Paola Antonelli is a Senior Curator in the department of Architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and was recently ranked by Art Review as one of the most powerful people in the art world. It was an absolute pleasure to hear Paola speak and is by far the most elegant and eloquent speaker I've had the pleasure of hearing during my time at VCU. As someone who is constantly awed by design (and often swayed to buy a product because of its packaging design), it astounded me to hear that many people do not consider design as a type of art form. The design method, Antonelli explained, can be applied to anything as it is a method of balancing goals and means and doing so within a budget. She described the MoMA as a place where you go to fill your prescription for Matisse and Picasso, but the exhibits that she curates are like mosquito paper--hooking people and drawing them into something they wouldn't have come upon otherwise. Her passion for design was apparent in the fervor with which she talked about it, describing them as humble masterpieces which can be found anywhere. Something very important that I took out of her lecture was to leave things open ended and allowed to be expounded upon. If something gets tied up in a nice, tidy package then there is no more learning that can be had from it. However, if it is left open more criticisms and exploration of the topic can be had leading to new and greater things.
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