Matter Matters: Designing with the World

Matter Matters reflects on the current environmental and social crises through the lens of materiality, positioning matter as the focal point to address the political ecology of objects in a society striving for carbon neutrality by 2050.

The publication is based on the homonymous exhibition at the Museo del Disseny-Dhub, featuring over 500 pieces, including more than a hundred contemporary designs in dialogue with the museum’s historical collection. Matter Matters is structured into eight chapters according to materials: Petrochemical, Plant-based, Animal, Microbiological, Mineral, Digital, Intangible, and Affection-Fiction. Each chapter includes articles by international and local authors, as well as micro-narratives that visually showcase the pieces from the exhibition in various juxtapositions.

Olga Subirós is an architect and curator of exhibition projects that provide an integrative approach to twenty-first century culture and the far-reaching transformations of the digital era and systemic crisis.  Olga Subirós is a current lecturer on Data and Design Master at Elisava, Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, Master of Design and Production of Spaces CCCB-UPC and a PhD candidate in Architecture and Design at RMIT.