On October 7, the Museum of Craft and Design opened Designing Peace, an exhibition organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, that explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. This exhibition showcases design projects from over 20 countries that look at ways to create and sustain more durable peaceful interactions — from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation. Designing Peace features 30 design proposals, initiatives, and interventions, represented by objects, models, full-size installations, maps, images, and videos.
The exhibition presents a wide range of design responses to the underlying reasons for conflict and division, such as socioeconomic inequality, resource competition, and environmental degradation. The responses are divided into five prompts: How can design engage creative confrontation? How can design address the root causes of conflict? How can design support safe, healthy, respectful environments? How can design embrace truth and dignity in a search for peace and justice? How can design help transitions from instability to peace?
Responses include DETEXT’s “Maps (Bullet Rug Series)”, which weaves together discarded bullet casings to create a shimmering rug that tells hidden stories of international arms trafficking. The casings are marked with a manufacturer’s code and country of origin and can be used to track international arms trafficking routes, backdoor diplomacy, and secret military interventions. The casings for the rug in this series were gathered in Guatemala and feature stamps with markings from the US, Russia, and Israel. Another poignant work is “HarassMap”, a video installation of a crowd-mapped anonymous data reporting platform, designed by four women who were experiencing daily sexual harassment on Egypt’s streets.
Designing Peace comes at a critical juncture of current global dynamics, with people facing vast social, environmental, and economic inequities, and a ceaseless cycle of conflict and war. It considers what might be possible if society were to design for peace and takes into account goal 16 of the United Nations’s Sustainable Development Goals, which calls directly for peace, justice, and strong institutions through the elimination of hunger and poverty, improvements in health and education, the building of more resilient cities and infrastructure, the fostering of innovation, action on climate change, and more.
Designing Peace is on view at the Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco, California, through February 4, 2024. The exhibition was organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum