The Museu del Disseny—DHub Barcelona presents Matter Matters. Designing with the World, an exhibition curated by architect and researcher Olga Subirós. Matter Matters. Designing with the World, rethinks the material foundations of design in a time of climate emergency and planetary crisis.
Matter Matters. Designing with the World, rethinks the material foundations of design in a time of climate emergency and planetary crisis. Featuring over 600 objects from the Museum’s collections, spanning the 12th century to the present day, alongside nearly 100 contemporary works by invited participants, the exhibition exposes the extractivist origins and colonial past of material production while advocating for design as a tool for regeneration.
Featuring over 600 objects from the Museum’s collections, spanning the 12th century to the present day, alongside nearly 100 contemporary works by invited participants, the exhibition exposes the extractivist origins and colonial past of material production while advocating for design as a tool for regeneration.
The exhibition unfolds across eight thematic areas —petrochemical, vegetal, animal, microbiological, mineral, digital, intangible, and affective matter, offering a political ecology of objects. Through more than sixty micro-narratives, objects are activated as discursive agents, problematizing dominant material paradigms and opening pathways toward decarbonization, decolonization, and a new material consciousness. The scenography resists conventional museographic logics, instead juxtaposing historical artifacts with contemporary design strategies to provoke cognitive friction and critical reflection.
The font used throughout is ALT Riviera.
What began with the unconventional choice of developing the symbols first, ALT Riviera is a sturdy grotesk typeface integrated with the playful and expressive characteristics woven into its original symbols.
Infused with a valiant sense of character, type designer Giulia Boggio (she/they), enjoyed pitting ‘hard’ against ‘soft’ forms. In particular, they emphasise the hard shoulders of R, G, and f. “It’s really satisfying to me to look at the contrast between sharp and soft,” they say, “it’s like they’re fighting initially but no one can win so they end up making it work.”
Equipped with 6 font weights (Extralight, Light, Regular, Medium, Bold and Extrabold), ALT Riviera packs a punch, suitable for both Display and Text scenarios.