The “Lunchbox Laboratory” a collaboration between Amy Franceschini (of Futurefarmers) and the Biological Sciences Team, National Renewable Energy Lab, is a prototype art project for a distributed research laboratory that allows for young scientists to test collected algae strains. The algae is collected and tested to confirm its function as a renewable energy form that can produce biodiesel to power automobiles and other devices as an alternative to fossil fuels.

Lunchbox Laboratory will be included in MOMA’s Design and the Elastic Mind, a survey of the latest developments in the field of design. It focuses on designers’ ability to grasp momentous changes in technology, science, and social mores, changes that will demand or reflect major adjustments in human behavior, and convert them into objects and systems that people understand and use.

The exhibition will highlight examples of successful translation of disruptive innovation, examples based on ongoing research, as well as reflections on the future responsibilities of design. Of particular interest will be the exploration of the relationship between design and science and the approach to scale. The exhibition will include objects, projects, and concepts offered by teams of designers, scientists, and engineers from all over the world, ranging from the nanoscale to the cosmological scale. The objects range from nanodevices to vehicles, from appliances to interfaces, and from pragmatic solutions for everyday use to provocative ideas meant to influence our future choices.