Massive Joke

A few words about Bruce Mau and his Massive Change exhibit at the AGO. I'll try not to ramble on too much, because the last thing I want is for BookLust to become, God forbid, an issue blog.

First off, Bruce Mau bugs my ass. Now that does not mean that I don't think he is talented and intelligent. He is certainly both those things. He's even cute in a chubby-bubby kinda way. But I think that he has become the Oprah of designers, meaning that he has become larger than any of the messages that he tries to communicate (and for anyone who knows what Mau looks like, please pardon the 'larger' pun). He has morphed into this cultish design guru who says supposedly deep things, which as far as I can figure out, mean very little, but they are always packaged as a very attractive, cool product (like his big fat books that he likes to create, or his oh-so-profound 'Incomplete Manifesto for Growth'. Personally, I prefer Textism's 'Annotated Manifesto for Growth'. Hilarious).

I guess I also have a problem with artists who are navel-gazers. The ones who are continually asking the questions: "Who are we?" "What is our role in society?" "Why do we do what we do?" and "What is our creative process?" Yes, these questions are important, but I draw the line at making a career out of asking these friggin' questions all the live-long-goddam-day. Just get on with it.

Regarding the actual show, I'll try to keep my comments brief. The show is very generally, about Global Design and how it is entering a "new period of human possibility, where all economies and ecologies are becoming global, relational, and interconnected." It's a very positive approach to how with design we are making the world a better place. Nothing wrong with that, except that I think Mau had a very narrow, Pollyanna-ish approach to the betterment of the world. Phrases like "We Will End Poverty" mounted on walls in big fat san-serif type mean jack shit to me. So does showing me wonderful alternatives to the gas-guzzling cars we use today. That stuff that he had on display was old news, baby. We've been able to produce electric cars for quite a while. I would have been more impressed with Mau if he had started a conversation about why has it been so difficult to try and bring these more environment-friendly cars into the economy. Why weren't GM and Ford discussing this years ago, when they first had the available technology? And why the fuck are we still creating SUVs and Hummers? Do we need them?

There was another display showing alternative methods for packaging; cups and plates made out of vegetable matter. Once again, that's great. People walk by and say "Ooooohhh...... ahhhhh..... so clever! We're making the world a better place! I can go home with a clear conscience!" And then they stop off at McDonald's and order a burger and fries. They don't consider the question, Why didn't Mau talk about how corporations like McDonalds are continuing to pollute the world with all their packaged shit? I would have been more impressed if Mau had said somewhere in this display that we should be up in arms about the excessive useless packaging that is destroying our planet.

Yes, Mau did point out little pockets of the world where we are trying to make a difference, and yes that is a good thing, but for someone as 'big' as Mau is, I expected more than this pretty panacea. There are much more serious conversations that we should be having, and I saw none of that at this empty art show. Once again, it was simply an opportunity to sell Mau the great design guru god, instead of looking at the serious challenges we face right now on our planet, and what we should be thinking about and doing to address those challenges.

Massive Change was just a Massive Joke.

Comments

[Dave]

SUV's are the modern Cadillac . Humans rarely think farther than we can throw and so welcome to the gas crisis , again . Here in LA you can't see the roads for the walls of SUV's and you would think that since the last gas crisis was in the 70's we'd remember , but nooooo. The problem with change my dear Patricia is that we live in a momentary society where forethought is apparently not entertaining enough. We crave Martha Stewart going to jail, Scott whats his name who killed his wife , Desperate Housewives (not many times a porno title gets used for a TV show hmmm) and any other scandal (real or created ) that keeps our minds off the moment. Perhaps we are depressed and have gone tharn (I believe you will find that term in WatershipDown).

I've been working to finish this film so I haven't had a moment to surf so it was a great treat to catch up on your blog (my god I'm actually caught in some time warp, there is so much new stuff) . And yes , your mom looked like the queen. Actually , prettier than the queen I think.

[k.]

let's be honest. the only people who even care about design are designers. 99% of the population (ie. the people we're actually designing for) couldn't care less what type face we use; they could give a shit of an image is slightly pixelated; and they surely don't give a damn if text is typeset so poorly is looks like someone has vomited alphabet soup on a piece of paper. remember, it's just ink on paper.
k.

[mcs]

Actually I enjoyed the show... Mind you I wasn't look at it through a full design eyes. More of my Society Engineering background was creeping up. Look at how things have improved/evolved. The photo room was quite interesting too, reminded me of some stuff I was reading the other day about 'postmemory'.

I do admit at the end though it seemed like an add for No Logo and other books of that type.

[Carlo]

I'm glad to see some critical reviews here on the show. I thought I was the only one who left the VAG feeling empty and betrayed.

I guess I saw the warning lights come on when I read in the first room something to the effect of "design is not about esthetics". I thought, 'Oh, o...I hope this isn't a poorly veiled appology up front. But it was. I found little, if any esthetic merrit in the design of the show itself. I've seen better examples of "Technology" at the expo center. And by the time I reached the area with the throw-away food containers, I felt like throwing up. Come on... Mau... how long did it take you to put that together...5 minutes? Oh, but I forgot, its not about esthetics, RIGHT!

I've lost faith in the VAG after seeing this show.

[isthmus nekoi]

I felt like I'd been abducted and transported back into the 1950s. Yes, science, engineering and design can solve all the world's problems! More reviews:

http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2005-03-10/news_story_p.html
http://www.eye.net/eye/issue/issue_03.17.05/arts/artsweek.html