Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, in partnership with El Museo del Barrio, announces a dynamic roster of free upcoming public programs for DISEÑO, the second in the series that heralds the impact of Latinos on American design. The lineup of lectures and workshops commences Feb. 23 with a panel discussion on contemporary architecture with architects Diana Agrest (Agrest & Gandelsonas Architects), Enrique Norten (TEN Arquitectos) and Mónica Ponce de León (MPdL Studio), who will discuss their work and considerations of urban development and environmental issues at El Museo del Barrio. Programs continue in the spring focusing on Latin American product design—with Emiliano Godoy and Rodrigo Corral—and fashion design.

“As the nation’s design museum, we celebrate and share design’s global reach with programming that highlights the inspiring and diverse voices of contemporary design both here and abroad,” said Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt. “Our partnership with our neighbor El Museo del Barrio for the DISEÑO series spotlights through lively discussion the significant achievements of Latino designers and architects.”

“We are delighted to be a partner with Cooper Hewitt, the flagship institution of American design, on the DISEÑO series,” said Jorge Daniel Veneciano, El Museo del Barrio’s executive director. “Presenting the richness of Latin American contributions in the United States is part of our mission.”

Since its launch in 2014, DISEÑO has featured leading Latino figures such as fashion designers Maria Cornejo, Francisco Costa and Narcisco Rodriguez; comic book artist Phil Jimenez; and graphic designers Armin Vit, Gabriela Mirensky and Rafael Esquer. An additional program this spring on fashion accessory design will be announced soon. Visit cooperhewitt.org/events for complete up-to-date information.

DISEÑO PROGRAMS
DISEÑO | Architecture
Tuesday, Feb. 23; 6:30 p.m.
El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Ave., New York City
Free; registration required.

Enrique Norten (TEN Arquitectos), Mónica Ponce de León (MPdL Studio), and Diana Agrest (Agrest & Gandelsonas Architects) discuss the considerations of urban development and environmental issues. Moderated by architect Warren James.

DISEÑO | Emiliano Godoy and Rodrigo Corral
Wednesday, March 23; 6:30 p.m. (Lecture)
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, 2 East 91st St., New York City
Free; registration required.

Thursday, March 24; 6–8 p.m. (Workshop)
El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Ave., New York City
Free; registration required.

Designers Emiliano Godoy and Rodrigo Corral discuss their work at Cooper Hewitt and lead a workshop at El Museo del Barrio. Godoy, featured in “Beauty—Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial,” creates objects from materials and processes that implement skilled labor and local materials. The molds for his Pablo and Pedro bowls (2012) are made with volcanic stone from Mexico City, and his Pizzelle vases (2014) are mold blown with a low-impact tool resembling a waffle maker. Graphic designer Rodrigo Corral, creative director of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, has designed covers and jackets for some of this century’s most memorable literary works by authors such as Junot Diaz, Chuck Palahniuk and Gary Shteyngart.

DISEÑO is a partnership between Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and El Museo del Barrio. This series is funded by Smithsonian Center for Latino Initiatives.

ABOUT COOPER HEWITT, SMITHSONIAN DESIGN MUSEUM
Founded in 1897, Cooper Hewitt is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. On Dec. 12, 2014, Cooper Hewitt reopened in the renovated and restored Carnegie Mansion, which offers 60 percent more exhibition space to showcase one of the most diverse and comprehensive collections of design works in existence. The renovation of the Carnegie Mansion and museum campus was recognized with LEED Silver certification. Currently on view are 9 exhibitions and installations featuring hundreds of objects throughout four floors of the mansion, many of which draw from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 210,000 objects that span 30 centuries. The fifth installment of the museum’s popular contemporary design exhibition series, “Beauty― Cooper Hewitt Design Triennial,” on view Feb. 12–Aug. 21, 2016, will celebrate design as a creative endeavor that engages the mind, body and senses, and will feature more than 250 works by 63 international designers organized around seven themes: extravagant, intricate, ethereal, transgressive, emergent, elemental and transformative. Visitors can experience a full range of new interactive capabilities, including the opportunity to explore the collection digitally on ultra-high-definition touch-screen tables, draw their own designs in the Immersion Room and address design problems in the Process Lab.

Cooper Hewitt is located at 2 East 91st Street at Fifth Avenue in New York City. Hours are Sunday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. The Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden and Tarallucci e Vino cafe open at 8 a.m., Monday through Friday, and are accessible without an admissions ticket through the new East 90th Street entrance. The museum is closed on Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Public transit routes include the Lexington Avenue 4, 5 and 6 subways (86th or 96th Street stations) and the Fifth and Madison Avenue buses. Adult admission, $18; seniors, $12; students, $9. Cooper Hewitt members and children younger than age 18 are admitted free. Pay What You Wish every Saturday, 6 to 9 p.m. The museum is fully accessible.

For further information, call (212) 849-8400, visit Cooper Hewitt’s website at www.cooperhewitt.org and follow the museum on www.twitter.com/cooperhewitt, www.facebook.com/cooperhewitt and www.instagram.com/cooperhewitt.

ABOUT EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO
El Museo del Barrio, New York’s leading Latino cultural institution, welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures. Their richness is represented in El Museo’s wide-ranging collections and critically acclaimed exhibitions, complemented by film, literary, visual and performing arts series, cultural celebrations, and educational programs.
For more information on El Museo del Barrio, please visit www.elmuseo.org

To connect with El Museo del Barrio via social media, follows the museum on Facebook at Facebook.com/elmuseo, and use @ElMuseo on Instagram and Twitter.