VASE LECTURES

This lecture is in collaboration with University Libraries.

‘The Hidden Talents of Everyday Things—’

Kelli Anderson will talk about the craft of design, which she considers “feeling-things-out as well as seeing.” She explains: “The interactive objects we make can tap into the sophisticated—and uniquely human—way that our senses navigate complexity through physical intuition. When we push to assess material resistance, squint to gauge contrast, or stand back to feel the emotional impact of a design, we are using a give-and-take tinkering logic to experience the structure of our world. Because of this, I consider design can both a method and a philosophy for exploring the world—one that uncovers new possibilities hiding in plain view.

About the artist

Kelli Anderson uses design magic to connect people with the depth and possibility of the world.

Pushing the bounds of publishing, she created This Book is a Camera (MoMA)—which transforms into a working camera—and This Book is a Planetarium (Chronicle)—which houses paper devices (including a planetarium) and has sold more than 100,000 copies.

Other projects include a viral paper record player and—with The Yes Men—a utopian counterfeited New York Times, which won the Ars Electronica Prix. Doctors have used the award-winning Tinybop Human Body app to communicate treatment in childrenʼs hospitals and to Indigenous Australians.

Clients include NPR, the New Yorker, the Guggenheim, MoMA, Apple, and the New York Times. Anderson has redesigned brands such as Russ & Daughters and Momofuku. She has exhibited internationally; her independent projects have been supported by the Japan Foundation, Exploratorium, Adobe, Center for Book Arts, MASS MoCA, ITP, and Letterform Archive.

2023-2024 Visiting Artists