Deconstructing Power: W. E. B. Du Bois at the 1900 World’s Fair places decorative arts from Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection in dialogue with 20 of W. E. B. Du Bois’ innovative data visualizations. On loan from the Library of Congress, these groundbreaking visualizations document the progress of Black Americans and life inside the veil of systemic...
In this lecture, Dr. Bénédicte Gady explores the intersecting histories of the drawing collections of Cooper Hewitt and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. Cooper Hewitt was founded as the Cooper Union Museum for the Arts of Decoration in 1897. It was deliberately modeled after the Parisian museum, which had been founded thirty-three years...
Designers Shahar Livne and Charlotte McCurdy in conversation with Caitlin Condell, Associate Curator and Head of Drawings, Prints & Graphic Design. Join us for a discussion exploring the ways in which designers consider the abundance of materials available to them in the 21st century. As the boundary between ‘synthetic’ and ‘natural’ materials becomes increasingly blurry,...
Jazz musician Victor Goines is the featured speaker for this year's Morse Historic Design Lecture Series.
Exploring Marguerita Mergentime’s life and career, reintroducing her ideas on modern design, informal dining, and joyful living.
From Cooper Hewitt's archives, a video of Gianfranco Zaccai (Continuum), Jon Marshall (MAP Project office), Scott Summit (3D Systems), and moderator Aimi Hamraie (Vanderbilt University) discussing the origins and future of universal design and accessibility.
[Partial video available only due to recording issues] In the rush toward modernity after the 1925 Paris Exposition, architectural and domestic metalwork gained prominence in the public eye, exemplifying the "art deco" mode. Using examples from Cooper-Hewitt's collection, curator and art historian Jewel Stern will examine the stylistic transition in metalwork during the late 1920s...
In the second of the Enid and Lester Morse Historic Design lecture series, Dr. Carolyn Sargentson will be lecturing on the theme of secrecy in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Paris, looking at the role of locksmiths in protecting the affairs of the heart, the home, and of politics, and revealing some of their strategies for developing...
It is difficult to believe that the works of art we now see in museums were originally intended for display someplace else. The inaugural speaker for Desigh [R]evolutions, Dr. Nicholas Penny will discuss where several famous paintings now in public galleries were originally intended to hang, and how lighting, heigh, wall color, frames, and the...
Richard Campanella tracks the physical geography, historical development, and population of New Orleans from colonial times to after Hurricane Katrina.
Curator Ellen Lupton uses concrete examples to discuss how designed objects and environments affect human behavior. Through objects from the past and present, she demonstrates how good design can solve everyday problems.
John Maeda talks about Neue Craft The most recent addition to the the Adobe Museum of Digital Media is a lecture by John Maeda called A+B=C (Atoms+Bits=Craft). Once you get past the Museum’s virtual architecture, which I talked about in my blog on Tuesday (March 29th), you find yourself in John’s world, where he stands...
The graphics indicate the melding of technology and nature I was in San Francisco last week to meet old friends from IDEO and Stanford, and while there I was privileged to give the inaugural lecture for the new Interaction Design Program at CCA (California College of the Arts). Students will start this fall, enrolling for...
New York City teens were invited to learn about careers from over thirty professionals working in the fields of fashion, industrial, multi-media and graphic design as well as architecture. Design colleges from around the country were on hand to provide admission and financial aid information. Tim Gunn, members of the cast of Project Runway, and...
Fashioning Felt opens next week. The exhibition explores the varied new uses of felt in a range of fields, including product design, fashion, architecture, and home furnishings. The exhibition runs from March 6 to September 7. On Friday March 6, the Museum will host a lecture by two designers featured in the exhibition, Claudy Jongstra...
