Victor Papanek: The Politics of Design

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Image courtesy of Museu del Disseny

What role should design and designers play in the contemporary world to be truly useful to society? This question has been the focus of widespread debate in recent decades and a reflection made by Victor Papanek, a pioneer of contemporary design and one of the most influential harbingers of social activism and sustainability in design. The ideas and questions addressed by Papanek in the 1960s remain extremely relevant for design and constitute the essence of critical, social, inclusive and interdisciplinary design.

This exhibition explores Papanek’s life and work through an extensive series of original, evocative pieces from the archive of the Victor Papanek Foundation and some objects from some of his contemporaries such as Buckminster Fuller and the radical group Global Tools, among others.

The display is organised by topics based on the work of Papanek and his contemporaries, including policy on data and the media, digital social structures, biotechnology, design methodology, sustainability and social inclusion with an underlying reflection: the importance of design as a political tool.

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