and having gained practical real-world perspective on their school's educational slant.

More information about the program can be found at:

http://www.rksdesign.com

Release 1 Returns

You may have read our review of the Release 1 show last August.The exhibit has received a lot of favorable press coverage, and they are now taking their show on the road. From June 6 through July 12 the show will be on display at the Design Exchange in Toronto.

According to the show's organizers, their success comes from a growing introspection among professionals in the 'consumption trade', the art world's appreciation for the refreshing use of design as art statement, as well as, the general public's appreciation for clear, potent insights into the things that surround us. If you will be in Toronto this June, see for yourself.

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