Perhaps there is no better time than the present, when raw materials are becoming scarce and the extractivist and colonialist logic is showing signs of collapse, to reflect on the past, present and future of matter. It is time to start moving towards a regenerative model and to become aware of the role that design plays in all of this. Come and see it at the exhibition ‘Matter Matters. Designing with the world’.

The exhibition, curated by Olga Subirós, is a long-term exhibition that can be seen at the DHub from 21 February and talks about extractivism, the colonial model and matter, giving very clear examples. Here, works from the historical collections of the Museu del Disseny, with their own collection at the centre, establish a dialogue with others from the 21st century.

With these examples, ‘Matter matters’ talks about an extractivist model that is always in search of unlimited growth. And if this model is responsible for climate emergency and for so many geopolitical conflicts that have their roots in the desire to control the supply of raw materials, why not change it? The exhibition opens a door to optimism and proposes futures in which damage is minimised.

Design has not been alienated to the expansion of this extractivist model, but it can also play a very important role in creating an alternative. We will be able to see this in an exhibition of sustainable practices that are committed to new alternative materials and processes.

The exhibition has been titled with a motto from the philosopher and physicist Karen Barad. The motto matter matters is an invitation to look at matter ‘as a dynamic and relational reality’. Interaction with matter defines the limits (form and function in space), properties (physical, chemical…) and meanings of the world (cultural and symbolic interpretations). In this exhibition you will see how design assumes the vision suggested by Barad’s motto and, as well as giving form to objects, ‘actively participates in the material and social fabrics that surround us’. What if we rethink our relationship with matter?

When you visit ‘Matter matters’, you will be presented with a new narrative of design in the 21st century in which it adopts a regenerative role. The exhibition, as you can see, is unconventional, as it juxtaposes works from earlier times with some of the most modern ones in an often surprising way, providing a renewed and contemporary look at the Design Museum-DHub Collection. Around forty of the works that you can see and that have been created in our century will be added to the collection, which is now undergoing a new update. This presentation of the collection also includes architectural works for the first time, coinciding with the Barcelona 2026 World Architecture Capital of the Year.

In almost a thousand square metres of exhibition space, you will find seven hundred objects by more than two hundred national and international creators, including Frederic Amat, Antoni Arola, Matilde Cassani, Curro Claret, Laura Freixas, Txell Miras, Tornen les Esquelles and Patricia Urquiola (there are many more).

The exhibition includes installations such as Calculating Empires, by Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler, which shows the interconnection between technology, extractivism and colonialism; Slow Violence, by Studio Lemercier, which documents the resistance to extractivist devastation in a German mine; Strata Incognita, an audiovisual work by Grandeza Studio + Locument on the living complexity of the ecosystems of the land; Natura Morta, which questions the Cartesian division between nature and culture; and Red Smoke, by El Último Grito, which reminds us of the fragility of the ecological balance.

Let yourself be led through sixty-five micro-narratives with which the exhibition articulates a dialogue between historical material production, design and contemporary architecture, while questioning the tensions between local action and globalising forces. The narratives unfold in eight thematic areas that deal with materiality in its multiple expressions: petrochemical, vegetal, animal, microbiological, mineral, digital, intangible and affective.

Visit the exhibition until the end and finish the tour in a new space, a viewpoint overlooking Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes. Is it a display case or a window? Behind the glass you will see two human designs that are too big to be exhibited inside: the city itself and this climatic change that threatens us.

The exhibition has been created with a sustainable design and incorporates an accessible itinerary with six tactile stations. It will make the visit more accessible to people with functional diversity, but it can also be used by the general public, as it allows interaction with the exhibits.

The exhibition is complemented by Matèria compartida, an annual programme of activities, and by a publication containing texts by some fifty figures from the world of design and contemporary thinkers.

If you want to know what role design has played and can play in extractivist and colonial logics and their alternatives, don’t miss ‘Matter Matters. Dissenyar amb el món’, but before you come check out the information on the DHub website.