Ideas and improv: DesignInquiry welcomes 2019 🙈 🙉 🙊
DesignInquiry invites you to join us in welcoming 2019 with YES, AND.
A fundamental principle of improvisational performance, “yes, and” embodies open-mindedness and a commitment to active engagement and collaboration. “Yes, and” accepts every premise as a reasonable point of departure, no matter how unexpected or absurd, and expects a comparable response—one that will prompt its own “yes, and” in return. In appropriating “yes, and” as a strategy for thinking and making, DesignInquiry acknowledges the lessons of improv masters, from Tina Fey (“there are no mistakes, only opportunities”) to Yoda (“do or do not; there is no try”). “Yes, and” values contributions, no matter where they lead.
Too often, “a wrench in the works” is synonymous with s.n.a.f.u., but replace sabotage with détournement and you get a savvy strategy for happy hacking and a reminder of YES AND as proactive epiphany. To help you start the year off right we offer a veritable toolbox of wrenches to toss into the works.
How to Do a Jumping Jack
A basic, cardiovascular exercise that can be done in limited space. (NYT)
"Smith women have transformed cuisine, spearheaded social movements, created great literature and, in the case of my friend Piper, class of ’92, even gone to prison!" Jane Lynch Smith College Commencement speech
(Video link. Here's the
text
.)
On the Merits of Licking Rocks
and/or
How to Eat Rocks
Mothers of Invention
(podcast)
"It was a really hot night, the music was tight, it was powerful, it was innovative, and fun." Then Herbie Hancock played the wrong chord.
Emma Goldman understood that a goofy/good-humored revolution was one where you could D-A-N-C-E. Denise Scott Brown understood the necessity of retrospection vis-a-vis the avant-garde: “Marx was not a Marxist."Ladyparts Justice
is the first not safe for work, rapid response reproductive rights messaging hub that uses comedy, culture and digital media to sound an alarm about the terrifying erosion of access to reproductive rights.
Advice from a Caterpillar
by Amy Gerstler
Chew your way into a new world.
Munch leaves. Molt. Rest. Molt
again. Self-reinvention is everything.
Spin many nests. Cultivate stinging
bristles. Don’t get sentimental
about your discarded skins. Grow
quickly. Develop a yen for nettles.
Alternate crumpling and climbing. Rely
on your antennae. Sequester poisons
in your body for use at a later date.
When threatened, emit foul odors
in self-defense. Behave cryptically
to confuse predators: change colors, spit,
or feign death. If all else fails, taste terrible.
"Quite a bit of trouble you put everyone through, wasn't it, Tigger?"
"I learned from the experience, though," he said, a bit evasively.
DesignInquiry wishes you and yours magical engagement with the urgent and timely work of furthering the interdisciplinary discourse of design.
Join us
for projects and programs happening in 2019.
DesignInquiry Re-Re-Write
(further exploration of the topic Rewrite)
June 2019 dates TBA, Vinalhaven, MaineDesignInquiry Futurespective Exhibition
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, Portland, Maine
October 4, 2019 opening reception; on view through January 4, 2020.DesignInquiry Currency Pop-Up Inquiry
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, Portland, Maine
October 10-14, 2019DesignInquiry Convivium
(kindof like a symposium, only more congenial/compelling/constructive)
Institute of Contemporary Art at MECA, Portland, Maine
November 2, 2019