S7E11: Paola Antonelli

Paola Antonelli is senior curator of the department of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art.

In the 25 years that Antonelli has been a curator at MoMA, the design collection has expanded to include not only posters and furniture but also the @ symbol and notable videogames. They may not take up as much space in a warehouse, but such objects present new challenges for curators and conservators:

How do you maintain code? Code is more fragile than porcelain. You know, people don’t realize how complicated it is to preserve code — and also the legal issues.…

In order to acquire a videogame for the kind of long-term responsibility that MoMA is used to having, it means really creating a relationship with the creator. So it’s about changing the end user license agreement. And it’s not that easy, there’s a lot of resistance, because the normal EULA allows the producer to revoke the license at any moment.

We cannot let that happen. It’s as if we had a Picasso that could be taken back at any time.

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By Jessica Helfand & Ellen McGirt

Ellen McGirt is an author, podcaster, speaker, community builder, and award-winning business journalist. She is the editor-in-chief of Design Observer, a media company that has maintained the same clear vision for more than two decades: to expand the definition of design in service of a better world. Ellen established the inclusive leadership beat at Fortune in 2016 with raceAhead, an award-winning newsletter on race, culture, and business. The Fortune, Time, Money, and Fast Company alumna has published over twenty magazine cover stories throughout her twenty-year career, exploring the people and ideas changing business for good. Ask her about fly fishing if you get the chance.