RESEARCHERS, CURATORS AND DESIGNERS: THE EXHIBITIONS AS THE SPACE FOR COLLABORATIONS

Abstract

The article looks at thematic exhibitions that explore certain cultural and historical processes and examines the specifics of the exhibition as a collaborative process between three actors: academic researchers, curators and designers. Such exhibitions, grounded in cultural aspects and built on academic research outcomes, differ from classic art displays in the sense that they lack artworks that “speak for themselves”. Moreover, the research often is based on the written word and original documents or artefacts that are visually uninteresting/non-appealing or monotonous. On this account, the exhibition’s story and visual form is put in the hands of the curator and designer. Does this vital role give designers and curators the authority to rework the research that underlies the narrative? Is the design applied as the exhibit itself ? To answer these questions and to explore artistic research in the context of exhibitions, this article discusses the exhibitions carried out at the National Library of Latvia. The article looks behind the exhibition production process to examine the collaboration methods employed by the creative teams consisting of researchers, curators and designers.