What would be possible if we were to design for peace? That is the question the exhibition “Designing Peace”, on view until September 2023 at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, tackles.

Featuring forty design projects from around the world,  the show investigates the unique role design can play in pursuing durable peace.

“Designing Peace” is curated by Cynthia E Smith, Cooper Hewitt’s Curator of Socially Responsible Design, and takes into consideration Goal 16 (SDG16) of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

SD16 stresses the need for strong institutions that are built on respect for human rights, effective rule of law, and good governance at all levels.

The projects on view are all responses to different contexts such as socioeconomic inequality, resource competition, and environmental degradation – demonstrating that peace can indeed be tangible, feasible, and practical, particularly when tackled on a local level. 

The show is split into five sections, covering the following actionable approaches to the establishment of different forms of peace: addressing the root causes of conflict, engaging in creative confrontation, embracing truth and dignity, transitioning from instability to peace, and supporting safe, healthy, and respectful environments.

Looking for inspiration in becoming an agent of change? Continue reading to explore nine global projects designed for forms of peace.

‘PEACE PAVILION’ BY COLLABORATIVE ARCHITECTURE 

Located in a public plaza in New Delhi, India, the Peace Pavilion was designed by the Indian design group Collaborative Architecture as a proposal for a national war museum competition –

 “aiming to shape a new narrative and alter India’s discourse on war and nationalism”.

Featuring an approachable architecture and site design, and open to the public twenty-four hours a day, the structure is built upon a series of segmented volumes that are meant to be non-imposing.

More than that, much like a tree’s canopy, the pavilion provides a sanctuary from the city’s bustling environment. 

‘MAPS’ (BULLET RUG SERIES) BY DETEXT

Spanish artist Raúl Martínez, operating as part of the group Detext, collects discarded bullet casings and runs strings through them to create “casing rugs”.

He has so far collected bullet casings from Colombia, Guatemala, Lebanon, Mexico, Spain and the US, each marked with a manufacturer’s code as well as the country of origin.

In their newfound glistening beauty, these sculptural pieces expose the complex economics that underpins gun violence.

‘EXTINCTION SYMBOL’ BY GOLDFROG ESP

London street artist Goldfrog ESP created the Extinction Symbol in 2011 and it's been a globally-identifiable emblem since.

An hourglass – placed inside a circle to represent Earth – represents the urgency needed to tackle the issues of climate change and to act now.

Much like the peace sign, ESP’s Extinction Symbol quickly became one of the most prominent logos of the decade, especially after the environmental movement Extinction Rebellion took it on in 2018 and iconised it further.

It’s simple and can be easily drawn, recognised, reproduced, and understood.

‘ART THE ARMS FAIR’

London hosts one of the largest arms trade fairs every two years, Defence & Security Equipment International (DSEI), which brings together arms dealers from around the world to purchase weaponry.

In response, a collective of volunteers in collaboration with Campaign Against Arms Trade launched “Art The Arms Fair”, a biennale to “oppose the arms fair, expose the real impact of these arms sales, and explore peaceful alternatives to the war industry”.

‘PAPER MONUMENTS’ BY COLLOQATE DESIGN

After US Civil War Confederate statues were removed in New Orleans back in 2017, the multidisciplinary non-profit practice Colloqate Design sought to create new narratives to replace them.

They collected a pool of prospective monuments, memorials and public art under the project “Paper Monuments”, receiving more than 1,200 proposals that focus instead on the real stories that have shaped the city’s 300-year history.

“These are the stories of events and movements that challenge our beliefs that historical change is brought about by the heroics of singular individuals,” they wrote in a public statement. 

‘MY ANCESTORS’ GARDEN’ BY HOOD STUDIO

Designed by the Oakland social art and design practice Hood Studio, “My Ancestors’ Garden” is a landscape design concept for the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina (opening in 2023), which brings to light the city’s dark past in the global slave trade.

Hood Studio’s design unravels secrets that had been obscured and memorialise Gadsden’s Wharf – the port of entry for nearly half of all enslaved Africans brought to North America.

They took cues from “hush harbours” (locations where enslaved Africans would meet and assemble in secret) for their narrative design.

In the terrain, they embedded full-size body outlines, mimicking a diagram of a packed slave ship.

‘TEETER-TOTTER WALL’ BY RAEL SAN FRATELLO

A border wall separates the border cities of Anapra in Chihuahua, Mexico and Sunland Park in New Mexico.

In 2019, designers Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello set up three pink teeter totters, or seesaws, right into the wall. Children – and adults – from the two countries could interact and play with one another.

With all its new merriment, the wall highlighted the human element of US-Mexico relations, transforming the sensitive issue into one of hope.

‘CHRISTMAS OPERATIONS’ BY MULLENLOWE SSP3

The Ministry of Defense in Colombia and the advertising agency MullenLowe SSP3 partnered up for “Christmas Operations”, a series of campaigns to convince the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels to “leave behind their weapons and come home”.

‘IDEAS BOX’ BY PHILIPPE STARCK

In 2014, the French non-profit organisation Libraries Without Borders partnered with the UN Refugee Agency and celebrated designer Philippe Starck to develop Ideas Box – a portable library and pop-up multimedia centre with free access to information and educational resources, designed to be deployed to areas of economic hardship.

These include refugee camps, isolated communities, underserved urban spaces, and remote Indigenous peoples’ land around the world.

The box is designed in a way that it can be easily shipped, is energy-independent, and setup takes less than twenty minutes.

So far, Ideas boxes have been distributed to twenty countries on six continents, and the initiative is ongoing. 

Interested in more? Discover additional projects on the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum website.

Continue exploring:

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• Lush Fantasies: An Overview of the Solarpunk Aesthetic
• Artivism: The Artists And Artwork Fighting for Social Change
• Transforming Climate Change Data into Music

Cover Credit: Maps (Bullet Rug Series) by DETEXT. Photo: Rodrigo Pereda

Writer | Bana Bissat

Bana Bissat is a Milan-based writer who reports on sound art for Sound of Life. She has written for Flash Art, Lampoon, and Cultured. @banabissat

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