Talk to Me opens this week at the Museum of Modern Art. This collection of objects, videos, and concepts loosely themed around interface and communication is a great excuse to review some of the coolest and most intriguing technology and design innovations from the past few years. There are a wide variety of design subjects represented, including; augmented reality, data stream visualization, touchscreen interface, and QR codes galore. The primary visual for the show’s marketing is of the New York MTA subway ticket vending machine, by Antenna Design (1999). Shown above are Ink Calendar (2008) by Oscar Diaz, prettymaps (2010) by Stamen Design, and Rubik’s Cube for the Blind (2010) by Konstantin Datz. My personal favorite was this decidedly low-tech video by London Squared:

Another take on objects talking like humans is this cool animation by Geoffrey Mann called Cross-fire from the Natural Occurrence (2010), which features an audio track from a scene in the Sam Mendes film American Beauty (1999) starring Kevin Spacey and Annette Bening. One of the most curious pieces of technology I’ve ever seen was developed specifically for 9 nuns living in total isolation; the Prayer Companion (2010) by Interaction Research Studio. The nuns in York, UK have taken vows of enclosure and have almost no contact with the outside world. The Prayer Companion keeps them connected by slowly scrolling through top news headlines and anonymous cries for attention from the experimental crowd-sourced website We Feel Fine.

Evan Roth’s compendium of graffiti lettering styles shows 18 deviations in form for the 10 most common letters used in tags. On his website, the cataloging of tags continues with photo references that are updated with submissions from the public. There were a few iPad apps on display, Sound Drop and Kontrol, which are really simple sound games that remind me of Simon from the 80′s. Two beautiful meditations on time by Maarten Baas are featured, Sweeper Clock (2010) and Analog Digital Clock (2009), which is available as an iPhone app as well.

Talk to Me: Design and the Communication between People and Objects
July 24 – November 7, 2011 | Third Floor Special Exhibitions Gallery
Museum of Modern Art | Talk to Me Exhibit Website | Exhibit Behind-the-scenes Blog