Follow

• 

  New Naturalists

  Francie Latour and RISD XYZ

  Artists Tavares Strachan 03 GL and Sophia Sobers MFA 13 DM tap into scientific authority in commenting on our evolving relationship with nature.

• 

  Revolutions in Making

  David Rejeski and RISD XYZ

  With bio- and nanotech breakthroughs radically changing how things are made, David Rejeski 73 ID asks what it means to be a designer in the 21st century.

• 

  Seductively Solar

  Liisa Silander and RISD XYZ

  Under the direction of project lead Jonathan Knowles BArch 84M, RISD is entering a prototype for a net-zero home in this summer’s Solar Decathlon Europe.

• 

  Humanimalia

  Liisa Silander and RISD XYZ

  No one paints wild animals quite like Walton Ford 82 FAV, whose unsettling twists on traditional natural history are now on view in a NYC solo show.

• 

  RISD XYZ Spring/Summer 2014: Natural Instincts | Full Issue

  Liisa Silander and RISD XYZ

  "As ANIMALS, WE'RE ALL PART OF NATURE, sharing DNA with fish, trees, rocks—everything that came to be with the big bang. We’re also dependent on nature for everything: water, oxygen, food, life. And as the animals currently at the top of the food chain, we’re responsible for respecting and caring for it, too...

  So what do we do when faced with both the fury and fragility of nature? Do we shrug it off, thinking: “the planet is ruined and we’re screwed,” as Associate Professor Damian White asks (page 52)? Or do we take science seriously and recognize that whatever we do to the earth we do to ourselves?

  This is just the tip of the iceberg fueling a resurgence of interest among RISD artists and designers who are grappling with matters of human folly, sustainability, global warming and more...". From the editor's message by Liisa Silander