Authors:
Corinna Gardner
Contributor: Corinna Gardner
Curators: Renato Verdugo and Scott Minneman
 | 'Revolutionary Rosie the Riveter' protest poster, designed by Ghazal Foroutan for digital and print distribution in support of the Women, Life, Freedom movement. 2022. |
 | 3D-printed Charlotte valve paired with a repurposed Decathlon snorkel mask. The object was created at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic to address a shortage of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines. 2020. |
The objects in the Victoria and Albert Museum's Rapid Response Collecting are not relics of a bygone era but rather snapshots of the present moment that ripple through the complex interplay of contemporary design, technology, politics, and social change. The speed of acquisition is crucial. These objects enter the museum's collection and go on display while still connected to the cultural, political, and technological currents that shape them. This immediacy allows for a dynamic dialogue between the museum's historical holdings and the objects of our time. The designers of these seemingly everyday objects, whether consciously or not, shape how we live. The collection reveals how the designed world simultaneously reflects and forms our every day. It reminds us that the future is not preordained but actively designed—moment by moment, object by object, and by the choices we make.
Author
Corinna Gardner is senior curator of design and digital at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, where she leads its Rapid Response Collecting program. Her research focuses on product and digital design.
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