New exhibition explores design in time of virus

There’s a kit, by Kiran Zhu, that includes mask, sanitizer, wipes and more resembling a recherche cosmetic set you’d see on goop.com. There’s an upperbody bubble you can walk around underneath, by Sun Dayong. There are skirts, by design collective Multiply, with a diameter that puts Victorian hoop skirts to shame and that can help you socially distance.

These are some of the offerings in “Design by Distance,” a virtual exhibition presented by the Museum of Craft and Design and curated by Ginger Gregg Duggan and Judith Hoos Fox of c2, a.k.a. CuratorSquared, online through Dec. 31.

Most of the designs don’t seem particularly scalable or practical, which, as the critic Kate Wagner has written, can feel selfserving on the designers’ part in the midst of a pandemic. But as a visual testament to how the coronavirus has changed our world, our interactions and our imaginations, the pieces fascinate, combining the absurd and the tragic.

Design by Distance: Through Dec. 31. Free. https://bit.ly/designbydistance

Yong Architecture Penda-China