Cerambycidae Batocera Hercules, longhorn beetle, steel and tin pocketwach parts, by Mike Libby; image courtesy of Citizen: Citizen

Curated by Daniel Jasper, an assistant professor in the University’s College of Design, the show includes almost 50 objects, by designers from Amsterdam to Minneapolis, including furniture (a table of raw, bundled birch wood), perfume (actually crude oil packaged in an elegant bottle), and medicine capsules made of gold leaf. “A lot of the objects in the exhibition are seemingly lowbrow, but they all have larger messages attached to them,”

Cross Brush, cleaning tool, by Fredrikson Stallard; image courtesy of Citizen: Citizen

Jasper says. “The product design I’m interested in is more theoretical in nature and is difficult to distinguish from what people might consider art.”

The show contributes, in part, to the momentum around the new College of Design’s efforts to add a product-design curriculum to the college. But it’s also an outgrowth of a graphic-design class that Jasper taught last fall. The class was based on an analysis of marketing methods and their impact on design in consumer culture.

“‘Products of Our Time’ is really an exhibition at the intersection of art and design,” explains Lin Nelson-Mayson, the Goldstein’s director. “In a different venue, this show might be seen as an exhibition

Boxcutter, zinc cast and chrome plated, by Tobias Wong; image by Mike Libby

of contemporary art commenting on our modern times. It still is that. But it’s also an analysis of how we are affected by and make choices with the products we use in our day-to-day lives. Daniel has selected objects by designers who are using recognizable products, but with a twist.”

Consider, for instance, New York designer Tobias Wong’s Dollar Bill Pad, a notepad of a hundred one-dollar bills with gum binding. The implication is that one could easily tear off—and toss away—onedollar bills as easily as Post-it Notes. Which in turn brings to mind the sayings “throw money away” and “throw money at something,” and the spendthrift notions those sayings imply. Nelson-Mayson adds

Personalized Dog Toys that look and sound like dogs’ owners, by Mike Lee; image by Mike Lee

that this object also makes her think “about the art that’s in our pockets every day,” noting the bills’ decorative leaf border and portrait of George Washington.

“This exhibition is a bit more philosophical, more intellectually provocative, than the exhibitions the Goldstein usually does, which usually focus on a designer or a designer’s creative process and its impact on the field of design,” Nelson-Mayson says.

“We hope the viewer will come in, think about what they’re seeing, and leave with a deeper understanding of the ordinary things that surround us every day and what they mean within the context of our culture.”