The exhibition, featuring over 100 objects, showcases various elements of modern domestic design that emerged in Latin American countries, focusing on six key nations: Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, Venezuela, Chile, and Argentina, due to their similar modernization and design development processes. Additionally, it highlights how design in Latin America helps to understand and examine the political, social, and cultural changes and transformations in those regions.

The exhibition highlights how design in Latin America helps to understand and examine the political, social, and cultural changes and transformations in those regions

The exhibition includes textiles, furniture, ceramics, photography, and graphic design, from public and private collections in the U.S., Latin America, and Europe, as well as from MoMA’s own collection. Some of the standout pieces are the “Butaque Chair” by Clara Porset, the “Bowl Chair” by Lina Bo Bardi, the “B.K.F. Chair” by Antonio Bonet, Juan Kurchan, and Jorge Ferrari Hardoy, and the “Malitte Lounge Furniture” by Roberto Matta.

Focusing on the postwar period in Latin America, the exhibition situates us in a time of transformations marked by rapid modernization and economic growth. In the 1940s, while Europe was reeling from the devastation of World War II, Latin America shifted away from traditionally imported goods. Readily available materials allowed national industries to flourish, creating exponential growth in professional opportunities for local designers. By the late 1970s, however, economic crises brought an end to this development.

In the 1940s, while Europe was reeling from the devastation of World War II, Latin America shifted away from traditionally imported goods. Readily available materials allowed national industries to flourish, creating exponential growth in professional opportunities for local designers

The exhibition allows us to explore the strategies used in design, particularly domestic design, to express different and complex visions of modernity. By exploring material culture, the study of objects, and other forms of expression, we can understand the nuanced differences between regions.

Latin America was not a uniform or homogeneous territory during the period covered by the exhibition, and as a result, designers often presented contradictory visions of modernity. For some, design was an evolution of local artisanal traditions, blending ancient manual techniques with industrial methods. For others, design responded directly to the market and local tastes, utilizing available technologies and mechanized processes.

Latin America was not a uniform or homogeneous territory during the period covered by the exhibition, and as a result, designers often presented contradictory visions of modernity

They proposed designs based on new visual aesthetics, using technologies that arose from the growth of national industries. In doing so, they rejected historicism and embraced international avant-garde movements.

The exhibition highlights these differences between countries and examines how ideas of national identity, production models, and modern ways of living were expressed in designs for domestic spaces.