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Fark Garlicster Metafilter Plastic The Register SciFi Daily Sexblogs Slashdot Space.com The Smoking Gun Zeropaid [ CARTOONS ] Corrigan Children of the Atom Fiona Smyth Maakies MacKay MNFTIU.cc Secret Lair Smell of Steve [ VARIETY HOUR ] B3TA Hoogerbrugge Milk & Cookies Mumbleboy Onion Rathergood XE [ RERUNS ] [ 2005 ] JANUARY FEBRUARY MARCH APRIL MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST [ 2004 ] MAY JUNE JULY AUGUST SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER DECEMBER [ 2002 ] [ 2003 ]	Sunday, May 29, 2005 Massive Cheese [Groan] I checked it out on Thursday, just to compare the real deal to the negative reviews. Massive Change: The Future of Global Design, the exhibition curated by Bruce Mau, finished its run at the AGO today. It's as cheesy as the Alvin Toffler books on sale at the exhibit's junk shop and as shallow as the cheap, ugly plates. Imagine an issue of WIRED chopped up and pasted and projected on some walls. Only not as visually interesting. Or as clever. Or funny. And keep in mind that WIRED has been milking that pony for over a decade. So it's kind of stale, too. Mau claims to have avoided the pitfall of politics and avoided looking at things from a Left vs. Right perspective. But he makes a far larger error -- and it sinks the whole thing -- by deciding to favour "optimism" over "negativity", as though those were the only choices. The exhibit confuses criticism with being negative and so you get WalMart being served up as an example .... of what? Something positive or negative? Implicitly positive but the show doesn't have the guts to come out and say it, so the context is kept intentionally vague. Every room (there are 11 theme areas) offers bold, optimistic declarations like "WE WILL DESIGN EVOLUTION." Is that even grammatically correct? Evolution is a natural process, if you "design" something, it's no longer evolution, right? The statement should read something like "We will replace evolution with design." More accurate and disturbing if you consider the implications. But even the pronouncements aren't consistent. While claims of eliminating poverty and "designing evolution" are made, when it comes to War they hedge and wonder 'will there ever be a world without war?' OK, you've elminated poverty and replaced evolution with design ... doesn't it logically follow that war becomes redundant? But the exhibit isn't even sure if war is such a bad thing and may be necessary considering how much it can drive technological change. The exhibit is quick to forgive abuses and suffering if the greater good appears to be served. At times the declarations are a little frightening. One chunk of text announced that the city is a "triumph over nature" and with the threat of a bird flu pandemic and who knows what else lurking on the horzon, I said a little prayer out of fear of being smited by the alien overlords. Are cities triumphs over nature or are cities expressions of nature, like beehives and termite mounds? Don't ask Bruce. The exhibit states that "Utilizing the promise of design we will minimize unintended consequences and maximize positive outcomes" ... but employing optimism to avoid criticism seems like an express route to unintended consequences (like suburnt naked chickens). A large chunk of the exhibit seems dedicated to design solutions that are addressing the unintended consequences of design solutions (thought that's never acknowldged). The Segway scooter and some pretty hybrid cars are held up as innovative solutions to several problems ... but the problems themselves were created by design decisions, like the form of suburbia. The "solutions" are only bandaids; the hybrid cars will cut oil consumption but won't solve or ease a host of other problems sprawl creates. I reached a room where I was asked to vote 'YES' or 'NO' on questions such as, "Genetic Engineering - Should we be doing this?" and that was it, I'd had enough. Such a petty, simplistic attempt at 'being interactive' might have been fun in the 80s, but in the time of the great blogging conversation, it was a ridiculous gesture. It's a premise worth exploring: When you can do anything, what should you do? (has Mau ever read any sci-fi? Sure doesn't seem like it from this show.) but Massive Change isn't up to the task and demonstrates that, despite all the hype, Bruce Mau has boundaries. 11:29 PM , # ,* \|