How does one map out the scope, purpose, and practice of something that had never existed before? That might be the question Iris Barry and John E. Abbott asked themselves as they were drafting “An Outline of a Project for Founding the Film Library of The Museum of Modern Art” (1935).

Like any artifact of culture, design objects are often much more than the sum of their parts. Their forms and materials crystallize thought processes, tools, desires, and imagined futures, both near and far. Indeed, a group of design works that were added to MoMA’s collection in early June far transcend their materials—and in doing so, help us shape individual and collective perspectives on the changing world around us all.

These were two dissonant cities. Copenhagen is smooth as butter, all its surfaces calm and uniform. A local artist-run scene is thriving there, supported by government grants and a stable society. Berlin is sutured by construction cranes. So many closed sidewalks and temporary walkways; so much dust. Berlin’s international art scene emerged out of gaps in its social structure, in buildings left vacant years ago.

Establish your summer routine around MoMA’s weekly offerings of film, music, conversations, and more. Here are some highlights:

Last Saturday’s rain didn’t dampen the first Warm Up! Sets by The Black Madonna, Amnesia Scanner (live), Samantha Urbani (live), Eclari Fifi, and Pachanga Boys brought dark house beats and funky pop to soundtrack our wet dance party.

This summer MoMA’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden is home to tens of thousands of Italian honeybees, as part of a recently acquired sculpture by French artist Pierre Huyghe (b. 1962). Huyghe’s Untilled (Liegender Frauenakt) [Reclining female nude] (2012) incorporates a living bee colony that stands in for the head of a figure cast from a bronze sculpture by the Swiss artist Max Weber (1897–1982).

The MoMA Library recently acquired the Steven Leiber collection of artists’ generated ephemera featured in the 2001 exhibition, and corresponding exhibition catalog, Extra Art: A Survey of Artists’ Ephemera, 1960–1999. The scope of the collection covers a broad span of art movements including Fluxus, Arte Povera, Conceptual art, visual poetry, Minimalism, Pop art, and more, with the physical contents being similarly widely varied.

In early May I set out on a four-day journey to Chicago, Illinois. I began the trip wondering how architectural organizations in Chicago, a city so densely packed with renowned buildings and structures, approach the challenge of engaging their viewers with these works. How can architecture be made more accessible? What techniques are used? Curated exhibitions of images, models, and research, or tours and activities that physically involve the structures? What methods have been found to be the most successful?

As we head into the holiday weekend—USA! USA!—new summer programming kicks off with the start of our annual MoMA Nights and Summergarden series. (Be sure to check out the entire line-up.) Here’s what’s happening:

We’re so excited to kick off this summer’s Warm Up series tomorrow, June 27! Join us every Saturday— beginning this weekend through September 5—for one of the most anticipated summer music series in New York, with live music, sound, and DJs, across a wide range of genres. Doors open at noon, with performances running from 3:00 to 9:00 p.m.