Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects

24 July - 7 November '11

New York

The exhibition Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects opened this past week at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The design exhibition highlights the groundbreaking ways in which objects help people interact with complex systems and networks.

It focuses on objects and concepts that involve direct interaction, such as interfaces for ATMs, check-in kiosks, and emergency dispatch centers; visualization designs that render visible complex data about people, cities, and nations; communication devices and other products that translate and deliver information; expressive and talkative objects; and projects that establish a practical, emotional, or even sensual connection between their users and entities such as cities, companies, governmental institutions—as well as other people.

The exhibition includes nearly 200 projects—ranging from the microscopic to the cosmic—designed in the past few years or currently under development. It explores how today's designers are finding ways to enhance communicative possibilities that embody a new balance between technology and people, while bringing technological breakthroughs to an approachable, human scale.

Each object in the exhibition has its own hashtag and QR code, which allows visitors to bookmark it and access more information about each object on the exhibition's website, www.moma.org/talktome, in the galleries, or at home.

Follow the show on Twitter @MuseumModernArt for updates and inside information about the exhibition: use #talktome.

Talk to Me is organized by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, and Kate Carmody, Curatorial Assistant, in MoMA's Department of Architecture and Design.

Walk the Solar System by Louise O'Connor Photo credit: Mark Hendersen