08 APRIL, 2011

Material World: A Portrait of the World’s Possessions

By: Maria Popova

What Japanese stuffed toys have to do with The Bible and child mortality in Mali.

We’re longtime fans of photojournalist Peter Menzel, whose visual anthropology captures the striking span of humanity’s socioeconomic and cultural spectrum. His Hungry Planet and What I Eat portrayed the world’s sustenance with remarkable graphic eloquence, and today we’re turning to some of his earliest work, doing the same for the world’s shelter: Material World: A Global Family Portrait — an engrossing visual time-capsule of life in 30 countries, captured by 16 of the world’s leading photographers.

In each of the 30 countries, Menzel found a statistically average family and photographed them outside their home, with all of their belongings. The result is an incredible cross-cultural quilt of possessions, from the utilitarian to the sentimental, revealing the faceted and varied ways in which we use “stuff” to make sense of the world and our place in it.

Freelancing in Somalia during their civil war and in Kuwait right after the first Bush War, I had some rather intense experiences that made life in the U.S. seem rather shallow and superfluous. Sitting in my office early one morning, listening to NPR, which is the way I like to start every day, I heard an amazing piece on the marketing of Madonna’s autobiographic book called SEX. The book was a sensation in the U.S. The radio report ended with Madonna singing, ‘I am living in a material world and I am just a material girl,’ or something close. I thought it was spot on. We live in an idiotic capitalist self-indulgent society where the sex life of a pop star is more important than impending starvation, land mines and child soldiers in Africa, or more interesting than the world’s biggest man-made natural disaster in oil fields of the Middle East.” ~ Peter Menzel

Originally published in 1995, Material World was a massive undertaking that cost Menzel $600,000, which he scrapped together by refinancing his house, maxing out all his credit cards, and patchworking various small loans from friends — a feat in and of itself, and curious meta-evidence for the material world we live in, where even creating meaningful social commentary on materiality and excess has an excessive material cost of its own.

And for an excellent companion read, see Menzel’s 1998 follow-up, Women in the Material World — a fascinating look at an even more intimate aspect of the human family.

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28 JULY, 2009

Exclusive Interview with Designer Twan Verdonck

By: Maria Popova

Numbers, socially conscious consumption, and how to improve your sex life.

Last month, we featured 3 extraordinary designers who design for the physically and mentally disabled. One of them was Dutch wunderkind Twan Verdonck.

Today, we’re picking his brains in an exclusive interview about his socially conscious approach to design and his latest project, the brilliant We Are Numbers.

Hey Twan, good to have you. Tell us a bit about yourself, your background and your brand of curiosity.

Hello Brain Pickings! Thank you for having me here!

I’m a 30-year-old Dutch designer. And I’m very much interested in the areas of open design, the nature of things and the internet (especially the concepts of open source, free services, web 2.0 and 3.0.)

Besides many things, I work for my own company, where I self-initiate design projects. I love to do the research and share my experiences with others during seminars, lectures, collaborations, etc.

In the past, you’ve shown at the MoMA. How did this connection happen, and what did you take away from the experience?

In 2005 my Boezels project was selected for the MoMA exhibition Safe: Design Takes On Risk. I just wrote a letter to Paola Antonelli and explained why my project is a metaphor of how we should deal with design, social care and industry. The Boezels are furry animals developed for snoezelen therapy. They are not only made for mentally challenged people, but they are also produced by a workshop for mentally challenged people.

Paola emailed me back telling me that she loved the project. Later on, the Boezels were purchased for the permanent collection. And they are currently on display in the Rough Cut: Design Takes a Sharp Edge show ’till October.

Of course, I was very happy and flattered when the MoMA was enthusiastic. But the most important thing for me was that now many people had the chance to see the project and get inspired to design for a good social cause. And that was the reason I started the project in the first place.

What was the original spark of inspiration behind your latest project, We Are Numbers?

We Are Numbers is an art project to stimulate the fact that, even though everyone is different, we are all equal. And to show that we are beautiful as we are!

For €30, you’ll receive a tee that’s hand-painted by me (Number 1) with your own unique number. You are then asked to submit a photo or video of yourself in the numbered tee. The first 1,000 participants will appear in an art book. So far, more than 300 people have joined the We Are Numbers art project. Besides the photos and videos, the website also shows the world map and personal links, so Numbers can track down other Numbers and meet each other.

My first inspiration started when I was visiting the Bread & Butter fashion fair a few years ago. I saw all these global fashion brands creating all these new styles every season and thought that it was not logical.

Why are we creating new things even though there’s no real reason for it? Just for the sake of commercialism and hyper consumption? Or for the sake of showing status or superiority to others by buying as many new things as possible?

Even many “eco” brands could not comfort my unease. Since they are still producing things that we don’t really need. Maybe in a slightly better way, but they still stimulate the hunger to buy, buy, buy.

So instead of developing another “hyper consumption” tee, (or an organically produced “hyper consumption” tee), I decided to make uniquely numbered tees consisting of only one simple graphic. The longer you keep the shirt, the lower your number gets in comparison to the majority of the group. An early number, such as 500, may be cooler than a later number like 10,000. And number 10,000 may be cooler than a number 100,000. So instead of going out of style, the shirts become even more stylish with time. The older, the cooler.

I think that a We Are Numbers t-shirt should be an interesting object for life. One should be able to wear and feel great in it as long as it is physically possible. One may even see it as a personal investment that becomes more valuable over time!

I ask people to submit a photo or video of themselves and a personal link, so the whole Numbers family can meet each other and start doing nice things together. We’ve already organised a mini-concert, expo and I’m sure more will follow!

What’s the project’s ultimate goal?

