Massive Change: Second Thoughts
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto on 06. 1.05
This Treehugger has never been a fan of Bruce Mau. We thought the book he designed for our favourite living architect, Rem Koolhaas, was a massive doorstop. We could not understand why this guy who dips his feet into every profession is treated as a visionary instead of a dilletante.
Thus it was with great trepidation that we went to see Massive Change three days before it closed, primarily for a lecture on community windfarming.
We were wrong; Bruce Mau is a visionary. Unlike many such as James Howard Kunstler and this writer, Mau is uniformly positive, showing how changes in technology will deal with hunger, shelter, garbage, transport, energy. He does not doubt for a minute that there is the intelligence, drive and creativity in us to beat these problems. He lists the problems and attacks them. We left dazed but amazed.
Although the show has closed, the website is a marvelous resource, including podcasts of speakers ranging from Michael McDonough to Dean Kamen.::Massive Change
Interesting, I had heard resounding negative feedback on Massive Change from friends whom I consider to be fans of Bruce Mau. Their view was that it was too large and all over the map, there was no proper structure or order to it and the message was muddled at best.
Now I'm really regretting not having had a chance to check it out, frankly, I think the highlight of the show sounds like the guest speakers. Great to hear they've got podcasts archived.
Garth,
I don't disagree with your friends - Massive change was hard to absorb, it was all over the map, and it had a huge breadth and depth of scope.
However, that doesn't change the fact that the show was quite astounding. I had to do it in two bites to deal with both the crowds and the information overload.
Regards