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The Goal of Safety is about as Simple as it Gets
'John Maeda
John Maeda
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'Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli
Paola Antonelli, Acting Chief Curator of the Department of Architecture and Design, MoMA, New York, in conversation with John Maeda
John Maeda: What does the word “simplicity” mean in the context of architecture and design?
Paola Antonelli: As in any other context, also in architecture and design simplicity is the most complex virtue to attain. It may require years and years of redesign to achieve for instance a remote control that is truly universal AND universally understandable.
Real simplicity is structural, not formal, and as such not stereotypical. There is a style of simplicity that can be misleading, as in the work of Tadao Ando or in some of the objects by several contemporary designers. The case of Droog Design, the Dutch design collective founded in 1994, is particularly interesting. Droog Design came at a moment when no one in the material world seemed able to tolerate redundancy anymore and ushered in the beginning of what some labelled the neo-minimalist era. At the time when Droog was born, the fashion world was celebrating the work of Miuccia Prada and Tom Ford, the two who, with bare-boned yet sophisticated simplicity took garments one step beyond the previous Japanese avantgarde.
Subsequently, at the third edition of Doors of Perception, the 1995 design conference organized in Amsterdam by the Netherlands Design Institute and entitled that year On Matter, the trend forecaster Lidewij Edelkoort gave a poignant audio-visual presentation that, in the end, made the audience feel clean and purified, if slightly sensorially overloaded. She showed natural fibers, minimal furniture, recyclable materials, and even translucent soap bars. The world, I assumed from her talk, wanted and wants fewer, better, clearer, sounder things, and is willing to pay more to have them. Oxygen bars, non-carbonated water in translucent bottles, nothing seemed to be as deeply sensual as nothing—a transparent, odorless substance that cleanses the body inside and outside. I realize today that that was an illusion, and that simplicity is about making things be, and not look, simple. The simpler they are, the better they can interact with each other, and the more they can be used to their full potential.
John Maeda: What are the three or so examples that come to mind when you think of “simplicity” and the MoMA collection?
Paola Antonelli: The Post-it Note, the Volkswagen Beetle (original model, from 1959), the Thonet chair, and the iPod. For all them, it took years of complex efforts, experiments, failures, and turmoil in order to achieve simplicity for the final user.
John Maeda: I was really enamored by your Safe: Design Takes on Risk(1) show. I feel that it’s important to simplicity because when faced with a life/death situation, life is about as complex as it gets. Do you agree? Was that part of the reason why you did this show?
Paola Antonelli: Thank you for liking my show. I was not thinking of simplicity per se when I selected the objects for the show, but definitely there is nothing closer to the big bang of design, to its prime reason to exist, than objects that deal with self-preservation. They have to be easy to understand and use, period. They are created to protect body and mind from dangerous or stressful situations, convey information, promote awareness, and provide a sense of comfort and security. Does this make them necessarily simple? I can see in hindsight that in most cases that is true. These objects offer not only efficiency and reliability, but also grace under pressure.
Simplicity in design can be about knowing with clarity what the particular design is about. The best objects display a remarkable economy of thought and materials, achieved because of the clarity of their goals. They work well and are easy to use.
John Maeda: As a multicultural person that constantly travels and finds new inspirations, do you have a particular preference for situations of simplicity or situations of complexity when you are remote from NY.
Note that I personally don’t feel strongly one way or the other—I think we need both simplicity and complexity to remain sane and happy.
Paola Antonelli: I actually appreciate simplicity in the objects that I have to use—not always, most of the time—and instead I cherish complexity in the world that I navigate. I like how diverse the world is, and I do not mind feeling displaced and disorientated—actually, I get a thrill out of it.
John Maeda: Do you use a blackberry, treo, or sidekick (multi-function telephone)? If so, do you find them too complex to use? Or simple to use?
Paola Antonelli: I use a blackberry. No problems whatsoever with it, I type away as fast as lightning. I wish it were more elegant-looking, if anything. I have memories of those horrible years when we had to drag our laptops all over the world and we would have the wrong plug, the connections were slow, the server would be down. Now I have more time to sleep and to try and tackle my need to simplify my reading lists…
(1)
SAFE: Design Takes On Risk, organized by curator Paola Antonelli, was the first major design exhibition at MoMA since its reopening in November 2004 and presented more than 300 contemporary products and prototypes designed to protect body and mind from dangerous or stressful circumstances, respond to emergencies, ensure clarity of information, and provide a sense of comfort and security. zurück
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