Sagmeister & Walsh designed a sextet called Don’t Look Back, produced on dark stone inlaid into white felt. A reference to the black screens of televisions, tablets and smartphones, and alluding to the cult show “Black Mirror”, these pieces question our ability to reflect on what we want and who we are, and our relationship to the present, the past and the future, in an attempt to define which of these is the most important for us to focus on. The combination of the soft white felt and the dark tones of the polished stone creates a contrast and sense of depth that highlights and empowers the effectiveness of the pieces.

Don’t Look Back, by Sagmeister & Walsh

Should we concentrate on our past, our present or our future?

We do believe that there are insights to be learned from our pasts. However, when we compare our experiences of a particular situation to the experiences of others, the memories seem incomplete and dull.

The black Ruivina Escuro stone of the mirrors surrounding every aspect of our lives reflect these occurrences. The stone creates only a partial picture, darkened by hue and divided by veins. Better look forward? Our brains are particularly ill-equipped when it comes to predicting what is good for us in the future. Planning takes place primarily in the frontal cortex, the newest and least experienced part of our brain.

When it comes to job selection, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert thinks we are better off talking to a stranger within that profession than imagining how we would enjoy it ourselves. The stones are black mirrors, synonyms for dark TV, computer and cell phone screens and reference the TV series of the same name.

This leaves now.