Portland, Maine – The Institute of Contemporary Art at Maine College of Art & Design is pleased to announce the opening of DesignInquiry: Futurespective, an exhibition from Guest Curators Margo Halverson, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Gabrielle Esperdy, and Emily Luce. On view October 4 – December 14, 2019, with a public Opening Reception on Friday, October 4, 5 – 8PM.
DesignInquiry: Futurespective is a series of activities and installations that demonstrate how DesignInquiry engages in open-ended extra-disciplinary exchange. "Futurespective demonstrates how our practices unfold in design and everywhere. These practices are as diverse as the Inquirers themselves: we draw, write, weave, and cook; we discuss, debate, and document. Through these practices, which are conceptual as well as material, we query the way design informs culture and culture informs design," said DesignInquiry Co-Curators Margo Halverson, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Gabrielle Esperdy, and Emily Luce.
On display in the galleries are objects and projects that present the experience of DesignInquiry as a real-time gathering and explore the process of DesignInquiry as a collective practice of thinking and making. Visiting designers, design scholars, and designers-in-residence interact with MECA&D faculty, students, and the Portland community in scheduled and impromptu Futurespective events, including weekly common hours, real and virtual discussions on the future of design with practitioners around the world, a pop-up Inquiry exploring DesignInquiry’s 2019-2020 topic Currency, and a day-long Convivium (like a symposium, only friendlier) sharing the outcomes of projects that demonstrate a longer arc of DesignInquiry practices.
Exhibition Participants:
For a full list of DesignInquiry participants, please visit the exhibition site.
In conjunction with the exhibition, the ICA will host designers-in-residence, visiting designers and design scholars, and various pop-up events.
September 30 – October 4, 2019
Residency: Steve Bowden and Peter Evonuk
Wednesday, October 2, 2019: 6PM
MECA&D Visiting Artist Lecture: Rod Sayers
Friday, October 4, 2019: 5 – 8PM
Opening Reception & First Friday Art Walk
October 4 – October 13, 2019
Residency: AK/OK (M. Wright & Kate Jarboe)
October 10 – October 13, 2019
DesignInquiry Pop-Up CURRENCY
October 28 – November 3, 2019
Residency: Nick Liadis
October 31, 2019: 6PM
MECA&D Visiting Artist Lecture: Matt Soar
November 1 – November 5, 2019
Residency: Denise Gonzales Crisp + The Fugacious Collective (NCState MGD students)
November 2, 2019: 10AM – 5PM
Convivium [Symposium]
November 4 – November 10, 2019
Residency: Tricia Treacy and Arzu Ozkal
December 5, 2019: 6PM
MECA&D Visiting Artist Lecture: Bethany Johns
December 6, 2019: 5 – 8PM
First Friday Art Walk featuring o t i t o (a palindrome); a performative dance piece from Sondra Graff and Petra van Noort
December 6, 2019: 5:30 – 10PM
Not the Holiday Sale
December 7, 2019: 10AM – 5PM
Not the Holiday Sale
Note to media: For exhibition images, photo credits and captions, please visit this link. For more information about the exhibition, please visit this link.
About DesignInquiry: DesignInquiry is a non-profit educational organization that explores pressing issues in design and culture. We are a collective of thinkers and makers devoted to extra-disciplinary exchange with a changing roster of designers, artists, scholars, teachers, architects, historians, critics, writers and other practitioners carrying out and sustaining our work. For more than a decade DesignInquiry has spearheaded intensive team-based gatherings and shared the diverse outcomes and publications, influenced design research and teaching methods, and has inspired professional designers to rethink what design can be and can do.
Contact: Leah Igo Brooks, Director of Marketing & Communications; 207.699.5010, ligo@meca.edu
Page Banner: Courtesy of DesignInquiry (cropped)