Return to Function surveys contemporary artists who make functional objects that verge on "the designed"--from vehicles to clothes to mobile studio units--which happily confirm that the once-firm line between fine art and the applied arts is indeed dissolving. These artists--Jules De Balincourt, Claire Fontaine, Fran ois Curlet, Fabrice Hyber, J. Morgan Puett, Michael Rakowitz, Joe Scanlan, Franck Scurti, Ricardo Miranda Z iga and others--make objects that are simultaneously critical and practical. By choosing to create objects that meet utilitarian criteria, they show that artworks can be a part of the larger social, political and economic fabric. This volume features an in-depth discussion of seminal artists working in this vein, including Lucy Orta, Andrea Zittel and Jorge Pardo.