What is a museum of design? What defines a museum of design, what distinguishes it from other kinds of museums? How do design museums mean “design”, which fields or objects are they concerned about with their policies and practices of acquisition, research and exhibition? Which cultural value do they attach to design? What approaches do they use to interpret design? How did museums of design contribute in shaping the history (or histories) of design? To what extent do they contribute today? Does a “model” of design museum exist? etc.
Addressing the topic of design in museums – one core subject of this blog – actually can raise a wide range of issues and questions.
Of course, neither now nor in the future do I intend to try a “definition” of design museums: it would probably be as difficult as useless. Especially it seems to me that to draft a top-down model would not be of much interest.
Rather it is more telling to look at the history and the processes of musealization of design, the history and the current activities of institutions that define themselves as “design museums” – each institution having its own, peculiar history, where visions do often coexhist with “accidents”, to paraphrase what has been said about the Victoria and Albert (see Anthony Burton, Vision and accident: the story of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, V & A Publications, 1999). The story and context of every single institution, in fact, not just can help to understand it but can provide a set of references to comprehend some of the changes that both the practice and the idea of design have undergone.
Moreover, on the other hand, it also should be taken into account the existence of other museums and institutions that, more or less explicitly, collect, interpret or exhibit design under a variety of aims and with diverse interests. The analysis of these cases – or counter-examples –, of their context and meanings, can open up perspectives and offer insights that may help new considerations on the state of design and of the design culture, both in the past and present time.
My intention is to work along these lines.