Hip-hop star and DONDA art agency founder Kanye West dropped by the Harvard Graduate School of Design to give his thoughts about culture, design and the future of creativity. In the brief speech (here’s the transcript) he told the young designers and architects in-training why he believes what they do is important for society.
I really do believe that the world can be saved through design, and everything needs to actually be “architected.” And this is the reason why even some of the first DONDA employees were architects that started designing t-shirts instead of buildings. But just to see the work actually be actualized … I believe that utopia is actually possible—but we’re led by the least noble, the least dignified, the least tasteful, the dumbest, and the most political. So in no way am I a politician—I m usually at my best politically incorrect and very direct. I really appreciate you guys’ willingness to learn and hone your craft, and not be lazy about creation.
You can draw your own conclusions about Kanye’s vision for a design-inspired utopia. Following the speech, he then gave everyone present free tickets to his concert. A student uploaded a video of the speech, which is available here …
