In 1997, Michael Rock and Susan Sellers (assisted by Alice Twemlow and Ole Scheeren) proposed a concept for a museum of design where objects are left in their original context instead of being removed from their natural environment. The Museum of the Ordinary was defined by four points in New York City and comprised 30 streets in Manhattan. The collection of this museum contained all the objects which happened to be in the given space. Pedestrians were turned into museum visitors and confronted with museum conventions, for example, descriptive labels attached to everyday objects such as manholes, city signage, street lamps, buildings, etc. The project questioned the traditional museum practice of decontextualizing objects and presented an integrated alternative as well as the stories of these seemingly mundane objects. Today the authors are exploring the possibility of creating a virtual version of the museum. From the upcoming issue of Works That Work, a magazine of unexpected creativity. |
One of the most helpful improvements to New York City since I’ve lived here is the addition of LED displays on subway platforms that tell you how long you’re going to wait for the next train. Even if their typography isn’t that great and they’re not always accurate (they usually are, though), having that extra bit of information helps lower the blood pressure of all New Yorkers. |
Right now, the BMW Guggenheim Lab is in New York City on Houston at 2nd Ave. New York is the lab’s first stop on a nine-city, six-year tour meant to “create public discourse around city life.” |























