Frida Escobedo established her eponymous studio in Mexico City in 2006. The studio has achieved global recognitition since 2018, when Escobedo designed the annual Serpentine Pavilion in London’s Kensington Gardens, becoming the youngest architect to undertake the project to that date. Most recently she was asked to design the new Modern and Contemporary Wing for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Hans Ulrich Obrist is artistic director of the Serpentine, London. He was previously the curator of the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Since his first show, World Soup (The Kitchen Show), in 1991, he has curated more than 350 exhibitions. Photo: Tyler Mitchell
Hans Ulrich ObristWhat is your most recent work?
Frida EscobedoA curtain, a library, a restaurant, and a museum.
HUOWhat is your unrealized project?
FEA garden.
HUOWhat role does chance play?
FEChance is the manifestation of resonance.
HUOWhat keeps you coming back to the studio?
FECuriosity.
HUODo you write poems?
FENo, the poet in the family is my youngest sister, María.
HUOHow would you like to die?
FEAbruptly.
HUOYour favorite color?
FEThe inky neon blue of the sky just after the sun has set, and the red in magnolia flowers’ stamen scars.
HUOWhat have you forgotten?
FEAll my past lives.
huoWhat ought to change?
feOur priorities.
huoDo you have rituals?
feSitting with my dog on the living room couch to watch the sunrise.
huoWhat music are you listening to?
feBrian Eno’s “Golden Hours,” Air’s “Radian,” Porno for Pyros’ “Kimberly Austin.”
huoWhat couldn’t you live without?
feLove. And curiosity.