Learning event Conference
Curating Design: Between Word and World
Join an international network of curators, designers and researchers to challenge and rethink curatorial practice today in this conference celebrating 25 years of MA Curating Contemporary Design, a partnership between Kingston University and the Design Museum.
What to expect
'Curating Design: Between Word and World' is a conference organised by an alumni research group from Kingston University's MA Curating Contemporary Design course. It brings together an international, cross-disciplinary group of curators, designers and researchers for a day of exchange and debate on the evolving practice of the design curator.
Unpacking design curation as a practice of care, collaboration and stewardship, this conference expands beyond objects of study to engage with wider systems, structures and processes that are defining how we inhabit our world now and in the future.
Structured around a linguistic framework, moving from noun to adjective to verb, the conference explores design curation as a form of language reflecting on and responding to the world around us, shaped by and through design. It moves away from defining the role and functions of the curator towards examining the ethical qualities required of contemporary curatorial practice and exploring the methods and formats through which curating operates.
Positioned as a practice of commoning, the conference will question what design curating represents as a discipline, practice and pedagogy today. It will create a space in which to share ideas and imagine expanded, inclusive, equitable, pluralistic and dynamic curatorial futures together.
MA Curating Contemporary Design was established in 2001 as a pioneering collaboration between Kingston University and the Design Museum.
Please note that this event is wheelchair accessible, with step-free access throughout the museum.
More speakers to be announced soon.
Speakers
Keynote: Marina Otero Verzier
Marina is an architect and curator. She has curated exhibitions such as Wet Dreams at the Madrid Biennial of Design and Architecture, CentroCentro; Work, Body, Leisure at the Dutch Pavilion of the Venice Architecture Biennale; and After Belonging at the Oslo Architecture Triennale. In 2025, she received the Jury Mention at the Venice Biennale for Opera Aperta, the Holy See Pavilion. She teaches at Harvard GSD and is a member of the Architecture Advisory Committee of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.
Book online
Booking information
Adult: £25
Concession: £23
Student: £12
Members*: £22
Carer: Free
*Please note that this benefit applies only to the cardholding Member’s ticket and not to those of additional guests.
Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Visit our terms & conditions page for further information.
Visit this page for further Access information.
Booking information for Members:
Please note that we have a new booking system. All Members must now log in to the ticketing platform to book tickets for upcoming events. How to book:
Click 'Book now’, and this will take you to our new booking platform
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You will automatically receive an order confirmation email with the details of your booking, along with a PDF with your ticket
Members don’t need to book tickets for exhibitions and can continue to present their Digital Membership Cards to access exhibitions
If you have any issues, please contact the team at membership@designmuseum.org
For non-members ticketing enquiries, please contact bookings@designmuseum.org
Conference Identity designed by MA Curating Contemporary Design Alumni, Maria De Sousa Pereira Duarte Banta and KSA Design Students, Matteo Ferrara and Gabriel Khoo.