Website, Core77 interviews the students from the IwB after the completion of Massive Change.
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Institute without Boundaries: Massive Change
Recent graduates reflect on a year-long design studio
The Institute without Boundaries
An innovative, interdisciplinary post grad design program offered by Bruce Mau Design, in partnership with George Brown—Toronto City College. A small team spends one year immersed in the studio researching and designing an ambitious public project on the future of global design.The Institute’s methodology is shaped dynamically, rather than by a set course. The student team experience grows through the demands of the projects using an intellectually rigorous process of communication and creativity. By working inside the Bruce Mau Design studio, the team dissolves the line between learning and practice, and between work and the world. With the mentorship and support of the studio and its resources, the team develops original ideas and solves complex, real-world design problems.The Project: Massive Change
Over the last year, the inaugural team collaborated and conferred with provocative thinkers across many disciplines to develop the groundwork for an ambitious public project entitled, ‘Massive Change’ undertaking extensive research into the way design is effecting change on a global scale.In collaboration with Bruce Mau the team modeled a 20,000 square foot exhibition commissioned by the Vancouver Art Gallery, produced a book to be published by Phaidon Press, created the Massive Change web site, initiated a weekly guest speaker series and radio program with experts from around the world, designed Massive Change products, and developed the marketing campaign to attract visitors to the exhibition in Vancouver.
The recently graduated inaugural team of the Institute met up in mid January this year to look back at their experiences and accomplishments of a year spent within the Bruce Mau Design studio.
The inaugural Institute without Boundaries team was:
Vannesa Ahuactzin
Mark Beever
Lorraine Gauthier
Jennifer Leonard
Tyler Millard
Alex Quinto
What led up to joining the Institute without Boundaries?
Alex: My background is in graphic design so I was working for the Walker Art Center, doing a design internship in Minneapolis before coming to the IwB. It was a collaborative environment. I worked with film curators and art curators, the director and the marketing department. The thing that really attracted me to the IwB was knowing how important research is within the practice of Bruce Mau Design. You’re not just a designer doing the graphics or type layout, but you’re working with other people to do the research and develop the content for the projects.
Lorraine: I’m a writer and had my own business in corporate communications for about 15 years, working for clients in Canada and the U.S. I worked with a team of writers, video producers, graphic designers, exhibit designers—producing videos, magazines, marketing campaigns and some big stage special events. I had taken some design courses, but it was more a personal interest. I was looking for a change and had followed the work of Bruce Mau and BMD. I liked Bruce’s vision of the new breed of designer.
Vannesa: I think I was searching for something that would lead me into what it is that I want to do. I had been looking a long time for a program that sounded stimulating and that had a different method of education. After studying architecture for five years and being immersed in this one spectrum I decided to put architecture on the shelf for a while, I felt the need to explore new areas. I received some information about the Institute without Boundaries, and there was just something exciting about the way the Massive Change project was described.
Jennifer: I was freelance writing (fashion, music, electronic arts) and contemplating a career change— getting my hands dirty in the design business, for example. Rather than write about designers, I thought I might try my hand at designing, myself, and bringing my journalistic experience to the practice. I was also active with experimental photography and showing my work publicly—a result of being inspired by trips to Turkey, South Africa and the Mayan ruins of Central America. It’s funny, like the shepherd boy in Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist, I learned that you can go searching for treasure but that, in the end, it was with you all along. I say this because, as a journalist, I wasn’t sure what I had to offer the experience; in the end, it was the richest application of my journalistic skills to date.
Tyler: Before I came to the Institute I was playing squash professionally and coaching out of Toronto. I also had a strong interest in many fields which led to an undergrad in science and a master’s in sport psychology. The squash tour took us to cities mostly across North America on weekends, the rest of the time I was coaching and consulting with athletes to enhance their sport psychology and mental toughness skills. The intensity of the studio and IwB didn’t lend itself to playing many tournaments so I was extremely lucky to win at the Canadian Nationals this year.
