2022 Denver Exhibition
The Design for the Common Good International Exhibition hosted at MSU Denver’s Center for Visual Art marks an inaugural occasion where a coalition of international organizations have come together to share best practices in public interest design. Representing design practices from around the world, the exhibition showcases 30 projects from six continents and twenty-two countries, and features regional projects situated in and around the Rocky Mountain West.
LOCATION: Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art, Denver, USA
DATE: January 14–March 19, 2022
curated works
George Hawkins Memorial Treatment Center Mural
Curator Invited Regional Project Selection
Thank you to sponsors: Community Development Partners; Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University; Curry Stone Foundation; Design Corps; Lawrence B. Taishoff Communication Design Development Fund; MSU Denver College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Mini-Grant; MSU Denver Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Diversity Initiatives Grant; National Endowment for the Arts.
Denver Exhibition Catalog
While each project is unique in its methods, the fundamental philosophy of working to achieve community-derived and -driven goals are found throughout. To further realize this, exhibition projects have been grouped according to key issues addressed. Six dominant issues have emerged from this collection and serve as a framework for understanding how public interest design operates to maximize social, economic, and environmental impacts within communities across the globe. The issues are Equity, Education, Community, Cultural Heritage, Sustainability, and Urban Resilience.
Exhibition App
Designed and developed by Shawn Meek, the app features six projects selected by curator Lisa M. Abendroth to encapsulate a range of global perspectives representative of the exhibition as a whole. Find and download the app at iOS App Store and Google Play for a unique experience of exhibition content and use the QR codes located throughout the gallery (see exhibition project narratives embedded in the Matterport Virtual Tour above), to access additional “Insights & Perspectives” about each of the curator pick projects.
Exhibition Committee
Curator
Lisa M. Abendroth
Metropolitan State University of Denver
Lisa M. Abendroth is the curator and organizer of the Design for the Common Good International Exhibition (Denver 2022, Budapest 2023). Her research focuses on public interest design and the social, economic, and environmental impacts created with, and within, the contexts of underserved people, places, and problems. Lisa is a Professor in Communication Design at Metropolitan State University of Denver where her pedagogy is committed to community-led design practices that embolden access and equity. She is a SEED Network co-founder, a Design for the Common Good Network executive committee member, and a co-editor/co-author of two books in Routledge’s Public Interest Design Guidebook series. She holds degrees from Virginia Commonwealth University and Rhode Island School of Design and is an AIGA Fellow. Lisa lectures, exhibits, and publishes her work nationally and internationally.
Committee Representatives
While each network has a unique focus, we acknowledge our mutuality in supporting the growth of design for the common good. In this we seek to scale our effectiveness through our existing network affiliations, the inclusion of new networks, and the promotion of relationships that share new knowledge and critical PID approaches to working, teaching, and learning.
Nina Pawlicki
DesignBuildXchange
Jane Anderson
Live Projects Network
Hendrik Tieben
Pacific Rim Community
LOCATION INFO
Metropolitan State University of Denver, Center for Visual Art
The Center for Visual Art (CVA) provides diverse, high-quality art experiences that bring local and international artists, MSU Denver students and the broader community together to advance the global urban dialogue.
In addition to showing significant contemporary art, the award-winning CVA serves as an interactive art laboratory for MSU Denver students and the larger community. The CVA was founded in 1990 to expose students to leading-edge art and to broaden MSU Denver’s art program. The non-profit art space makes an important contribution to visual art offerings available in Denver and the Rocky Mountain West, bringing in art that would not otherwise be seen here.
CVA is a division of the MSU Denver Department of Art which is dedicated to providing students with an unparalleled urban learning environment and a strong sense of community within the local art scene. The Center for Visual Art contributes to MSU Denver’s status as a higher education art program in Colorado that maintains accreditation from the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.
Photo Credit: Aly McClaran
conference events
01/14: Exhibition Opening
Lecture: Exhibition Introduction and Welcome, Curator, Lisa M. Abendroth; Keynote address, Sergio Palleroni, Professor and Director, Center for Public Interest Design, Portland State University and Executive Committee Chair, Design for the Common Good Network.
03/04: Conference Day 1
Join us for a day filled with inspiring events including panel discussions, network presentations, and a keynote address by Teddy Cruz and Fonna Forman. Conference attendees will have the opportunity to participate in a special viewing of the Design for the Common International Exhibition that evening. Meet speakers and experts promoting systemic change in the practices of design to amplify positive change in communities around the world.
03/05: Conference Day 2
Seated breakfast with speakers, concurrent sessions, in-person and virtual walkthrough of projects, facilitated open discussions, conference closing and a walking tour of the Auraria Bike Pavilions project by ColoradoBuildingWorkshop, University of Colorado Denver faculty and students.
Two online conversation events, on 3 March and 19 March, extend the global community created by the Design for the Common Good Exhibition and Structures for Inclusion Conference. Join with public interest designers, community members, and leaders in the field for a curated dialogue about the exhibited projects and the stories behind them.
03/03: Online Conversation
A selection of five project teams and communities from the exhibition will reflect in a dialogue between DCG networks, open to all. The Conversations will focus on understanding the stories of community design projects and held online to support team members and communities around the world. The March 3rd Conversations will be held 8:00-12:00pm GMT (3-7am EST) and feature keynote speaker Akiko Okabe.
03/19: Online Conversation
A selection of six project teams and communities from the exhibition will reflect in a dialogue between DCG networks, open to all. The Conversations will focus on understanding the stories of community design projects and held online to support team members and communities around the world. The March 19th Conversations will be held 4:00-8:00pm GMT (12-4pm EST) and feature keynote speaker Nabeel Hamdi.