Previously On View: June 10, 2022 through August 6, 2023

See exhibitions currently on view.

What would be possible if we were to design for peace?

Designing Peace explores the unique role design can play in pursuing peace. Visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace, and will be encouraged to consider their own agency in designing peace through interactive installations, quiet moments of reflection, and opportunities for practical action.

PROJECT HIGHLIGHTS

Publication

The accompanying publication, Designing Peace: Building a Better Future Now, is an intersectional snapshot of the actions—culturally diverse and wide-ranging in scale—that are currently in play around the world.

Offering perspectives on peace through essays, interviews, critical maps, project profiles, data visualizations, and art, this book conveys the momentum that design can gain in effecting a peace-filled future.

Available at SHOP Cooper Hewitt.

 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This exhibition was organized by Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design, with Caroline O’Connell, Curatorial Assistant.

Exhibition design by Höweler + Yoon Architecture. Exhibition graphics by Common Name.

SUPPORT

Designing Peace is made possible with lead support from

Circular logo symbol next to [FORD FOUNDATION]

Major support is provided by Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer.

Generous support is also provided by the Lily Auchincloss Foundation, Helen and Edward Hintz, and the Barbara and Morton Mandel Design Gallery Endowment Fund.

Additional support is provided by Agnes Gund, the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York as part of the Dutch Culture USA program, the Cooper Hewitt Master’s Program Fund, the Netherland-America Foundation, the Norwegian Consulate General, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

In-kind support is provided by Tretford Americas and Consolidated Flooring.

Three separate project images grouped together, including a diagram of an abortion clinic with the words Public Pressure pointing toward the entrance, a rendering of an inclusive public restroom including areas for grooming, washing, and eliminating, and an image of a woman with medium-light complexion holding up a collage as part of a project to explore ideas to reinvigorate a public plaza.
Designing Gender Inclusive Spaces
How does design impact gendered experience? Or rather, how does gendered experience impact design? Historically, design has neglected the needs of women, girls, transgender people, and gender minorities. In recent years, designers have worked to change gender-biased systems in their practice. Join us for a conversation with architects and urban designers as they consider the role that design plays in creating safe and inclusive spaces for all genders.
Places for Peace Family Program
Like a recipe, there are important ingredients that can create a more peaceful world, including play, education, community, and nutrition. Work as a family to imagine and design a space that will encourage more peace in your community.
Places for Peace Family Program
Like a recipe, there are important ingredients that can create a more peaceful world, including play, education, community, and nutrition. Work as a family to imagine and design a space that will encourage more peace in your community.
Designing Place, Considering Power
How can design create spaces that are peaceful, safe, and equitable for everyone? What role do designers and creatives have in contributing to systems of power within placemaking? Join us for a conversation on the importance of place and power when designing for public dialogues and spaces.
A few brown-skinned children sit and smile on hot pink teeter-totters, the other end of the teeter-totters not visible beyond the tall metal fence that they run through.
Designing Peace Curator Tour
In this guided exhibition tour of Designing Peace, visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation. Tour led by Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design and curator of the exhibition.
Designing Peace Tour
What would be possible if we were to design for peace? In this guided exhibition tour of Designing Peace, visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.
A few brown-skinned children sit and smile on hot pink teeter-totters, the other end of the teeter-totters not visible beyond the tall metal fence that they run through.
Designing Peace Curator Tour
In this guided exhibition tour of Designing Peace, visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation. Tour led by Cynthia E. Smith, Curator of Socially Responsible Design and curator of the exhibition.
Designing Peace Tour
What would be possible if we were to design for peace? In this guided exhibition tour of Designing Peace, visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.
Designing Peace Tour
What would be possible if we were to design for peace? In this guided exhibition tour of Designing Peace, visitors will encounter a wide range of design responses from around the world that look at ways to create and sustain a more durable peace—from creative confrontations that challenge existing structures to designs that demand embracing justice and truth in a search for reconciliation.