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Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial

A curtain of lightbulbs suspended from the ceiling

Through Jan. 20, 2020

Co-organized with Cube design museum in the Netherlands, the exhibition features more than 60 groundbreaking works from designers across all disciplines who are collaborating with scientists, engineers, farmers, environmentalists, and nature itself to design a more harmonious and regenerative future.

Learn more about Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial. 

Face values: exploring artificial intelligence

A woman interacts with a screen where blobby cut outs of facial features float around with white lines going everywhere

Through May 17, 2020

Presented in Cooper Hewitt’s Process Lab, Face Values: Exploring Artificial Intelligence is an immersive installation that explores the pervasive but often hidden role of facial-detection technology in contemporary society.

Learn more about Face Values: Exploring Artificial Intelligence.

Iridescence

Image features pitcher of squat bulbous gourd form with a large leaf-shaped spout and handle in the form of a gathered root or vine; green and gold iridescent luster finish. Please scroll down to read the blog post about this object.

Extended to october 27, 2019

Objects ranging from ancient to the contemporary show how the optical effects of iridescence have maintained a lasting impact on design.

Learn more about Iridescence.

Nature by Design: Selections from the Permanent Collection

Triptych. Watercolor-like illustration of three red fish swimming in pale green water. Rough brown vessel in smooth brown pouch. Orchid model photographed against black background.

To accompany the special exhibition, Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial, Nature by Design presents a rotating selection of extraordinary design drawn from Cooper Hewitt’s collection of over 210,000 objects, inviting visitors to discover how nature and design have intersected in the past and continue to converge in our world.

  • Katagami (through Oct. 27, 2019)
  • Embroidered and Embellished (through Oct. 27, 2019)
  • Paisley (through Nov. 11, 2019)
  • Bathing Beautiful (through May 3, 2020)
  • Plastics (through May 3, 2020)
  • Botanical Lessons (through Dec. 2020)

Learn more about Nature by Design: Selections From The Permanent Collection

Wyss Institute Selects

Diptych. Left: Illustration of a submarine zooming out of a white seashell against a pale green background. Right: In the microscopic scale, tentacles grab a glowy green orb.

THROUGH MARCH 8, 2020

Wyss Institute Selects is the 18th installment in the exhibition series that invites designers, artists, architects and public figures to examine and interpret the museum’s collection. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University uses nature’s design principles to develop bioinspired technologies and commercial products that will bring about positive impact worldwide. Wyss will present their vision of Biofuturism, which in this exhibition will be inspired by nature and Futurism in design and art.

Learn more about Wyss Institute Selects

Immersion Room

Cooper Hewitt’s extraordinary collection of wallcoverings is featured in a new high-tech space, the Immersion Room, offering visitors the unprecedented experience of using the Pen to select digital images of wallpapers or sketch their own design and then project them onto the walls at full scale to see their impact. More than an entertaining interactive experience, the Immersion Room gives museum visitors their first opportunity to discover Cooper Hewitt’s wallcoverings as they were intended to be viewed.

Learn more about the Immersion Room.

student projects on Nature

Now on view on the Ground Floor, an exhibition of winners, finalists,  honorable mentions from Cooper Hewitt’s fourth annual National High School Design Competition, which challenged students to design (or redesign) a nature-based solution to a global problem.

Exhibition supporters

Nature—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial is made possible by support from The Ainslie Foundation. Additional support is provided by Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee, the August Heckscher Exhibition Fund, the Esme Usdan Exhibition Endowment Fund, and the Creative Industries Fund NL.

Funding is also provided by the Consulate General of the Netherlands in New York as part of the Dutch Culture USA program, and by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Nature by Design is made possible by major support from Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee. Additional support is provided by the Cooper Hewitt Master’s Program Fund.

Wyss Institute Selects is made possible by the Marks Family Foundation Endowment Fund.

Process Lab is made possible by major support from Alice Gottesman.

Digital Experience supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Exhibitions of the permanent collection are made possible by major support from Nancy Marks. Additional support is provided by Elizabeth and Lee Ainslie and the Henry Luce Foundation.

The Immersion Room is made possible by major support from Amita and Purnendu Chatterjee.

The National High School Design Competition: Nature of Design is made possible by the generous support of Target.