‘Design is a mirror to society. Objects are evidence of social, political, technological and economic change. Beyond their material value, they show us what design can do and reveal truths about how we live today and how we might live tomorrow.’
About
Corinna Gardner is Senior Curator of Design and Digital at the V&A. Corinna leads the museum’s Rapid Response Collecting programme and her research focuses on product and digital design.
Current projects include a book on the history and future of digital art, an exhibition about the problem and promise of plastic in collaboration with the Vitra Design Museum, and the development and delivery of a digital design collecting strategy for the V&A. In addition, Corinna is responsible for the Design 1900–Now gallery showcasing the museum’s 20th and 21st century design collections.
Before joining the V&A, Corinna worked at the Barbican Art Gallery on exhibitions, including OMA: Progress, Bauhaus: Art as Life, Ron Arad: Restless, Random International’s Rain Room and Cory Arcangel’s Beat the Champ.
Selected projects, talks and media
2021
Talk: Collecting in the Contemporary Moment, Franz Meyer Museum, Mexico Cirty
Talk: Design 1900—Now, Furniture History Society 45th Annual Symposium, co-convenor, London
Talk: Refufee Heritage in conversation with DAAR - Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti, Mosaic Rooms, London
Talk: Born-digital Collections and Design Records, ICAM & The New Institute
Review: V&A museum’s new 20th and 21st Century gallery is refitted for the social justice era, The Guardian
Review: New V&A gallery explores contemporary history through design, Wallpaper*
Review: First Look: V&A’s new gallery brings history of design to life, Design Week
Talk: Redefining Narratives, People: A Global Dialogue on Museums and Their Publics, The MET
2020
Talk: Rapid Response, Social Justice and Museums: Now, New Mexico Museums Association Conference
Press: Here’s how curator Corinna Gardner keeps one of the world’s great museums relevant, Fast Company
Press: Museums are urgently collecting homemade masks and other Ephemera from the Coronavirus Pandemic, artnet News
Press: Museums in the time of COVID-19, Disegno
Press: How are museums collecting during the corona virus lockdown? Museums Journal
Talk: Digital Collecting in Museums, National Museums Scotland
Press: Design is a lens to understand our world, Design Week
2019
Talk: The Political Role of Cultural Institutions, Access Culture Annual Conference, Lisbon, 2019
Press: Extinction Rebellion objects acquired for our collections, V&A
Radio: Extinction Rebellion at the V&A, BBC Front Row
TV: Secrets of the Museum, BBC2
Jury: The Design Prize, designboom and Abitare
2018
Essay: iPhone, The Future Starts Here, V&A exhibition catalogue
Opinion: Why is the V&A collecting Lego, Vote Leave leaflets and Xbox controllers?, The Guardian
Keynote: Rapid Response Collecting at the V&A, Irish Museums Association Annual Conference
Press: How museums embraced digital art, Financial Times
Advisory Board: State of Fashion: Searching for a New Luxury, Arnhem
2017
Press: The Victoria and Albert Gains a Pussyhat, The New Yorker
2016
Talk: Small Objects, Big Questions: Rapid Response Collecting at the V&A, Stanford HCI
2015
Talk: Renew Your Vows: rebuilding the civic contract between museums and the public, MA Annual Conference
Review: All of This Belongs to You, Financial Times
Jury: BA Graphic Design, ArtEZ Academie for Art & Design, Arnhem
Review: V&A Returns to it Civic-Minded Roots, The New York Times
Talk: Consequences of Design, Microsoft Social Computing Symposium
2014
Jury: MA Design for Luxury and Craftsmanship, ECAL/Ecole cantonale d'art de Lausanne
Jury: The Icon Awards, Icon Magazine