Cynthia E. Smith to Present 'Design by the People for the People' Lecture, Gallery Talk on Nov. 13

Photo by Rob Howard

The Raleigh Denim Workshop is operated by Victor Lytvinenko and Sarah Yarborough in Raleigh, North Carolina (2007-present).

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Cynthia E. Smith will give a lecture at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 13, in Ken and Linda Sue Shollmier Hall, Room 250 of Vol Walker Hall, on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, as part of the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design lecture series. She will also offer a gallery talk at noon.

Smith is the Curator of Socially Responsible Design at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. She curated the "By the People: Designing a Better America" exhibition, which is on display through Dec. 16 in the Fred and Mary Smith Exhibition Gallery and other locations within Vol Walker Hall. Organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, the exhibition is presented on campus by the Fay Jones School. This display of  the "By the People" exhibition is the first stop on a national tour after the initial installation at Cooper Hewitt in New York.

To create this exhibition, Smith conducted more than two years of field research — traveling to shrinking post-industrial cities, sprawling metro regions, struggling rural towns, along border regions, areas impacted by natural and man-made disaster and places of persistent poverty — in search of collaborative designs for more equitable, inclusive and sustainable communities. The exhibition highlights design solutions that expand access to education, food, health care and affordable housing; increase social and economic inclusion; offer improved alternative transportation options; and provide a balanced approach to land use between the built and natural environment.

The exhibition features close to 40 design projects from every region across the United States. This is the third exhibition in Cooper Hewitt's series on socially responsible design. As the first exhibition in that series to focus on conditions in the United States and its bordering countries, "By the People" explores the challenges faced by urban, suburban and rural communities.

"I think it says a lot about the forward innovative thinking that the University of Arkansas must value, to host this type of exhibition," Smith said. "My hope is that people beyond the university will be inspired by the work in the exhibition and understand that they, too, are citizen designers - that they can use design to improve their own neighborhoods, their own communities, their own cities."

In Smith's talk, titled "Design by the People for the People," she will discuss how innovative people and place-based designs are emerging within cities, small towns and rural counties, spanning regions and borders, in response to decades of divestment, social and spatial segregation, and mounting climate challenges. It is a call to action to create more inclusive, equitable, healthy and just places, to design an ecosystem of opportunity for all people across the country.

The "By the People" exhibition is divided into six themes: Act, Save, Share, Live, Learn and Make. To orient the visitor, the complexities of poverty, prosperity, innovation and design in the United States are addressed in a captivating introductory video by Cassim Shepard inside the gallery and graphics that chart social and economic inequalities throughout the exhibition.

Trained as an industrial designer, Smith led multidisciplinary design and planning projects for cultural institutions for more than a decade. After earning a graduate degree from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, she joined Cooper Hewitt, where she integrates her work experience with her advocacy on human rights and social justice issues. She co-authored "The Politics of Genocide: U.S. Rhetoric vs. Inaction in Darfur" for the Kennedy School Review.

Additionally, Smith co-organized the Social Impact Design Summit and white paper with the National Endowment for the Arts; curated "Design with the Other 90%: Cities" at the United Nations headquarters (2011); co-curated the "Design Triennial: Why Design Now?" (2010); and curated the groundbreaking "Design for the Other 90%" exhibition (2007). She was named a "20/20 New Pioneer" by Icon design magazine and is a member of the World Economic Forum Expert Network. She serves on numerous international design juries, including the Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge, and lectures widely on socially responsible design.

Admission to the gallery talk, lecture and exhibition is free. The exhibition gallery is located on the first floor of Vol Walker Hall, and it is open to the public from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays. 

This is the June Biber Freeman Endowed Lecture.

For more information, contact 479-575-4704 or fayjones.uark.edu.