Wed, Sep 23
|Detroit Institute of Arts
Isamu Noguchi: "I am not a designer"
American creator Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was a sculptor, architect, and designer who worked across varied scales, materials, and disciplines throughout his sixty-year-long career. Dr. Monica Obniski discusses Noguchi's expansive engagement with the space-shaping possibilities of design.
Time & Location
Sep 23, 2026, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave, Detroit, MI 48202, USA
About the event
Talk held at the DIA's Marvin and Betty Danto Lecture Hall - free with registration on the DIA website
American creator Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) was a sculptor, architect, and designer who worked across varied scales, materials, and disciplines throughout his sixty-year-long career. In this lecture sponsored by the DIA’s Friends of Modern & Contemporary Art, curator Monica Obniski discusses Noguchi's expansive engagement with the space-shaping possibilities of design. Obniski will explore his work in architecture, industrial design, furniture, lighting, stage sets, playgrounds, gardens, and public artworks, including Detroit's own Hart Plaza.
Dr. Monica Obniski is the Curator of Decorative Arts and Design at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA. Obniski recently curated the exhibition Isamu Noguchi: I am not a designer, which will travel to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA, in September 2026, and the Memorial Art Gallery in Rochester, NY, in 2027.
Image Credit: Isamu…