Paola Antonelli is Senior Curator of Architecture & Design at The Museum of Modern Art, as well as MoMA’s founding Director of Research & Development. Her goal is to promote design’s understanding, until its positive influence on the world is universally acknowledged. Her work investigates design’s impact on everyday experience, often including overlooked objects and practices, and combining design, architecture, art, science, and technology.
She has curated shows, written books, lectured worldwide, and taught in several schools, including Harvard and UCLA. Among her most recent exhibitions and books are Broken Nature, devoted to the idea of restorative design (conceived as the XXII Triennale di Milano); Material Ecology, on the groundbreaking work of architect Neri Oxman; and Never Alone, about interactive design and video games. She is currently working on several new sessions of her MoMA R&D Salons and on the Instagram series @design.emergency, conceived with design critic Alice Rawsthorn and devoted to the role of design in the Covid-19 pandemic and beyond. Alice and Paola’s book, Design Emergency, was published in May 2022.
