#20 - Laura Flusche - Museum of Design Atlanta - Culture Makes Objects, Objects Make Culture

Nathan Koskovich, AIA sits down with Laura Flusche to talk about how she became the Executive Director of the Museum of Design Atlanta, her time in Rome and move to Atlanta, and the relationship between culture and the objects those cultures produce.

Laura Flusche serves as Executive Director of the Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA). She joined MODA in 2010 as Associate Director and was promoted to her current position in January of 2013. As Executive Director, she leads all of the museum’s strategic initiatives and oversees the creation and implementation of exhibitions and programs that demonstrate the power of design to effect positive change in the world.

Prior to joining MODA, Laura lived for fifteen years in Rome, Italy, where she served as Assistant Academic Dean on the University of Dallas Rome Campus, taught art history and archaeology to university undergraduates, and worked on the Palatine East Excavations, supervising excavations and contributing to the publication of archaeological findings.

In 2001, Laura co-founded the Institute of Design + Culture in Rome (iDC), a not-for-profit organization that offered on-site seminars about art, archaeology, history, and culture to Rome’s visitors.  As president of the iDC, Laura conceived and implemented educational programs, hired and supervised faculty, and assisted with client relations and with the creation and maintenance of the organizational image.

Laura holds a master’s degree in Arts Administration from the Savannah College of Art and Design, as well as a Ph.D. in Ancient Roman and Etruscan Art and Archaeology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a Master’s degree in Italian Renaissance Art, also from the University of Illinois.

LINKS

Atlanta

Museum of Design Atlanta
Ebony Fashion Fair and Eunice Walker Johnson

Doug Allen
Emerging Voices 2011
Ryan Gravel
Tristan Al-Haddad
Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam
Central Atlanta-Fulton Library
Baton Bob
Cultural Experience Project

Rome
Etruscan Urbanism
Theater of Pompey
The Seven Hills of Rome

Design
Modern Architecture
Philippe Starck
Orange Juicer
Marcel Breuer
Oscar De La Renta