Scratching the Surface

Zara Arshad is a curator and researcher interested in twentieth- and twenty first-century material and visual culture, liminal spaces, speculative histories, and design futures. She documented contemporary design in China, conducted oral histories on South Korean graphic design, and operates a speculative design practice with media artist Yaloo. In this episode, Jarrett and Zara talk about her journey into design, the expanded definitions for describing her work, and how to think about graphic design canons. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/208-zara-arshad. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Justin Beal is an artist and writer based in New York. His first book, Sandfuture, is both a biography of the architect Minoru Yamasaki and a personal memoir about our relationships to the built world. In this conversation, Jarrett and Justin talk about how this book came together to uncover how he arrived at its unusual structure and format, what spending time in archives taught him about architecture, and how studying architecture influences his studio practice. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/207-justin-beal. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Michael Gericke joined Pentagram in 1985, originally working for Colin Forbes before becoming a partner himself (making him the second longest-serving Pentagram partner!). His new monograph, Graphic Life, collects much of the work he’s done at the studio across environmental projects, posters, and identity design. In this conversation, Jarrett and Michael talk about putting together a monograph, how Pentagram has changed over its history, and why he still likes to call himself a ‘graphic designer’. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/206-michael-gericke. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Sean Anderson is an Associate Professor and Director of the B.Arch. Program at Cornell. He previously was the Associate Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design at MoMA where he most recently co-organized Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America with Mabel O. Wilson. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jarrett and Sean talk about his interest in both history and practice, writing vs. curating, and the impact of MoMA’s Reconstructions show. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/205-sean-anderson. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Lorraine Wild is a designer who teaches and writes. A graduate of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Yale School of Art, Lorraine runs Green Dragon Office in Los Angeles and is on the faculty of the graphic design program at California Institute of Arts. She’s written extensively about graphic design for a variety of publications. In this wide-ranging conversation, Jarrett and Lorraine talk about the early years at Cranbrook, working for the Vignelli’s, rethinking design history, and what it means to be a graphic designer today. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/204-lorraine-wild. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Lorne Buchman is the president of ArtCenter College of Design and the author of the new book, Make To Know: From Spaces of Uncertainty to Creative Discovery. He also hosts the podcast Change Lab: Conversations on Transformation and Creativity. In this episode, Jarrett and Lorne talk about new ways of thinking about creativity, his background in the theater, and the intersection of practice and theory. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/203-lorne-buchman. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Fleur Watson is the Executive Director and Chief Curator for the Centre for Architecture Victoria | Open House Melbourne and the author of the new book, The New Curator: Exhibiting Architecture and Design. She previously was curator at Design Hub Gallery at RMIT and an editor-in-chief at Monument magazine. In this episode, Jarrett and Fleur talk about her new book, evolving practices of curating design, design as process, and the move from editing to curating. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/202-fleur-watson. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Charles Saumarez Smith is the author of The Art Museum in Modern Times, an architectural history of art museums. He previously was the Secretary and Chief Executive of the Royal Academy of Arts in London and before this served as director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery. In this conversation, Jarrett and Charles talk about the relationship between architecture and museums, the role of the museum director, and administration as a form of research.Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/201-charles-saumarez-smith. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Jarrett Fuller is a designer, writer, educator, and host of Scratching the Surface. In this special episode celebrating both Scratching the Surface’s fifth anniversary and our 200th episode, Jarrett turns the tables on himself and and answers questions submitted by listeners like who would he like to bring back from the dead to interview? How’s the show changed in five years? What’s the role of design school? What did he want to be in middle school? What non-design books influenced his thinking? Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/200-jarrett-fuller. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast

Esther Choi is a multidisciplinary artist and architectural historian. In 2019, she published Le Corbuffet, a Fluxus-inspired artist's book that adopts the form of a cookbook and in 2020, she started Office Hours, a socially-engaged initiative that cultivates the sharing of knowledge among practitioners who identify as Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In this episode, Esther and Jarrett talk about working between photography and architectural theory, genres of writing, and building a body of work that’s hard to define. Links from this episode can be found at scratchingthesurface.fm/199-esther-choi. — If you enjoy the show, please consider supporting us on Patreon and get bonus content, transcripts, and our monthly newsletter! www.patreon.com/surfacepodcast