BOOK FORMAT Paperback, 7 x 9 in. / 240 pgs / color.
PUBLISHING STATUS Pub Date 12/31/2010 Out of print
DISTRIBUTION D.A.P. Exclusive Catalog: FALL 2010 p. 175
PRODUCT DETAILS ISBN 9781935202226TRADE List Price: $24.95 CDN $33.95
AVAILABILITY Not available
Sustainism marks a shift not only in thinking and doing but in collective perception--of how we live, do business, feed ourselves, design, travel and communicate, as much as how we deal with nature.
Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers' Sustainism Is the New Modernism declares the dawn of a new cultural era, as we transition from modernity to sustainity--towards a world that is more connected, more localist, more digital and more sustainable. As the authors of this clear-eyed manifesto argue, "sustainism marks a shift not only in thinking and doing but in collective perception--of how we live, do business, feed ourselves, design, travel and communicate, as much as how we deal with nature." In the twentieth century, whether we knew it or not, our world was shaped by modernist values, from the design of our cities to our homes, technologies and our conceptions of progress. Sustainism recasts our relationship to all of these things, binding ecological issues to a larger picture of our world. Through a series of graphically dynamic aphorisms, quotes and symbols designed for worldwide use by businesses, individuals and institutions, to signal support for sustainism, Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers show how the movement is already reshaping global culture, technology, food and media. With this concise manifesto, they launch the term sustainism into the public consciousness. The sustainist era has begun. Michiel Schwarz is a Dutch independent cultural thinker, innovator and producer, now working from Berkeley, California. Originally trained as a sociologist of technology, he has initiated projects on global issues, the future of design, technology and media. His publications include The Technological Culture and Speed: Visions of an Accelerated Age. Joost Elffers is a designer, "symbol maker" and creative producer of award-winning and innovative books such as 48 Laws of Power, Play With Your Food and Tangram: The Ancient Chinese Shapes Game.
Featured image is from Sustainism Is the New Modernism : A Cultural Manifesto for the Sustainist Era.
"Sustainism will drive the creativity of the twenty-first century. By connecting the issues of sustainability, social networks, localism, biomimicry, community, urban planning, food and a host of others, Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers offer a canvas on which we might paint the future of our society." -- Tim Brown, CEO and President, IDEO
"The manifesto for sustainism identifies a new cultural movement. In an original combination of text and typography, it signals the beginning of a new era." -— Luca Conti in the Italian daily Il Sole 24 Ore
"Sustainism make visible the complex interconnections of our current 'glocal' culture." -— Max Bruinsma, editor in chief, ITEMS, Dutch design magazine
Two days after Alice Rawsthorn, design critic for the International Herald Tribune, proclaimed "Sustainism" an appropriate name for the burgeoning movement that is replacing Modernism (and Postmodernism), Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers, authors of the critically acclaimed Sustainism manifesto, were given a chance to make their case at The New York Public Library—current home, as Elffers pointed out, of the Gutenberg Bible, the first book ever printed.
During the evening's conversation, the audience learned that the authors are, in fact, childhood friends whose Dutch parents were die-hard Modernist designers. Schwarz situated the beginning of the talk in the summer of 1969: the year man first landed on the moon, and the year that was supposed to have begun a new era which included but was not limited to space travel. Despite the optimism of the time, Schwarz argues, it was not the shocking image of astronaut Neil Armstrong's first footprint on the moon that defined the era, but the photograph of planet earth as seen from the astronaut's incredibly distant perspective. And it was this image that marked the beginning of the Sustainist era. For Elffers, the moment of realization that humanity had stepped out of the confines of Modernism came later—at the high temple of Modernism itself, The Museum of Modern Art, New York.
continue to blog
The world has entered a new age. After the twentieth century's modernism and postmodernism, a new cultural era has begun. We have given it name: sustainism. continue to blog
FORMAT: Pbk, 7 x 9 in. / 240 pgs / color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $24.95 LIST PRICE: CANADA $33.95 ISBN: 9781935202226 PUBLISHER: D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers AVAILABLE: 12/31/2010 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Out of print AVAILABILITY: Not available TERRITORY: WRLD Export via T&H
Sustainism Is the New Modernism A Cultural Manifesto for the Sustainist Era
Published by D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers. By Michiel Schwarz, Joost Elffers.
Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers' Sustainism Is the New Modernism declares the dawn of a new cultural era, as we transition from modernity to sustainity--towards a world that is more connected, more localist, more digital and more sustainable. As the authors of this clear-eyed manifesto argue, "sustainism marks a shift not only in thinking and doing but in collective perception--of how we live, do business, feed ourselves, design, travel and communicate, as much as how we deal with nature." In the twentieth century, whether we knew it or not, our world was shaped by modernist values, from the design of our cities to our homes, technologies and our conceptions of progress. Sustainism recasts our relationship to all of these things, binding ecological issues to a larger picture of our world. Through a series of graphically dynamic aphorisms, quotes and symbols designed for worldwide use by businesses, individuals and institutions, to signal support for sustainism, Michiel Schwarz and Joost Elffers show how the movement is already reshaping global culture, technology, food and media. With this concise manifesto, they launch the term sustainism into the public consciousness. The sustainist era has begun.
Michiel Schwarz is a Dutch independent cultural thinker, innovator and producer, now working from Berkeley, California. Originally trained as a sociologist of technology, he has initiated projects on global issues, the future of design, technology and media. His publications include The Technological Culture and Speed: Visions of an Accelerated Age.
Joost Elffers is a designer, "symbol maker" and creative producer of award-winning and innovative books such as 48 Laws of Power, Play With Your Food and Tangram: The Ancient Chinese Shapes Game.
