Paola Antonelli

Paola Antonelli

Curator for Architecture and Design, MoMA

Paola Antonelli is an Italian-born curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and one of the world’s foremost experts on contemporary architecture and design. She received her MA in Architecture from Milan Polytechnic in 1990, and worked at the design magazines Domus and Abitare before coming to MoMA in 1994. At MoMA, where serves as curator for the Department of Architecture and Design, Antonelli has been a strong of advocate of treating design as art: she’s written that "everything is designed, one way or another.” Antonelli is known for her eclecticism, and has curated well-received shows such as Workspheres (2001), devoted to the workplace of the near future. Her recent exhibit SAFE included – among other materials – a UN refugee tarp, camouflage cream, and a baby buggy. Antonelli has taught design history and theory at UCLA and Harvard and is the author of Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design, and co-author of 2008 book Design and the Elastic Mind.

2mins
Erasing the difference between the original and the serial model.
3mins
The designer is a practical creature, says Antonelli.
2mins
Antonelli talks about connections and open-source design.
2mins
From propeller blades to Dove models, the definition has changed greatly.
2mins
Designers are history’s great synthesizers, says Antonelli.
1mins
Helping people see the world with different eyes.
2mins
Antonelli describes finding that something that grabs her eye.
3mins
Antonelli is still an architect at heart.
1mins
If designers are good, they think in economic terms, says Antonelli.
1mins
Antonelli talks about her upcoming show, “Design and the Elastic Mind.”
2mins
You don’t need a $50,000 mold to make a plastic chair anymore, says Antonelli.
5mins
How do we use design – and brands – to identify ourselves?
1mins
This is the biggest and hardest question of them all, says Antonelli.
4mins
Antonelli sees herself as a loudspeaker.
2mins
From Sardinia to Milan, then back to Sardinia.