Energy—its production, consumption, and its role in the planet’s future—is the subject of Vitra Design Museum’s upcoming group exhibition. The show features 27 works by as many artists and designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Ed Kashi, and Marjan van Aubel to critically examine the role designers can play in an increasingly pressing transformation of the energy sector. Although everything from news coverage to everyday conversations on this subject can seem steeped in doom and gloom, curator Jochen Eisenbrand accentuates the collaboration, innovation, and progress made by talents across time and place towards this shared goal. 

Photo credit: Ed Kashi, Petroleum Pipeline, Okrika Town, Nigeria, 2006, © Ed Kashi/VII/Redux