InDisposed
New York: May 15–May 20, 2009
Los Angeles: June 24–July 10, 2009
About
An off-site design exhibition that first took place in New York during the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) at Studio-X, InDisposed highlighted twin dichotomies of contemporary design: sustainability versus wastefulness, and preciousness versus mass production. To help spark a thoughtful and lively dialogue about these issues, co-curators Dan Rubinstein and Jen Renzi invited visionary thinkers in a range of media—from industrial and graphic designers to fine artists and musicians—to envision an eco-friendly design that addresses notions of disposability, waste, and/or wastefulness. The talents were challenged to create original pieces that were made from environmentally sustainable materials, portable (considering the object’s intended use), able to be disposed of in a responsible and convenient way, and conceivably able to be mass-produced. The exhibition later traveled that year to L.A.’s Touch Gallery in conjunction with Dwell on Design.
Curatorial Statement
As environmentalism has infiltrated contemporary design, durability and longevity have become the buzzwords du jour—a corrective, perhaps, for the industry’s rabid churning-out of the new and the novel. Timeliness is starting to look a lot like timelessness, as a yen for conservation and conscientious consumerism has sparked a parallel set of trends: 1) eco-friendly furnishings, responsibly manufactured from environmentally sound materials and 2) exclusive, limited-edition design objects marketed as fine art. Although divergent in approach and aesthetic, both movements reject throwaway culture to prioritize permanence over the ephemeral—while trashing the very idea of disposability.
That’s our loss. After all, are disposable objects inherently bad? Doesn’t disposability have some redeeming social value? Isn’t replacing last year’s model with this minute’s curio what allows our tastes to evolve? Aren’t many everyday needs—like eating on the run—best served by disposable items? Can’t we take a cue from the cradle-to-cradle protocol and incorporate disposability into the design of quotidian objects? Don’t we need the psychic cleansing that comes with throwing things out? Shouldn’t we make way for the products of tomorrow?
Disposability, after all, is what distinguishes design from art: its utility and ultimate deterioration or obsolescence. Moreover, doesn’t the very act of creating involve “trashing” bad ideas in favor of better ones?
A blind embrace of all that is green, long-lasting, and heirloom quality—without pausing to ask some probing questions about our shifting cultural values—often backfires, engendering lazy thinking, greenwashing, and lost creative opportunities. While it is noble indeed to conserve resources, save money, and consume less, one thing that should never be reused, recycled—or reduced—is an idea.
About Jen Renzi
Jen Renzi is a freelance writer based in New York. Previously a senior editor at House & Garden and Interior Design magazines, she has written for publications including Condé Nast Traveler, The New York Times Style Magazine, The Miami Herald, Surface, Wallpaper, Ocean Drive, Interiors, and Architectural Record. Jen has authored and contributed to design books for Princeton Architectural Press, Clarkson Potter, and Edizioni, among others.
Participating Designers
Adrian K.
Andrea Ruggiero with Bengt Brummer
Atema Architecture
Design Glut
Jeff Miller
Kevin Patrick McCarthy
MIO
Paul Loebach and Chris Specce
Redstr/Collective vs. Kao
Scrapile by Carlos Salgado
Situ Studio
So Takahashi
Suzanne Tick
Takeshi Miyakawa
Tobias Wong
Tom Chiu and David First
Selected Press
ArtInfo
Wallpaper
Core 77
Mocoloco
Otto-Otto
The Curated Object