We are living at the dawn of a New Space Age. Outer space — once optimistically considered the province of all humankind — is now an increasingly contested terrain open to resource exploitation and financial speculation. As extraterrestrial space becomes open to private enterprise, new legal, ethical, and spatial questions arise about its future. Through a group of speculative projects — fantastic drawings and objects that inspire wonder — the designers ask:

• How might we design with the byproducts of space technologies, such as space junk and extraterrestrial mining tailings?
• How do we relate to the vast scale of cosmos where Halley's Comet takes 76 years to orbit around the Sun?
• What are some inadvertent implications of the proposed technical solutions to climate change?

Throughout, the designers boldly insist on the need for other stories, not fairy tales in which everything is possible, but stories that play a role in helping us face the politics of the climate crisis and the limits of technological solutions.

A lively discussion with Design Earth principals Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy, moderated by Irene Sunwoo, John H. Bryan Chair and Curator, Architecture and Design at Art Institute of Chicago, will be followed by instructions about how to uncover stories told through miniature objects and drawings in the gallery.

September 28
1-2:30pm

This program is presented as part of Cambridge Science Festival. The MIT Museum is free during the Cambridge Science Festival.

Interested in attending? Letting us know is strongly encouraged!

You’ll be the first to receive reminders and other details for this event. Please note that signing up does not reserve a seat. Seating is first come, first served; please arrive early. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to start time.