Marianela D’Aprile

LETTER — THE NEW YORK TIMES

June 16, 2019

Excerpt:

“The design community’s engagement with the issue of climate crisis has been unfortunately uneven. Virgil Abloh designed a series of “sinking” pieces of furniture as a statement on rising sea levels. The Cooper-Hewitt Design Triennial’s approach is a bit more inspired, tapping scientists and biologists to produce a show that’s as much exhibit as it is a call to action. Paola Antonelli’s exhibit at the Milan Triennial, Broken Nature, represents perhaps the most nihilistic take of all: that we can do nothing about our eventual “extinction,” and that our best hope is simply to design ourselves a “beautiful ending.”“