MODA: Design for All: Sarah Schleuning on speechless: different by design

About Sarah Schleuning

Sarah Schleuning is the Margot B. Perot Senior Curator of Decorative Arts and Design and interim Chief Curator at the Dallas Museum of Art. Schleuning oversees the decorative arts and design collection, internationally recognized as one of the foremost decorative arts collections in the United States. The collection includes more than 8,000 works of art from the 15th century to the present, with strength in European and American decorative arts, most significantly 18th-century English silver, 19th- and 20th-century American silver and ceramics, and modern and contemporary jewelry and design. Schleuning has a record of organizing thoughtful exhibitions and programs that are not only high profile and highly popular but also recognized for their contributions to scholarship. As the Museum focuses on the expansion of its contemporary holdings, Schleuning provides more than two decades of expertise in forming relationships with living designers and artists, bridging the gap between historical and contemporary design, and exploring how engaging with art and design can extend beyond the museum’s walls. Schleuning is also responsible for decorative arts and design collection planning, development, scholarship, and acquisitions.

She was the curator of the groundbreaking exhibition speechless: different by design an innovative project that premiered at the DMA in November 2020. The pioneering show merged research, aesthetics, and innovative new design to explore the vast spectrum of sensory experiences and new approaches to accessibility and modes of communication in the museum setting. It debuted new work by six leading and emerging international designers and design teams whose projects were informed by conversations with specialists from prominent academic and medical institutions. Their site-specific installations and new commissions created participatory environments and distinct situations in which senses merged or were substituted for one another. The exhibition aimed to blur the boundaries between senses, media, disciplines, and environments and encouraged visitors to interact and communicate through design.

Schleuning was the lead curator for the DMA’s exhibition to be determined that juxtaposed works from many centuries, geographies, and cultures to trace how the significance of art can shift when presented in new contexts. The exhibition affirmed the resilience of individuals and communities through evocative—and occasionally unexpected—groupings of works that resonate with current and historical struggles. She also co-curated Contemporary Art + Design which presents recently acquired paintings, installations, jewelry, furnishings, and design objects. Featuring artists from 11 countries—including artists based in Texas and emerging painters and designers—the exhibition samples new directions for the growth of the DMA’s collection.

She also led the DMA’s presentation of the exhibition Dior: From Paris to the World, which surveyed more than 70 years of the House of Dior’s legacy and global influence. The first show Schleuning curated for the DMA was the 2018 focus exhibition Women + Design: New Works. The exhibition featured recent works by seven contemporary female designers—Katie Collins, Carrie Dickens, Iris van Herpen.