Mark: Whilst having an MFA in multidisciplinary art practice from the Glasgow School of Art in Scotland I was always interested in questioning the boundaries of art, design, in fact anything that claimed to be a known. For five years I ran Book Lab, a design and publishing organization working with artists and writers, looking at bringing together creative practice and publishing in new ways. Whilst that had been extremely exciting I knew I wanted to tackle a wider variety of projects, I am happy when I am constantly growing and pushing at the boundaries. Knowing the particular approach that Bruce Mau and the studio takes to design with particular focus on content had been something I’d reflected in my own practice. The opportunity to explore the practice of design and to redefine for myself and others the subject of design through such a high profile and varied project as Massive Change was very compelling to me.
The Institute without Boundaries, like its host, Bruce Mau Design, uses Massive Change to find new understanding through research and content creation.
Vannesa: One of our first projects was called ‘100 ideas.’ In a very short time we each took two economies from the Massive Change project to explore, initially mapping out the field then later going in deep to understand specifics. One of my topics was manufacturing and I just didn’t know that much about it, and as you start to go into it, you begin to put your own story together and suddenly realize that you’ve gone from not knowing a single thing about manufacturing to finding out all of these really strange and interesting facts, and about the people who are doing things. It’s like opening a door and there’s always another door behind it, you just never know where you’re going to end up.
Mark: Yes. Because the research we were doing was a survey of how the world is changing around us, locating the new technologies and ways of thinking which have a real capacity to bring about change in the world, it was deeply fascinating. It’s opened up an interest in research that we will continue to pursue in our own ways. It’s not just that it’s given us incredibly good research skills, it’s also made us fuller, more knowledgeable people, which is obviously good within a business environment but most importantly I think it’s changed us as people in a very, very positive way. As well as knowing a lot more about issues in the economies of movement and markets—the areas I researched—I now know a lot more about the areas which we all explored in the project, there was a great cross feed of information.
Alex: Yes it’s also very helpful for each of us because when you’re studying the future of the military or the future of manufacturing, software, transportation or energy, it helps you to know more of how the world is working and have a clearer picture of what to do with your own life and what things you do or don’t want to support. The research gives you a clearer picture of how things are going to be.
Lorraine: My economies were Wealth and Politics, and the Military, and through my research I got to talk to four star generals and women starting small businesses in Africa. The war in Iraq started and that opened up an enormous window into the military because the U.S. was using a lot of new technology they hadn’t used before. It was fantastic and horrible at the same time.
Mark: How about the Washington military conference you attended?
Lorraine: Yes, that was a highlight. To talk to the U.S. Military you have to get clearance. So we needed that just to have telephone calls with places like the Natick Soldier System Center. I also received clearance to attend a conference and trade show in Washington showing all the latest weaponry, tanks, unmanned surveillance aircraft, food for soldiers and the latest future warrior concept uniforms. It was an amazing opportunity to talk to people and gather a ton of resources for the book and exhibition.
Jennifer: Massive Change was this curious beast of an idea—so ambitious in scope that I had to explore it in-depth, up close and personal. Being insatiably curious, I couldn’t resist the notion of being in a design studio researching software, new materials, and other wide-ranging fields, research which was extended through the Massive Change Radio show—from astrophysics and tissue engineering to cyber law and evolutionary economics.
Seminars with practitioners on the bleeding edge of technology also gave the Massive Change project new insight.
Vannesa: What I really liked about the seminars was the tremendous debate they caused within the IwB and the studio, that really pushed the project, making it better.
Alex: That was one of my favorite parts of the project to have external input from a wide variety of experts contributing feedback and knowledge that stretched the project. I wish all projects would have that kind of external input where you’re not stuck with the things that you know how to do but instead other people with different expertise can provide you with an extra lens for looking at things.
Mark: The opportunity to be informed by practitioners and thinkers directly connected with new technological developments and new ways of doing was equaled by the teams growing ability to question and to challenge them within the seminars. The website we started also proved to be very instrumental in that kind of outward contact, helping to generate useful content and discussion for the Massive Change project. Alex you were instrumental in getting massivechange.com up and running…
Alex: Yes the website enabled us to have an external channel of communication where other people could read about and be more knowledgeable about what we were up to. It was an interesting way of establishing communication where it’s not just them coming to us but we’re also feeding them what we’re doing in a very public and very transparent way.
Jennifer: I enjoyed organizing the Monday night seminars and bringing into the studio expert voices, both local and international. Also seeing my teammates, studio members and Bruce engage with the events and get something out of them was just great.
