28 PRINT 65.3 JUNE 2011 DIALOGUE STEVEN HELLER BREAKING BOUNDARIES She is the best friend that graphic design and typography have in the museum world. Conceiver of such exhibitions as “Safe: Design Takes on Risk,” “Humble Masterpieces: Everyday Marvels of Design,” and “Design and the Elastic Mind,” Paola Antonelli, senior curator in the Architecture and Design department at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, seamlessly integrates 2-D and 3-D design in a standard-setting manner. Over the last year she has further pushed the museum forward into the digital age by acquiring for MoMA’s design collection the @ sign and, just recently, 23 digital typefaces. It is this pioneering leap into Holland Robin Y PH B the digital realm that was the subject of A GR O T our recent conversation. O PH Paola Antonelli, senior Before we discuss MoMA’s acquisition of It seems that, at least when it comes curator in the department 23 digital typefaces for its design collec- to lead or wood types, that’s the way; the of Architecture and tion, tell me how type was collected prior tradition is to acquire first and foremost Design at The Museum to the digital age? the artifact itself—the blocks, a complete of Modern Art, New York. When we acquired Helvetica (bold, 36 series for each font size and style—along point), the only non-digital typeface with some notable applications. In many currently in our collection, we collected cases, especially with wood and lead the lead blocks within their wood tray, type, museums and centers also offer exactly the way the donor, Lars Müller, workshops for people to try the typefaces presented it to us. out. That is what the Hamilton Wood For our exhibition to celebrate Type & Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Helvetica’s 50th anniversary in 2008, Wisconsin does. my colleague Christian Larsen culled There are several museums of typogra- from the collection great examples of ob- phy. While each has its own collecting <more> jects made with Helvetica and bought or style and historical foci they always seem See more from MoMA at printmag.com. procured some others, such as American to share a few traits: They always need </more> Apparel’s shopping bag. to show applications (the abstraction of 30 PRINT 65.3 JUNE 2011 DIALOGUE Left: Matthew Carter’s Walker typeface, Walker Art Center identity Below: Barry Deck’s Template Gothic, cover of Emigre No. 19 EMIGRE #19: Starting From Zero Price: $7.95 E Walker Art Center, Emigre Art Center, Walker F O WE WANTED TO BRING THE COLLECTION Y URTES “ UP TO DATE AND MAKE IT INTO A TRUE CO GES MA COMMENTARY ON COMMUNICATION DESIGN. 0 I type as a design entity is not very easy Matthew Carter Big Caslon (1994), the jump into the digital realm requires for the public to grasp), and they always Albert-Jan Pool FF DIN (1995), Matthew on the museum’s part a similar declara- connect type to printed paper (even with Carter Walker (1995), Matthew Carter tion of intent as the one made for objects digital fonts, the reality of an increasing- Verdana (1996), Jonathan Hoefler and and architecture: We are committed to ly paperless world is still hard to swallow Tobias Frere-Jones Mercury (1996), embracing new technologies and to de- when thinking in models, i.e. a museum Matthew Carter Miller (1997), Jonathan vising updated criteria and methods to collection). Hoefler & Tobias Frere-Jones Retina set the basis for the future of the collec- (1999), Jonathan Hoefler & Tobias Frere- tion. We decided to begin with digital And what types are in the MoMA Jones Gotham (2000). typefaces because one needs to start collection? somewhere, and the last 30 years are my Besides the Helvetica bold 36 point, Interesting choices. How did you decide comfort zone. However, my colleague here they are, our 23 new acquisitions: on which typefaces to include in the Juliet Kinchin and I are planning to go American Type Founders OCR-A (1966), collection? back in time and study the whole 20th Wim Crouwel New Alphabet (1967), Four years ago we held a one-day sympo- century. The initial list of 23 typefaces is Matthew Carter Bell Centennial (1976- sium with experts from all over the distilled from the discussions held in the 78), Matthew Carter ITC Galliard (1978), world—including you, Steven—to ad- symposium and tempered further by ad- Erik Spiekermann FF Meta (1984-1991), dress the future of our graphic design ditional conversations with designers Zuzana Licko Oakland (1985), Jeffery collection, which consisted mostly of and critics. We tried to represent differ- Keedy Keedy Sans (1991), Erik van posters, albeit great ones. We wanted to ent phases in the history of font design Blokland and Just van Rossum FF bring the collection up to date and make in the past 30 years—and more, there are Beowolf (1990), Barry Deck Template it into a true commentary on communi- two 1960s fonts in the list—and to give an Gothic (1990), P. Scott Makela Dead cation design. Amongst the lacunae we overview of an important historical arc History (1990), Jonathan Hoefler HTF identified in our historical holdings, and to our audience. Didot (1991), Neville Brody FF Blur amongst the new categories of objects (1992), Jonathan Barnbrook Mason that we should tackle, were typefaces. Digital typefaces are code. How do you (1992), Matthew Carter Mantinia (1993), Moreover, as far as contemporary de- define type as an object that is suitable Tobias Frere-Jones Interstate (1993-95), sign is concerned, we established that for the MoMA collection? 32 PRINT 65.3 JUNE 2011 DIALOGUE Museum of Modern York Art, New F O Y URTES CO GES MA I Clockwise: Neville Brody, FF Blur, Medium; American Type Founders, OCR-A; Hoefler & Frere-Jones, Mercury Display, Roman; and Wim Crouwel, New Alphabet. We are comfortable with code and have photo strips. Are any of these fonts Paul Galloway, our study center supervi- been acquiring it for a while—always in earmarked for MoMA? sor, who kept all the negotiations going, applied form, we have not gotten yet to Not yet. and our intrepid General Counsel Henry the point of acquiring code for its own Lanman, who devised a way for us all— intrinsic design merits, even though I When collecting a typeface, what ancillary curators, foundries, museum, public, and know it could be done… Not yet. materials do you acquire to document it? fonts—to live together happily ever after. We have acquired digital architectural We ask the designers for the applications drawings, chairs that are 3-D–printed they are the proudest of, or we pick really What is the future of collecting design in from a digital file, interfaces, visualiza- well-known ones—for instance, Peter this digital environment? tion designs, and much more. Not only Saville’s 1988 Substance CD cover for Joy Challenging and very, very interesting. in the Architecture and Design depart- Division as a milestone application of Every time we will move to acquire some- ment, also in others, especially Media Wim Crouwel’s 1967 New Alphabet. thing, we will have to think hard of the and Performance. There is a conservator several different formats and representa- at MoMA, Glenn Wharton, who focuses I understand that even type collected by tions of the object we will need to fully on digital media, and a committee that MoMA faces licensing issues. Can you document it—say, the object itself, plus studies issues such as technology migra- discuss how you’ve addressed them? the code, some applications, maybe a tion, the format of what should be Not in detail, but I can tell you that: first, video, perhaps even the tools to replicate acquired, the legal issues of intellectual it required a lot of work, both on our side it, etc. And we will need to think hard of property, you name it. and on the side of the foundries and pro- how to preserve it for a long time. After ducers; second, it was in most cases an all, that is our mission, too. Since drawings are done on screen, do you interesting and successful process; and This is all very abstract, though. The also collect these ephemeral forms? third, it enabled us to design a template best way to show what we mean is by ex- Yes. We do collect the digital file, every for other acquisitions in the future. A amples. We have begun with interfaces time it is possible. particular mention should go to Kate and visualization, made big headway Carmody, the curatorial assistant with with @, now fonts, and our next move Before digital technology, type was on whom I concocted this whole operation, is not far away. To be continued. ▪.