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What is Talk to Me?
Talk to Me is an exhibition on the communication between people and objects that opened at The Museum of Modern Art on July 24th 2011. It features a wide range of objects from all over the world, from interfaces and products to diagrams, visualizations, and furniture, dreamed up by by bona-fide designers, students, scientists, all designed in the past few years or currently under development.
As you can tell, our net was cast very wide and the exhibition happened at the end of a long hunting and gathering exercise. This online journal has documented the process and progress of Talk to Me, and lives on to prolong the delight and continue the conversation.
While doing our research we used this blog as a tool to organize out findings: under the queue tab you could find projects that piqued our interest and were awaiting further research, whereas if something was tagged as checked, it had already gone successfully through the initial phase and it sat in our preliminary database, categorized by type of design. When we began organizing the exhibition and the catalogue, we classified our finds in a new way, by scale, under the who's talking? tab. This is how they remain organized today in the exhibition, catalogue and on the official website for the show, www.moma.org/talktome.
By allowing you behind the scenes of Talk to Me, we hope to shed some light on the curatorial process.
—the TTM curatorial team archive
- November 2011 (1)
- October 2011 (11)
- September 2011 (13)
- August 2011 (6)
- July 2011 (1)
- November 2010 (1)
- September 2010 (2)
- June 2010 (2)
- May 2010 (1)
- April 2010 (3)
- March 2010 (4)
categories
- Checked (3)
- Events (1)
- Just In (1)
- Uncategorized (39)
- Updates (1)
Blogroll
- 10,000 Words
- A bunch of stuff about game controllers
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- Walker Art Center | Design
- We Make Money Not Art
- WIRED | Gadget Lab
Talking Families: Part 9
Between September 17 and October 15, kids ages 10 to 14 and their parents/caregivers are participating in a MoMA Family Art Workshop connected to Talk to Me. After viewing and discussing objects in the exhibition, the family groups have developed their own communication-related inventions. We have invited them to share their projects here.
Inventors: Lisa Freedman and Clark Vaccaro

Age of inventors: 46 and 13
Invention: Flexible Tablet
The Flexible Tablet is ideal for commuters who want a powerful device but also need it to be small and lightweight. The surface can be wrapped around your wrist, like a cuff, and has multiple functions as a communications and computing device. Because it is flexible, the device can conform to users’ features. This may be suitable for many audiences, including tots, and people with limited ranges of motion.
Inventors: Aziza, Rahmana, and Antoinette Abdur-Razzaq

Age of inventors: 12, 10, and 45
Invention: The Help
The Help describes surroundings for blind people and includes a GPS. A special chip allows for voice recognition and activates the speaker. The hope is that this device might make potentially chaotic surroundings more navigable, providing the blind with an assistive technology.
Inventors: Maxim, Roxanne, and Magali Tahon

Age of inventors: 11, 12, and 37
Invention: The Translator Game
This game allows you to create an avatar and communicate with people around the world. In order to facilitate communication and overcome language barriers, the Translator Game takes input languages and translates them into the native language of other players. For example, if someone speaking English says “Hi” to a Chinese player, the Chinese player will hear “Ni Hao.” Complete customization of the avatar is hoped to increase enjoyment and motivation in players as they make new friends online.
Inventors: Sophia Cook and Lisa Paolella

Age of inventors: 11 and 46
Invention: Mr. Receptionist
Mr. Receptionist provides personalized answering services for all members of the family. Users select a color and can operate corresponding buttons in order to customize Mr. Receptionist’s services. For example, if someone is not home, Mr. Receptionist can redirect calls to a user’s cell phone. If a telemarketer calls, Mr. Receptionist will answer for the user and cordially express appreciation, but lack of interest as well.
Inventors: Brandon and Yukiko Bunt

Age of inventors: 11 and 45
Invention: Sidekick
The Sidekick is a little pocket that sticks to any surface and helps to remind you of important things, like appointments and the time. You can also put items like keys, wallets, and cell phones in the Sidekick; it can expand or flatten to facilitate storage and retrieval of these useful everyday things. The Sidekick is completely customizable—you can give it a face and personality, and will also notify you to bring it with you to important places..
Inventors: Alex, Ivan, and Irina

Age of inventors: 14, 47, and 46
Invention: Dreamhouse
Dreamhouse is a customizable modular home. You can arrange and rearrange the individual sections to maximize aesthetics and functionality. The user has complete control and can refresh their Dreamhouse by reconfiguring the layout in any way according to his or her needs. Solar panels used all around make the Dreamhouse green-powered to maximize sustainability.