Lorraine: The Massive Change project gave us license to reach out to all these experts, and the speakers’ series gave us a really valuable opportunity for dialogue and discussion about the big ideas we were researching. It was a vital part of trying to understand a given idea and the different perspectives people had.
Alex: I was involved in seminars for some time and it just amazed me that people would just pick up the phone in Israel or Colorado or Peru, and they would say yes I’ll have a chat with you and I’ll tell you about my expertise. People were very open to talking with us, that was very nice. The fact that we chose who we wanted to talk to was very good. Not only the seminars but in all aspects of the project we were the ones who shaped the project.
It wasn’t all talk, we went, we saw, and we experienced Massive Change directly.
Lorraine: What was really exciting was that we kept finding one thing more amazing than the last. I remember early in my exploration of the military I discovered the Institute for Creative Technologies, which is part of the University of Southern California. They bring Hollywood and the video game business together to create immersive learning experiences for the military. Then I had the chance to go there in person and meet computer scientists, animation experts (from Matrix), and screenwriters straight out of the movies. They are building virtual humans for simulations that have artificial intelligence and an emotional dimension. They’re not there yet, but they told me to come back in three months.
Alex: Then there was the trip to meet with Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway.
Mark: That was an amazing experience, I think we all feel remarkably lucky to have been able to visit DEKA, Dean Kamen’s studio, to discuss his ideas, and to ride the Segway. We debated with Dean what he saw as being the future of transport and how he saw the Segway fitting into that equation, it was really enlightening. It was that kind of direct contact which helps to make the Massive Change project so relevant and alive.
Vannesa: I also think that after reading and researching projects going to see someone like John Todd who invented the Eco Machines was incredible. To see how he is cleaning wastewater with plants and being in a greenhouse where these plants were actually cleaning the water was just like wow. There’s somebody out there that’s doing this and how many people really know that this is happening and here we are, really fortunate to be here and to see it actually happening.
Jennifer: I agree. It was awe-inspiring to stand amid his sewage treatment plant, in the guise of a tropical paradise! John Todd is one of these revolutionary scientists who deserves global celebration.
Working in the team within Bruce Mau’s studio
Mark: Let’s talk about life within the studio environment. The Bruce Mau Design studio is so renowned for taking on a broad range of projects successfully in new and exciting ways, and to be within that kind of environment was very exciting. How can you not learn from the amazing processes working alongside the designers and most of all working with Bruce directly, he really encouraged me to explore way beyond perceived limits, to let go of good ideas to search for the great ideas and push my own practice of design to be deeper and broader. Having previously been focused for five years on the design of books and publishing, it was a wonderful experience for me to have the opportunity to be able to realize what I’ve wanted to do for a long time which was to develop design skills and experience in many other different fields. So I was particularly excited to work on a range of products that will be produced by Umbra and distributed throughout Europe and North America. Developing the identity and the marketing for the Massive Change project was also another great opportunity to learn from the studio.
Lorraine: Massive Change is only one of the big projects happening in the studio, so I was impressed with how much time Bruce spent with us. He’s one of the best listeners I’ve ever met and he has a way of reviewing our ideas and concepts that motivated us to push out into new directions. We may have put in an enormous effort to conceive a certain part of the project, but we never felt as if we failed when the approach was left behind. Bruce helped us see it as an idea that ignited the exploration of a new path and we came away motivated to keep the ideas coming. The world needs more mentors and teachers like Bruce Mau.
Alex: To be able to work side-by-side with people in the Institute from very different professional backgrounds gave us all the experience of different points of view and different ways of working. It was very humbling too to work with people to whom the rules and beliefs of your previous life no longer apply and all of a sudden you have to learn how to deal with other types of expectations.
Vannesa: Although I had studied architecture I hadn’t had the experience of making a real thing because all of those five years are spent making things which aren’t real and exploring things which might or might not work. To have the challenge of doing something unknown, and to have to teach yourself how to do every single aspect of it is amazing. After a while you know nothing needs to stop you, that you can do anything. The greatest part of the project was that we had a tremendous amount of freedom to figure the project out. You had to really look at what it was that you were really trying to do, it really showed each of us how to be creative individually as much as within the team. We learned from the studio, but more than that we learned from deep within ourselves.
