Design is a fundamental element of life, an enzyme necessary to our evolution. It helps us cope with change and permeates our personal and social lives, embodying both our strengths and weaknesses. Many designers are intent on creating new behaviors, focusing on habits and circumstances most in need of change. Pirouette: Experiments and Turning Points in Design features objects—from Post-Its to Spanx—that embodied experiments with new materials, technologies, and concepts; offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems; and had a deep impact both on design and the world at large.

Drawn mostly from MoMA’s collection, some of the objects in this exhibition are readily recognizable—like the I ♥️ NY logo or the new Accessible Icon symbol—while others are known only to smaller audiences of fans and experts. Some, like Telfar’s Shopping Bag, dubbed the “Bushwick Birkin,” redraw the rules of exclusivity and luxury. Others, like the Walkman Portable Audio Cassette Player or the Macintosh 128K Home Computer, have changed and expanded our private space, allowing us to invite the world into our homes or to carry it with us. Seen together, the objects in Pirouette highlight the role of designers at their most inventive and constructive, and demonstrate the power of design to translate human experience into tangible forms and envision a better future.

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