Paola Antonelli facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Paola Antonelli
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Antonelli at the Digital Life and Design Conference, Munich, 2008
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| Born | 1963 (age 61–62) |
| Education | Polytechnic University of Milan (Architecture) |
| Occupation | Author, editor, and educator |
| Organization | Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York |
| Title | Senior Curator of Architecture & Design Director of Research & Development |
Paola Antonelli (born 1963) is an Italian expert in architecture and design. She works as a Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. This means she helps choose and organize amazing art and design exhibits. She also started a special department there for research and development. TIME magazine even called her one of the top 25 design thinkers in the world!
Contents
Early Life and Learning
Paola Antonelli was born in Sassari, a city on the island of Sardinia in Italy. She went to the Politecnico di Milano University in Milan. In 1990, she earned a degree in architecture. Even though she studied architecture, she has never worked as a building architect.
Her Work and Career
After finishing university, Paola Antonelli organized many art and design shows. These shows took place in Italy, France, and Japan. She also wrote for important magazines like Domus and Abitare. She has written articles for many other publications too.
Teaching Design
From 1991 to 1993, Antonelli taught at the University of California, Los Angeles. She taught students about the history and ideas behind design. In 2003, she began teaching a design theory course at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. She has also given talks about design and architecture in Europe and the United States. She has been a judge for many international design competitions.
Curator at MoMA
Paola Antonelli joined the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 1994. She became a curator in the Architecture and Design Department. Her first big show at MoMA was in 1995. It was called Mutant Materials in Contemporary Design. This show looked at new and unusual materials used in design.
She then curated other interesting exhibitions. These included Thresholds: Contemporary Design from the Netherlands in 1996. In 1997, she presented Achille Castiglioni: Design!. Later, she curated Projects 66: Campana/Ingo Maurer in 1999. Her 2001 exhibition, Workspheres, explored how future workplaces might be designed. In 2005, she curated Safe: Design Takes on Risk. This show looked at how design helps us deal with dangers.
Paola Antonelli has also worked on a book about food as a form of design. She even helped create a TV show about design. As a curator, she has added many video games to MoMA's permanent collection. She believes video games are important examples of modern design. She has also tried to include a Boeing 747 airplane in MoMA's collection.
With Jamer Hunt, Antonelli created an exhibit called Design and Violence. This show looked at how design can be used for both good and bad. For example, it featured objects like a drone outline or a self-guided bullet. These items show how design can have many different uses. Antonelli explained that they wanted objects with a "complex relationship with violence." The exhibit aimed to show that design is multi-sided in today's world.
In 2017, Antonelli and Michelle Millar Fisher curated "Items: Is Fashion Modern?". This exhibition explored 111 clothing items and accessories. It showed how these items have greatly impacted the world in the last two centuries. They also taught an online course called Fashion as Design.
In one exhibit, visitors could play video games like Pac-Man, Tetris, and Minecraft. This was to show how people interact with these designs. Some critics wondered if video games could truly be called "art."
Paola Antonelli believes that design is often misunderstood. She thinks people sometimes see it as just decoration. She wants to change this idea. She says that without designers, many scientific and technological ideas would not become part of our daily lives. Designers help us use things like microwaves and the internet.
Awards and Honors
Paola Antonelli has received many important awards for her work. In 2014, she was given an honorary doctorate from the Royal College of Art. In 2015, she received an AIGA Medal. This award recognized her for helping more people understand the importance of design.
She has also been named one of the most powerful people in the art world. This recognition came from Art Review and Surface Magazine. She has received honorary degrees from other universities too. These include Kingston University and Pratt Institute.
Other awards she has received include:
- 2006 National Design Award from Cooper Hewitt
- 2007 TIME magazine design visionary
- 2010 Lucky Strike Designer Award
- 2011 Hall of Fame inductee, Art Directors Club
- 2019 American Academy in Rome honouree
- 2020 London Design Medal
- 2021 German Design Award Personality of the Year
In 2024, she received the Compasso d'Oro alla Carriera award for her career achievements.
See also
In Spanish: Paola Antonelli para niños
- List of works in the MoMA collection of architecture and design
