Musealization of design: paths and questions of representation in the exhibition context

Abstract

Reflecting on the musealization of design, this article explores and considers questions of poetics and politics of representations resulting from its specificity. What questions are directed at the musealization and exhibition of design? This research is developed in the light of the contemporary museological paradigm, considering and confronting different theoretical production on design museums and their historical paths, discussions, representations and different emerging fields. For its discursive relevance, an analysis of mission statements adopted by different museums is included. Resulting from the diverse contents examined, it is possible to identify motivations that guide the action of design museums and their exhibition discourses, as well as the issues of representation which they face. In this way, some of the complexities affecting discursive choices about musealized design are flagged and there is room for reflection on relevancies, impacts and repercussions constructed by design museums’ representations.