The ultimate goal is to number everyone around the world. Since I think it will help to bring people together and will stop unnecessary consumption and inequality.

There seems to be an interesting duality in your work, with the quest for innovation on the one hand and the outrage at disposable everything on the other. And that’s a bit of a paradox — one needs to get rid of the old in order to make room for the new, it’s the natural cycle of innovation. Is there a happy medium?

Yes, but it’s not a very difficult duality, since I always ask myself if there is a need for this new thing.

Is it a physically better thing than the things that already exist? Or, when the thing is not physically better: is the intention/nature/soul of the thing better than the things that are already there? Because then it will teach people to understand their world in a more meaningful way.

When one of the answers is yes, then I’ll go for it!

For example: The We Are Numbers shirt is physically not much better than any other t-shirt in the same price range. However, if people buy this shirt they will experience that owning just one We Are Numbers t-shirt may be cooler than buying many new t-shirts every year. It will bring creativity, new friendships, access to events, you can advertise your skills, etc.

Many people even claim to have a better sex life since they have been wearing the We Are Numbers t-shirt! ;)

Regardless of how we may feel about it, we live in a commercial culture. Are personality and self-expression even possible without consumerism? How does We Are Numbers approach this?

I have nothing against consumerism. I think it’s great when people can afford the things they need. I only think that people should buy wisely and very consciously.

I think that buying and wearing the latest fashion trends is just overmarketed and overrated as a perfect mean of self-expression and individuality. I think there are more interesting things for people to show than their latest pair of Nike sneakers. You are not what you wear.

The We Are Numbers t-shirts are at once the same (the numbers constructed from a digital matrix) and yet every number is unique. You look at the individual, not the message, or the design, or the attempt to influence through fashion signifiers linked to individious marketing.

A hat-tip from Paola Antonelli is probably every designer’s dream. But achievement in art is subjective — what do you feel is the ultimate acclaim for an artist?

I don’t know and I don’t think it’s very important.

I just think that the most important thing is to be happy with what you are doing. If others like what you do, than that’s great. But happiness is not caused by external factors. No one but yourself can make you happy.

Well, thanks for letting us pick your brains, Twan. Any last thoughts left unpicked?

Thank you very much for the interview and your time!

Please take a few moments to visit the We Are Numbers website. There are some super clever and funny photo and video submissions from Numbered people from all around the world! And you can check who is already numbered in your neighbourhood.

14 JANUARY, 2009

The Story of Stuff

By: Maria Popova

How much a $4.99 radio actually costs and what 7 football fields are doing in the Amazon jungle.

If you think you “get” the concept of sustainability, are you willing to bet your favorite gadget on it? Let’s start with an easier question: Do you know where that gadget came from and how?

Instigator Annie Leonard spent 10 years traveling the world, tracking where our stuff comes from and where it ends up — essentially dissecting our “materials economy” to reveal the very real crisis it’s in. She then partnered with a couple of sustainability advocacy groups to produce The Story of Stuff — a part-educational, part-revelational, part-mobilizing 20-minute film that sucks you in, preconceived notions of sustainability and all, and hurls you into the nitty-gritty of it, all through delightful animation and a refreshingly fast pace.

The film reveals the fundamental brokenness of our consumption model — we’re using a linear production-consumption-disposal system, but running a linear system on a finite planet is, well, ludicrous.

Without stealing too much of the film’s thunder, we’ll just say that it busts a number of sustainability myths that even the most eco-conscious of us hold, pushing us to delve far deeper into the issue than the superficial nature of the “green” fad. (Hint: Recycling doesn’t help nearly as much as you’d like to think, so stop buying those I Heart Recycling shirts.)

The Story of Stuff explores issues of government and corporations as they relate to sustainability, probes political, cultural and commercial principles of consumerism, and really makes us question how it’s possible for RadioShack to sell a radio for the laughable price of $4.99, which doesn’t even pay for shelf space.

For us, the pinnacle of how deformed our culture is came from a quote of the famous post-war economist Victor Lebow’s frightening advice to the Eisenhower administration:

It’s not surprising, then, that we live in a world economy where those who don’t own or buy a lot of stuff simply don’t have value. Which explains why the Third World is being exploited, why natural resources are being pillaged from those who have inhabited them for generations, why that capitalist sense of entitlement is really humanity’s greatest downfall.

The film ends on a hopeful note, suggesting a more realistic solution in a new system based on sustainability and equity, where millions of us intervene with small contributions all along the system, so that our cumulative impact makes a real, tangible, literally world-changing difference.

And it all starts with seeing the big picture like you’ve never seen it before.

So go ahead, see. The Story of Stuff is easily the best thing you’ll do for your global citizen conscience this year.

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17 DECEMBER, 2008

Artist Spotlight: Alan Macdonald

By: Maria Popova

The commercialization of heaven, or what 17th century painters know about Diet Coke that we don’t.

Many have criticized the commercial burden of modernity, but few have done it with such quiet, haunting precision as painter Alan Macdonald.

His portraits populate the world of 17th century oil paining with contemporary brands, creating a sense of uncomfortable anachronism that drives us to such existential questions as the purpose of our modern lives and the void we’re all looking to fill with consumerism.

The paintings often feature lyrics from pop culture’s most iconic songs, immaculately chosen to deepen the impact of the imagery.

Much of his work is an explicit social commentary on vice culture, exposing drugs and alcohol as the true Mephistopheles of modernity.

And while some of his work has a sense of humorous sarcasm about it, perhaps the most unsettling thing about is the reverse Woody Allenesque comic distress that oozes from it — we may be making a mockery of it all, but deep down we know we’re still headed straight to the very peril we are laughing at.

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