Highlights from MoMA’s Talk to Me Symposium

Architizer News

Highlights from MoMA’s Talk to Me Symposium

October 20, 2011

Architect Bjarke Ingels of BIG discussing “xtreme communication” with Paola Antonelli

MoMA curator of architecture and design Paola Antonelli is listed as one of the most powerful people in the art and design world. And for good reason.

With exhibitions like Talk To Me, currently on show at the MoMA, and frequent appearances in TED talks and other online interviews and lectures, Antonelli has helped push the once insular fields of architecture and design to engage in broader cultural dialogues accessible to all museum-goers. Her current show invites visitors to put on headphones, gaze through 3D glasses, and hunt down QR codes (and tweet about it!) to explore a spectrum of real and imaginary visions for the future.

Talk To Me at the Museum of Modern Art, photo via Inhabitat

But Antonelli is recognized for much more than just her curatorial prowess. With a warm and forthcoming personality that is immediately felt (her charming Italian accent must have something to do with this), Antonelli shows an amazing gift for connecting scholars, professionals and audiences from disparate backgrounds to produce meaningful cross-disciplinary interactions.

Yesterday, Antonelli organized a day-long symposium for the Talk To Me exhibition, rounding up a diverse group of speakers ranging from architect Bjarke Ingels to J-pop sensation Sputniko! and acclaimed Ethiopian-born, Swedish chef Marcus Samuelsson. On a rainy October day, everyone cozied up inside the subterranean Roy & Niuta Titus Theater at the MoMA to discuss all things man, machine and design, and Architizer was there to take it all in. Read on.

Jamer Hunt, Ayse Birsel, Kevin Slavin and Kenyatta Cheese in conversation about scriptwriting

Yesterday’s program flowed seamlessly back and forth from “design snippets” that briefly showcased the work of current designers to open panel discussions featuring a host of creative professionals. London design firm BERG kicked off the morning with a humorous presentation that referenced Mary Poppins and Minority Report all in one breath and introduced prototypes such as Shuu.sh, the Twitter moderator that diminishes the font size of those who tweet too frequently, and SVK, a graphic novel that uses UV light to reveal hidden speech bubbles.

Screenshot of Shuu.sh, image courtesy of BERG

Continuing on, we learned from game designer Kevin Slavin about why the Rubic’s Cube triumphs over the jigsaw puzzle, and what Pacman and recreational rock-climbing can teach us about building systems for the future. Another highlight was Kenyatta Cheese’s in depth study of Tumblr. Cheese (whose endearing smile makes his unusual last name all the better) explained how Tumblr users freely reinterpret images, videos, and characters from television and film, cutting loose from prescribed linear narratives and adapting mass media for intimate, individual expression.

Kevin Slavin likened scriptwriting to “route setting” in rock climbing terms, both of which seek to design experience in specific ways, photo of Brooklyn Boulders via payavisit

We also heard from principal and founder of Local Projects Jack Barton, who spoke of his firm’s use of a website and an algorithm to arrange the names of 9/11 victims on the memorial according to stories of friendship that emerged during the tragedy. Soon after, MacArthur “Genius” Fellow Majora Carter got us excited about her ongoing efforts to transform the recently closed Spofford Juvenile Detention Center in Brooklyn into a warehouse-sized community green market.

Majora Carter is championing a more widespread use of green roofs in urban environments, photo via the New York Times

Arguably the most exciting and provocative discussion of the day concerned the work of Sandra Bloodworth, director of the MTA Arts for Transit program and the woman currently behind MTA’s urban design and station aesthetics. Bloodworth outlined her organization’s recently heightened attention to design, from the system-wide clean up in the 1980s, to the unifying use of Helvetica, to the station mosaics, Metrocard machines, and the maps designed by Massimo Vignelli. She humbly referred to these accomplishments as some of the things the MTA has gotten right.

An MTA Metrocard dispensing machine was installed inside the Talk to Me exhibition, shown in use above, photo via ohyamaxoxo.

Massimo Vignelli designed the map currently used by the MTA Weekender website

After the presentation, moderator Majora Carter asked Bloodworth if she had considered commissioning gifted graffiti artists to install work in subway stations, in hopes of seeing a more populist form of art lining the walls of some of New York’s most visited spaces. Carter and the symposium audience were shocked to hear a firmly negative response from Bloodworth, who explained how MTA workers who spend days cleaning graffiti expressed outrage at the idea when it was previously proposed. Bloodworth’s response sparked criticism from the crowd, inciting some to even accuse her and the MTA for privileging workers over clients.

Artwork by Sol Lewitt at the 59th St Columbus Circle station, photo via secondavenuesagas

It took one comment to turn the mood back around: an attendee in the front row voiced her praise for Bloodworth, who has evidently fought through the constraints of a bureaucracy and worked to please a population as large and diverse as all of New York City to attain visible success. The audience was reminded that while many designers can criticize from afar, few have been in a position to actually effect change, especially on such a grand scale.

Rendering of the ski slope in Copenhagen designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, photo courtesy of the architects

The symposium finished on a cheery note, with a spirited presentation by Bjarke Ingels of BIG briefly going over projects like the 8 House, the Superkilen global park, and the trash incinerator that will double as a ski slope (and also puff smoke rings to quite literally make us more aware of our carbon footprints). Following Ingels, Marcus Samuelsson explained his personal use of food to help integrate marginal neighborhoods in New York City. The day ended with a live performance by Japanese-British pop singer Sputniko!, a delightful finale to the program. We left feeling entertained, enlightened and inspired, and we expected nothing less from Paola Antonelli.

Sputniko!, Marcus Samuelsson, Bjarke Ingels and Paola Antonelli in conversation