Insecurities, a new exhibit at MoMA, tracing displacement and shelters, addresses the global refugee crisis and the need for emergency temporary shelter.  According to UN figures, over 60 million worldwide are displaced or refugees.  It is very interesting, especially the many paintings and photos of people struggling to find refuge and the wide range of objects showing temporary or more permanent shelter.  Included is the IKEA modular emergency structure along with works by artists and architects.  There are tents and other emergency housing you can walk through.

Today borders no longer define the peripheries of nations.  Now one’s potential confinement within spaces is determined by external powers and shelter is defined through constant movement or escape.  Refugee camps are no longer temporary and are now a way to examine the intersection of human rights and the making of cities.

A concurrent exhibit at MoMA is “How Should we Live? Propositions for the Modern Interior.” This examines many environments–domestic interiors, exhibition displays and retail spaces–and the collaborations that have shaped the modern interior.  It looks at several designers’ own living spaces.  It’s very interesting to see how famous designers design the spaces they, themselves, inhabit.  It might even give you some ideas for your own home.

There are three chronological groupings–late 1920s to early ’30s, late ’30s to mid-1940s and late ’40s into the ’50s.  It highlights a number of large-scale interiors by famous designers including Reich and Mies’ Velvet and Silk Cafe from 1927 where there is a working cafe serving complimentary coffee!  Go and enjoy.

Miriam Silverberg is a freelance journalist and owner of a boutique publicity firm in Manhattan, Miriam Silverberg Associates.  She may be reached at silverbergm@mindspring.com.