Zoe Ryan on Hyperlinks at AIC

What was the inspiration for this exhibition?

I joined the museum four years ago as the first curator of contemporary design, and was working with Joe Rosa, who was working in contemporary architecture, building the department's collection to be much broader and more international in scope since, five years ago, the department became that of architecture and design.

We wanted to work on an exhibition that brought the two topics—architecture and design—together. It's not a blurring of boundaries—that's always been such a nebulous idea to me—but that architects and designers each have specific expertise and you get this excitement when they create these hyperlinks, these connections.

We were also very inspired with what's happening with technology. With the Internet, you click on a link and are jettisoned somewhere else. To describe our connecting and interpreting of ideas based on associating and juxtaposing of other ideas we appropriated the term hyperlink from the Internet and brought it offline. We need designers with designer talents and architects with architecture talents and we're now seeing them link up with other disciplines, hyperlinking.

How do you see these hyperlinks in the exhibition?

Besides bike lanes, what do you hope the public gets out of the exhibit?Our job is to inspire people to appreciate architecture and design and realize it's a process. It's also understanding that architecture and design are moving beyond past practices and historical discourse. Time and space are no longer fixed and the Internet is fueling new thinking and challenges. I want people to go back to their everyday environments and have a greater understanding of the relationships they have with one another and the objects and spaces they're surrounded by and how the work of architects and designers can benefit people on all levels.