‘DESIGN AND THE ELASTIC MIND’ WILL OPEN AT MOMA FEB. 24

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NEW YORK CITY — The Museum of Modern Art will present the exhibition “Design and the Elastic Mind, in the International Council of The Museum of Modern Art Gallery, sixth floor, February 24—May 12.

Each new technological era brings its own sense of displacement that inevitably accompanies innovation — which is why innovation is often called “disruptive.” In the past few decades, people have experienced spectacular mutations in some of the most established dimensions of human life as in the units of measure of time, space, matter and individuality.

People cope daily with dozens of changes in scale and pace: working across several time zones, traveling with relative ease between satellite maps and nanoscale images, drowning in information, and acting fast in order to be able to slow down. Adaptability is an ancestral distinction of intelligence, but today’s instant variations in rhythm call for something stronger: elasticity, the byproduct of adaptability and acceleration.

“Design and the Elastic Mind” is an exhibition about the latest advancements in design. It will show designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science and history that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects that people can actually understand and use.

The exhibition will highlight some 200 examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future responsibilities of design. Of particular interest will be the exploration of the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale.

The exhibition will include objects, projects, and concepts offered by teams of designers, scientists and engineers from all over the world, ranging from the nanoscale to the cosmological scale.

The Museum of Modern Art is at 11 West 53rd Street. For information, www.moma.org or 212