Design Talk: Re-Learning Perspectives

How can design intersections support processes of change?

As part of DEZEEN’s Virtual Design Festival collaboration with Serpentine Galleries, Curator Rebecca Lewin spoke to Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew researcher Caroline Cornish and Ma-tt-er founder Seetal Solanki about how histories, politics and ecologies are embedded in materials.

Titled Re-learning Perspectives: Archives, Exhibitions and Studios, the talk sees Lewin, curator of exhibitions and design at the Serpentine Galleries, in conversation with Solanki, founder of design studio Ma-tt-er, and Caroline Cornish, honorary research associate at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The trio discuss how design can support processes of change and look at the relationship between materials and histories, politics and ecologies, from the perspective of an art gallery, botanic design and design practice. Italian design studio Formafantasma’s Serpentine North Gallery exhibition Cambio will be a starting point for the discussion. Cambio, which is due to reopen 29 September, is a research-based exhibition that investigates the impact of the timber industry. It aims to shed light on the legality and environmental impact of the extraction, production and distribution of wood to make products around the world. This conversation focuses on the colonial past of the timber industry and its impacts, as well as strategies for how we can become more responsible in our use of materials.