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Preston Scott Cohen, Cambridge, Mass., “Lightfall 1.” Design for the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, 2003, digitally enhanced Fujiflex print, laminated and mounted on Plexiglas; Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, museum purchase from Drawings and Prints Council Fund. — Matt Flynn photo

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Kidrobot, New York City. “Big Mouth Dunny,” 2005, designers: Paul Budnitz and Tristan Easton; paint design: DEPH,  vinyl. —Kidrobot photo

cuts sent e-m 9-11 bfay..

FOR 9/21

MODERN DESIGN OPENS SEPT. 28 AT INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART, BOSTON w/2 cuts requested

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BOSTON, MASS. — This fall the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston will present a large-scale exhibition of innovative contemporary American design. Organized by the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, “Design Life Now: National Design Triennial” is part of an ongoing series that presents the best work from the prior three years in product design, architecture, furniture, film, graphics, new technologies, animation, science and fashion. The exhibit will be on view at the ICA from September 28–January 6.

“As we’ve learned from working in our exceptional new building, design profoundly affects the way we experience the world,” says Jill Medvedow, director of the Institute of Contemporary Art. ‘Design Life Now’ continues this exploration in a variety of disciplines and follows in the ICA’s long tradition of presenting exemplary exhibitions and programs on design.”

Organized by Cooper-Hewitt curators Ellen Lupton and Matilda McQuaid and former curatorial director Barbara Bloemink, along with guest curator Brooke Hodge of  the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the exhibition features the work of more than 80 designers and firms, from emerging designers to established brands such as Apple and Nike. Featured architect Michael Meredith, assistant professor of architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, has designed and adapted the exhibition for the ICA’s galleries.

“This exhibition encompasses the wide range of design objects affecting our culture, from the advanced technologies of robotics and artificial intelligence to the things that are part of our everyday lives, like pill bottles, iPods, and Google,” says Emily Moore Brouillet, assistant curator at the ICA. “At the same time, we can see our society reflected back in the design world in trends like blogging and do-it-yourself projects.”

Among the themes of the exhibition is design that emulates the natural world. Objects such as Apple’s iPod are highly adaptive, while others mimic natural organisms, from Dr Joseph Ayers’s Robolobster, an underwater robot which behaves like a real crustacean, to Nike’s Free running shoe, which simulates the range of motion that occurs in the toes and feet when running barefoot.

“Design Life Now” also investigates the role of community, whether online communities that come together through blogging about design, the collaborative practice of firms like Field Operations, which integrate art, architecture, ecology, urbanism and economic development for their landscape projects, or Herman Miller’s workplace environments which seek to foster creativity and teamwork. Another group of objects shows the renewed appreciation for handcrafted and do-it-yourself design. Other works in “Design Life Now” examine how design can be used to transform materials and objects.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog, Design Life Now, published by Cooper-Hewitt’s new self-publishing venture.

The Institute of Contemporary Art is at 100 Northern Avenue. For information, www.icaboston.org or 617-478-3100.