Massive Change

The Massive Change strategy is grounded in the conviction that "the best way to express the capacities of our modern world is through its fullest range of media." To that end, Massive Change has taken the form of:

• A travelling exhibition - unfolds in a series of 11 general themes, or "economies", that address the fundamental role of design in all aspects of human life, from manufacturing and transportation to health and the military. In each area, visitors encounter - through large visual platforms, video installations, demonstrations, and so on - the objects, images, ideas, and people that are reshaping the role of design in the world. For example, a 3-month exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Illinois, United States, featured symposia, performances, education programmes, and related exhibitions.
• A book - Intended to provoke debate and discussion about the future of design culture, Massive Change is a modern illustrated primer on the new inventions, technologies, and events that are affecting human culture worldwide.
• A newsletter - Designed to help readers keep pace with developments in the field of global design, these newsletters may be accessed on the Massive Change website.
• A radio programme - Broadcast weekly on the University of Toronto (in Canada) radio station from September 2003 to June 2004, this programme featured interviews with world leaders on the front lines of implementing change. The entire season of multidisciplinary interviews is archived for download.

• An online forum and blog.

Since the exhibition's opening in October 2004, several school boards have expressed interest in incorporating the project's ideas into educational curriculums. In response, Massive Change in Action was created as an online educational project about our human ability to create positive change in the world through design. It is designed for high school students and teachers who want to produce a new breed of change maker - citizens who think as designers. Massive Change in Action centres around a website that uses learning objects in the form of stories, with learning activities detailed in a toolkit for teachers.

Rights, Environment, Education.

"Design has a ubiquitous presence, one that guides our everyday actions, shaping our consciousness, reconfiguring our spaces, modifying our lives. With such a dynamic force at our disposal we must acknowledge the power and the opportunity it presents, and so Massive Change is conceived in the tradition of the manifesto. It is a public declaration of the current state of design, a call to recognize its potential and a challenge to accept responsibility for design in the contemporary world."