Abstract
Following the intake of the industrial manufacturing designs from the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and the establishment of the Victoria and Albert Museum, many museums started to collect and display design artifacts. The phenomenon of museumification of design has never ceased but been intensified in this century. However, from the outset, there are debates about whether these artifacts should be collected, and whether the functional objects would lose their usability and become art objects of contemplation once they enter museums’ warehouses. In response to these debates, the research hereby chooses several design objects in the museums’ collections as case studies and discuss their lives in museums. Inspired by the theory of four lives of a sword from Philip Fisher, the research scrutinizes their provenances, and the differences of roles and functions between their previous life in daily usages and the life in museums. The research intends not to generalize the understanding of design in museums, but to provide a different point of view upon the design or art debate as well as the practices of collecting design artifacts in museums.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Design, Art, Museum collection
