11 for 11: Krzysztof Wodiczko

PROJECTING LIGHT ON SOCIAL ISSUES

Nancy Nesvet

Krzysztof Wodiczko, Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s professor in residence of art, design and the public domain, who also works with the Interrogative Design Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), combines art and technology with emerging social issues to produce creative projects involving veterans of war, disasters and other trauma.

His artistic practice, which he calls interrogative design, incorporates sound production, projections, specially constructed robots and other forms to give the viewing and listening public an unparalleled awareness of the issues he presents, and offer an impetus to change their perspectives and future actions.

“The monument is a mission to change, in a productive versus a destructive way,” Wodiczko said. He has found, in projection, a methodology that temporarily changes and makes relevant statues constructed long ago to assume the persona of a new generation, their issues and people. He has invented devices to enable people to communicate with each other and with the public, telling their stories and their histories.

This writer was fortunate enough to be able to interview him at Galerie Lelong, New York, and to discuss some of his past, present and future projects and his teaching at Harvard.

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