NEW YORK — The Museum of Modern Art is showcasing the work of artist and former Staten Islander Golan Levin, a professor of electronic art at Carnegie Mellon University.
The exhibition, “Pirouette: Turning Points in Design,” highlights objects that challenge conventional thinking and spur new forms of creativity.
The exhibit, curated by Paola Antonelli, opened on Jan. 26 and will be on view through Nov. 15, offering visitors a chance to explore the role of design as a force for innovation, featuring objects that have reshaped the way people interact with the world around them.
The exhibition was organized by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Department of Architecture and Design, and Director, Research and Development, with Maya Ellerkmann, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.
Levin collaborated with alumnus Shawn Sims on the Free Universal Construction Kit, a matrix of 3D-printable adapters that allows complete interoperability between 10 popular children’s construction toys.
By connecting pieces from different systems, the kit encourages new forms of play while prompting reflection on intellectual property, open-source culture and design limitations.
The kit includes roughly 80 adapter bricks that anyone can download and 3D-print at home, according to Carnegie Mellon’s website.
Levin said the idea came from a personal experience with his 4-year-old son.
“The project is the Free Universal Construction Kit, which I created in collaboration with my student, Shawn Sims,” Levin said on the MoMA website. “I had this experience with my 4-year-old son, when he was trying to connect Legos and Tinker Toys.
“He became very frustrated that they wouldn’t connect—and that they would even not be designed to connect was a mystery to him. And it occurred to me that this was actually not entirely unlike what we experienced as adults when we have software systems.
“If you purchase a computer from one manufacturer, you can’t play a video file from someone who has a different operating system. I consider this to be a significant limitation of how we can work and think.”
He added that the Free Universal Construction Kit is meant to be more than just a toy adapter.
“The Free Universal Construction Kit is a physicalized metaphor of this, using something we can all relate to, which is these children’s toys,” Levin said. “By seeing these adapters, we can understand the ways in which our lives are similarly constrained.”
“The audience is everyone and its purpose is not necessarily to connect toys, but to get us to think about the ways that things are designed to be non-compatible,” he continued.
According to the MoMA website, the exhibition highlights designs that experiment with new materials and technologies, offer fresh solutions to familiar challenges, and leave a lasting mark on both design and culture.
The works in “Pirouette” underscore design’s ability to channel human experience into form while reimagining how innovation can shape daily life and inspire a more inclusive future.
Levin earned both his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the MIT Media Laboratory.
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