“Are We Human?” Exhibition at the Istanbul Design Biennial

“Open for only a month, from October 22nd through November 20th, the 3rd Istanbul Design Biennial was a quick look at an extremely expanded understanding of design. Far from a trade show of the latest in design objects or material innovations, Are We Human? The Design of the Species 2 seconds, 2 days, 2 years, 200 years, 200,000 years explored the relationship between what it is to design and what it means to be human. In order to provoke a response to this instigation, co-curators Beatriz Colomina and Mark Wigley set out eight interlinked propositions to which the participating 250 designers, architects, scholars, and scientists reacted:”

1. Design is always design of the human
2. The Human is the designing animal
3. Our species is completely suspended in endless layers of design
4. Design radically expands human capability
5. Design routinely constructs radical inequalities
6. Design is even the design of neglect
7. “Good Design” is an anesthetic
8. Design without anesthetic asks urgent questions about our humanity

Click to read a full review of the exhibition on The Architect’s Newspaper.