Tyler: I came into the program with no formal design background in the traditional sense. I had to invent new ways of articulating ideas and processes that I felt passionately about. The studio is truly a unique place to be and during our time there we were exposed to the best ‘idea doers’ in the world – at many times, we were working alongside them. The experience of working with the studio and the IwB team was of course, really wonderful. The only thing more notable than the extreme breadth of the group was how tight we got. We were so tight at times that it felt as though we had achieved critical mass. We put in the hours and pulled for each other the entire year.
Jennifer: For me, the highlights were actually being in the BMD studio, working one-on-one with Bruce and the talented crew of designers across disciplines, and participating as a team-member on a yearlong project. I also thoroughly enjoyed sharing my expertise in a new environment, where I was given the space and the support to do so. Choreographing in-studio seminars and starting my own project within the project, Massive Change Radio (on the University of Toronto’s CIUT 89.5 FM / www.ciut.fm), enriched my experience greatly; through both, I felt like I was contributing in my own special way.
So where to from here?
Lorraine: For me it’s been very exciting because at this point in my career I gave myself permission to stop doing what I was doing which was difficult, to take a year away from my business, but now the idea of finding a way to make a difference, to change the world is what’s appealing. When you take yourself from one community and drop yourself into the middle of another one, you start having different conversations than you had, and something different happens. A few of us have put together Work Worth Doing a company of social entrepreneurs; at it’s heart is the idea that what we will make a contribution and have a positive impact on the world. Design will be one of the tools we use. So exactly what I’ll do to make a difference, we shall see, but I have a lot of ideas and the future looks good.
Alex: Before coming to the program the key words that attracted me were ‘Massive Change’ and I guess we were all looking for a change in some way in our lives. So after the program I have a new focus to use my design skills in a different way. Before coming to the program I was frustrated by having a very limited view of what I could do in the world thinking that if I wanted to make a difference in the world I would need to work for United Nations or some such thing. Through the Massive Change project I’ve gathered a lot of evidence that it is possible to do something on your own. Every one of us has the skills to do something, and for me it’s very important to feel like I’m doing something that is good for others. The change in my career is that I’m no longer driven by expectations of a traditional design point of view, now my starting point is a more humanitarian point of view.
Jennifer: I’ve become ever more grateful for the experiences and people in my life. I’ve learned the importance of “going with the flow,” even in the midst of powerful, unanticipated currents. I’ve gained confidence in myself. And I’ve discovered there are other dreamers out there—that I’m not alone in my idealism and enthusiasm. I hope to continue spreading the ideas of innovative thinkers across disciplines over the airwaves and go deep in broad areas, unlike most of the media today. I hope to stay connected with BMD and do my part to make the Massive Change book a stimulating and beautiful creation. I hope to use my communication savvy to good end—to continue networking in the spaces between art, business and science, on a global scale. I hope to work with others on stimulating projects; to keep growing, learning and having fun!
Vannesa: For me it’s given me the affirmation and the courage to do what it is that I want to do. I think I’ve always known what I want to do in the future and that has always been to make a difference to the world and to change the perception of the everyday world, and for one moment to switch or move a thought, an emotion or a feeling that somebody has. And for me too it’s a humanitarian base and giving back in whatever way I find is the best way to do it.
Mark: The fact that we’ve all got smiling faces seems to be indicative of a certain confidence about the future, that’s got to be a good thing. Who knows where we will all be moving next, I am very excited to be in the position of having a much broader interpretation of the possibilities of design, a wider skill range which allows me to consider doing anything, that feels a great package to be going forward with. That said, I’m most excited that the learning explored over the last year is part of a much longer development to keep growing and keep giving back in newer and more interesting ways in the future. I started the year knowing that I wanted to work within a studio at the end, now I interpret the idea of a studio within a much broader context and I’m excited to see which opportunities present themselves, for me being a designer isn’t about being limited to specific media and contexts, it’s about having the confidence to see the true issues in a puzzle and find the best form for a solution.
Tyler: One of my favorite ideas from Bruce is the idea of moving the sensibilities of design further up the resource stream. The further up stream we go with these sensibilities, the more the possibility exists for creating real beauty. This relationship with the work is clearly seen at the studio and is what makes each project so incredibly relevant. This thinking will continue to inform more and more projects as society begins to articulate itself more clearly.