MAK DESIGN LAB

A project of the MAK in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Science and Research

 

Design is much more than just the designing of “things”: design is an attitude, a way to instigate change, to make new approaches conceivable and tangible. Design contributes to the formation of our world and the way we live together and helps to expand human possibilities of agency and decision. All the objects–analog and digital–with which we surround ourselves, which we produce, buy, use, and discard, influence us and our environment. In the process, our social concerns and attitudes determine their application.

 

Across approximately 2 000 square meters, the MAK DESIGN LAB demonstrates the many ways design can contribute to positive change. Contemporary projects by designers, artists, architects, programmers, activists, and idealists that react to the challenges of the 21st century and visualize problems, suggest alternatives, or offer solutions are contextualized in complex ways with historical approaches from the MAK collection.

 

More than 500 objects, as well as tools, scientific research, and technologies present alternative paths for our current lifestyles and show approaches for a sustainable transformation of our modes of production, lifestyles, habits, and systems.

 

With imagination, creativity, playful experimentation, and a holistic viewpoint, the MAK DESIGN LAB directs our attention to the consequences of our current lifestyle, but also to what innovative solutions mean for every one of us.

 

Curators: mischer’traxler Studio (Katharina Mischer, Thomas Traxler), Janina Falkner, New Concepts for Learning, und Marlies Wirth, Curator, Digital Culture and MAK Design Collection
Assistance: Viktoria Heinrich, MAK Design Collection
Communication Design and Interaction Design: LWZ, Vienna