MoMA Curator Paola Antonelli on Design for the Post-Pandemic World

Right now, one of the most talked-about issues at hand for members of the international workforce is: what comes next? For those of us fortunate enough to work from home, will we persist in our pajama-wearing state forever? When, and how, will we ever return to high-rise offices, riding elevators packed like sardines, and casually sharing the same air as thousands of other commuters on public transportation?This question, among many others, is on the mind of the Italian-born curator Paola Antonelli, who currently serves as senior curator of the department of architecture and design at New York’s Museum of Modern Art. In her position, Antonelli has organized exhibitions that run the gamut from using nontraditional materials to imagine a more sustainable world, as in the forward-thinking show “Neri Oxman: Material Ecology,” and probed the use and meaning of clothing in “Items: Is Fashion Modern?” She’s also acquired video games, including Pac-Man and Tetris for the museum, and displayed a vial of sweat as part of a show titled “Design and Violence.” On this week’s episode, Antonelli calls in from her home in Manhattan to discuss everything from augmented reality to outdoor dining, and offers an invaluable perspective on how design theory and objects can help us survive, and even thrive, in the future.