Erika Eiffel is so named because in 2007 she married the Eiffel Tower. Shes an object-sexual, a person with a pronounced emotional and often romantic desire for a particular inanimate object. This might make you a little shy about your extreme affection for your Audi. But its more likely youre just a victim of great design and not a full-fledged objectophile. As automobile designers explain in the documentary Objectified, vehicles are created to have front and rear faces that convey an emotional energy. (Why you spend hours huffing the seats leather smell is another issue entirely.)
With this documentary, filmmaker Gary Hustwit whose ode to a typeface, Helvetica, was a critical favorite catalogs the field of industrial design. He begins with the standardization of arrows in ancient China and traces through to todays beloved Apple products sleek exteriors. This Saturday at 7 p.m., the film will screen at the Museum of Contemporary Art to supplement the exhibit Modify, As Needed.
Sat., Oct. 15, 7 p.m., 2011