Paola Antonelli takes to design in a time of urgency

The 2024 Helsinki Design Week dives deeper and further into learning from the design past in order to be able to look to the future with an open mind. With its umbrella theme Underneath, the festival recognizes the need for radical redesign and reconstruction. It calls for the transformative forces of collaboration in order for design to act in times of crises. We caught up with keynote speaker Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator of architecture and design of The Museum of Modern Art, to ask about change.

In Finland, we have recently begun regarding the role of museums, particularly against the colonial past, as something that needs to change. How do you see the role of museums today and how might it change in the future?

I am glad museums have become the nexus of so much discussion and self-examination. It is all very healthy. It shows that museums are part of civil discourse, a part of life.

The role of curators, in my mind, especially in contemporary design, is to stimulate people’s own defenses, almost as if we were in immunotherapy. I don’t like curators who tell people what is  good and what is bad; I like curators who propose provocations, expose personal vulnerabilities and let people feel that their actions can be meaningful. 

I believe this really is my role. There are, however, many different types of curators and you cannot really say that this is the way it has to be, but I see my role as someone who shows vulnerabilities and doubts. 

You have previously referred to museums as agents of change––how do you see this happening internationally?

I have wished for museums to have that role, and that it should be something to aim toward since we all have a lot to do. In 2012, I established a new department at MoMA called Research & Development (R&D). It provides information and critical tools to identify and explore new directions and opportunities for MoMA and the broader museum field. It is both a crucible and a catalyst for new ways of thinking and doing in museums.

We explore the potential and responsibility of museums, very much like the research and development departments of society, to help us confront both individual and collective issues. To deal with crucial conflicts of our time, and prepare society for the future. Part of the R&D initiative at MoMA involves organizing a series of salons that tackle themes pertinent both within the museum walls and beyond. The themes range widely from death to Al, and from how to protest to living with dogs.

Internationally, I see museums focusing on topics that are urgent and relevant, and co-opting artists to work on them. I particularly love the work of curator and programmer Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies at Serpentine, London. The series of symposia that she did for the Serpentine Galleries, The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish, was very inspiring.

The work looks beautiful, thank you for the example. Thinking of design, is it for all of us? Or is design exclusive?

When it comes to the exclusivity of design, it depends. Some objects are for a few—collectors, other designers, students, specific applications, while some are for billions. Design is a very capacious label that ranges from precious ornamentation to Post-It notes; from public hospitals to expensive spas; from airplane safety cards and banknotes to hand-carved marble sinks. Every example should be considered within its context, and its success measured against whether it achieves its goals, and how.

I am currently working on an exhibition that will open at MoMA in January 2025, titled Pirouette: Turning Points in Design. I would like to share a quote from the press release: “The exhibition includes a wide range of objects, drawn largely from MoM’s collection, that have had a deep impact, whether on the design field or on the world at large—including furniture, electronics, symbols, information design, and more—spanning from the 1930s to today. Some of these objects are universally recognizable, while others might be known only to a smaller audience of fans and experts. Some have transformed behaviors, provoked departures from previous typologies and stereotypes, or embodied innovation in material, form, or function. They have offered unconventional solutions to conventional problems, or designed brand new, constructive problems that lead to new and more evolved studies and solutions. Seen together, the objects in the exhibition highlight how design helps people bring about change, or adapt to it.”

“Design is the enzyme of progress.”

This, to me, goes along with a previous quote of yours where you mentioned that your goal is to promote the understanding of design, until its positive influence on the world is universally acknowledged. What is the positive influence that should be understood and acknowledged?

My work is based on the premise that design, good and bad, is everywhere––not just the chairs on which we sit, but also the interfaces we use on a daily basis and the intangible systems thatsurround and shape our lives. Making people aware of the power of design can create more responsible citizens and it can allow us to build objects and infrastructures that are fairer and more equitable to all humans and the rest of nature. 

