Guest Lecture Video: Paola Antonelli
“What I think is really important is to remember that we have the power to be activists in many different situations. And we should always have that kind of attitude.”
Last month, MFA Products of Design was proud to host PoD Faculty and Senior Curator of Architecture and Design at MoMA, Paola Antonelli. Paola spoke to us about design emergencies and the activism that can be present at every scale in our day-to-day lives.
Paola starts her talk by saying, “It’s a crucial time for designers because it’s a crucial time for the world. Designers are so versatile and resilient.” Later when talking about her wonderful and insightful Instagram Live Series co-hosted with Alice Rawsthorn, Design Emergency, she states that “When the pandemic started, I was watching Fat Joe doing his Instagram Lives, and I thought, I could do that. And then I thought, Alice and I could do that. In the span of 5 days it happened.” She went on to say “It [Design Emegency] was a way to speak about the versatility and importance of design.”
Paola Antonelli has become a force to be reckoned with in the design world. Working at The Museum of Modern Art in New York since 1994, she is senior curator of Architecture and Design and, as of 2012, the museum's first ever director of research and development. She has worked on shows such as "Humble Masterpieces," which celebrated traditionally unheralded design icons such as the paperclip; "Design and the Elastic Mind," considering the relationship between design and science; "Talk to Me," which looked at design and the communication of people and objects; "Items: Is Fashion Modern?" which highlighted the 111 items of clothing that had a strong impact on the world in the past 120 years; and "Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival", introducing the concept of "restorative design."