Design is not always valued in its time, place or culture. Not so here, now and today. High design, rooted in Northern Italy, Germany and Scandinavian countries faces innovation by designers worldwide who not only produce beautiful objects, but also work with ethnographers to design objects that work. And forward thinkers are thinking about a future in which all interfaces are virtualized and even disappear. That is the vision for ubiquitous computing first proposed by Mark Weiser at PARC.
Portland is a design town. That has been realized by the Portland Art Museum dipping its toe into design shows, including the excellent new design in China show. Meanwhile, the PNCA Museum of Contemporary Craft is backing into design from its foothold in traditional craft. We have also had several tries at Portland craft weeks and festivals.
To further the discussion about what we should do with design, PNCA has invited Sam Aquillano and Derek Cascio, creators of Design Museum Boston to Portland.
Design Museum Boston is a virtual museum: a collection of geographically distributed programs often in conjunction with other presenters and online. So the question is, are museums themselves destined for the museum? Or will brick and mortar museums encompass a virtual model in their program?
Aquillano and Cascio will be interviewed by Randy Gragg and take questions from the audience on their now 4 year old project tonight.
It is part of the Bright Lights series sponsored by local magazine the Portland Monthly and the City Club, a thoughtful public interest group. The crowd runs to Portland thinkers, architects and planners. At Jimmy Mak's, 221 NW 10th. Doors 5:30PM, discussion 6. Free