Design helps people deal with life’s quotidian aspects, milestones, and challenges. It helps them negotiate changes that are sometimes uncomfortable or dramatic. It helps scientific or technology revolutions become life. I believe that design is the most interesting and consequential form of applied creativity.

However, design cannot solve all of our problems. No discipline alone can––interaction and collaboration between disciplines is crucial. We generally think of design as a combination of skills that center around form-giving and making, but these skills must be as much social, political, and scientific as they are technical and aesthetic. The ability to understand and speakmany different languages is what allows designers to transform flashy trends or sudden disruptions into more meaningful strategies.

As I mentioned earlier, design has the ability to encourage new behaviors. It can help people negotiate change. It can visualize complex information on large scale-planetary mutations, and render them comprehensible to all. It can help build more mindful and responsible citizens, workers, and humans. 

A case in point: the Design Emergency podcast I began with design critic Alice Rawsthorn during the Covid-19 pandemic, that highlights the important role design can play during major crises. Design is the enzyme of progress.

Do design events and festivals still have a role in distributing knowledge and influencing people’s attitudes towards design?

Definitely. They continue being relevant, especially if they remain focused—either on topics that highlight design’s role in the local community, or on topics that are universal and cut across all cultures.

“Imagination is the first step towards action––and towards building a better future.”

You have previously been involved in a multitude of projects which have been devoted to the idea of restorative design, the interface between design and ecology among other studies. You must be the right person to ask: where is design heading?

Ah, I am not sure I am the right person to foresee the future! But I can try to help designers and citizens be ready for the future, and I can highlight how designers can help us all prepare.

In 2019, I curated the XXII Triennale di Milano, Broken Nature: Design Takes on Human Survival, which celebrated design’s ability to offer powerful insight into the key issues of our age. One of its goals was to offer visitors a broader perspective on time, which is often difficult to grasp.

Understanding long-term implications is essential for taking action today. Action that might only yield positive outcomes several generations down the line. It’s hard for people to feel responsible beyond their immediate descendants, so creating a sense of accountability that extends far into the future is complex. 

Artists play a key role in addressing this challenge, which is why Broken Nature included several artistic interventions that explored this concept. We featured stunning visuals from NASA’s Images of Change project, which shows how different locations on Earth have transformed over time. These comparisons, ranging from a few months to several years, help convey that not just humans, but also natural entities like mountains and rocks, experience life on their own timeline. It’s vital that we respect and consider this broader scale of existence.

And where should design, in your mind, be looking in the next five years?

I believe design should reconsider its position in the world from scratch. It should have perspective. My colleague Carson Chan, who runs MoMA’s Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and Natural Environment, and who curated the beautiful Emerging Ecologies exhibition, likes to say that not-building is an act of architecture––therefore of design. When I see the work of people like Yasmeen Lari, Lacaton & Vassal or Vinu Daniel, I am inspired, and I see how it is possible to be an architect in so many different ways.

The more interaction and collaboration, the better. Truly, I cannot think of a discipline that would not benefit from joining forces with design, and there is no discipline that design would not learn from and thrive with. Imagination is the first step towards action––and towards building a better future. 

As Alice Rawsthorn and I discuss in the Design Emergency podcast, design is always responding to urgent issues because it directly engages with life itself. In my view, the climate crisis is at the root of most of today’s challenges. Thus, we should realize that humans are not separate from nature, but instead a part of it. For centuries, our species has been self-centered and arrogantly placed itself above other species and things. This misguided attitude has created exploitative behaviors, not only towards animals, plants, and entire ecosystems but also towards other humans. 

We should begin by realizing that when we damage other humans and we damage the rest of nature, we damage ourselves.

Can design offer solutions to solving these crises?

Oh yes. Listen to Design Emergency, you will find quite a few examples .

Design Emergency podcast on Instagram: @design.emergency. Paola Antonelli is giving a keynote speech at at HDW Main Venue Paasivuorenkatu on 12 September at 6.30pm. Free entry, more details here. This a part of the collaboration between AD Museum and HDW.