Forest Futures
Harvard GSD
Cambridge MA, US
2024
‘Forest Futures’ is a design exhibition taking place from January 25 to March 31, 2024, at the Druker Gallery of Gund Hall at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. It has been curated by Professor Anita Berrizbeitia in collaboration with students and from the Fall 2023 seminar ‘Forests: History and Future Narratives.’ The exhibition explores the intertwined histories of forests and humanity, critically examining the profound connections between design disciplines and these critical habitats. A glance at the ungraspable timeline of forest evolution, 350 million years, reveals an alarming fact: a millennium of human activity—a blink of an eye in geological time—has threatened the equilibrium of these life-sustaining ecosystems. The curatorial approach reflects the diverse storylines explored in the seminar. As forests capture the attention of multiple disciplines, each exhibition section incorporates historical, technical, artistic, and scientific perspectives. The exhibition design includes diverse content and visual media, such as a Dymaxion map with digital visualization, reproductions of Charles Sargent’s maps, a selection of urban forest projects, a visual glossary with key concepts and techniques, faculty-led research work, and a selection of photographs by Stanley Greenberg, among others. Together, these various perspectives converge to interrogate the future of forests in their environmental, societal, and political dimensions.
Instructor, Curation and Design:
Anita Berrizbeitia
Teaching, Curatorial, and Design Assistant:
Manuel Bouzas
Students:
N. Boverman, H. Das, E. Dunnenberger, R. Gao, L. Garinois, A. Harvey, M. Lantigua, Y. Ji, A. Jones, A. Kupi, F. Lima, P. Margain, G. Meek, E. Menard, R. Palladino, Y. Qin, K. Wu, E. Zmuda
Exhibitions Team:
Dan Borelli, David Zimmerman-Stuart
Photographer:
Manuel Bouzas
