Lazy Bytes: The Future of The Remote Control

Twistymote, by Hilal Koyuncu, Leif Percifield, Francisco Zamorano

Limited Run! October 24-October 31, 2013 Opening reception: Oct. 24, 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Sheila C. Johnson Design Center Arnold and Sheila Aronson Galleries Sheila C. Johnson Design Center, Parsons The New School for Design www.newschool.edu/sjdc Why are we attached to a vase, a cup, or a lamp, but seldom to a television remote control? All of these objects serve a practical function at the heart of the living room. Four leading design schools from around the world – Parsons The New School for Design, the Royal College of Art in London, ECAL in Lausanne, and ENSCI – Les Ateliers in Paris – worked together to reinvent the remote. The exhibit of their designs, Lazy Bytes, makes its United States debut this week at Parsons The New School for Design’s Sheila C. Johnson Design Center after a successful run in London earlier this year. Sixty years after its creation under the name “Lazy Bones,” the remote control remains relatively unchanged. Until now, visions of the evolution of remote controls have focused on performance; however, to truly make a device for the future, thinking about what a device means is as important as thinking about what a device does. With 63 projects, 29 of which were selected for the exhibition, Lazy Bytes opens the field for reflection with its amazing ideas, such as Rolling Control, which is based on an old game, or Zap, the book with conductive ink that combines handwriting and digital control. Also presented here are concrete projects capable of changing our lives in the near future, for instance the small Free Hand that adheres to glass or a can to turn it into a remote control. Functional versions of many of these projects are now being tested. These objects are not intended to replace the previous generation of multi-function remote controls. They seek to propose an alternative, to create new experiences, and to create new relationships between the user and the devices that surround him.