How is an object transformed when it is extracted from a private sphere to be exhibited in a public one? How to connect an object with its original context without losing its capacity to generate surprise from its strictest singularity? How can a collection become an arrangement of things for action? How to avoid the ventriloquist effect that makes objects passive transmitters of other people's discourses? How to design the exhibition beyond the mere design of the display elements?
These are some of the questions posed to the students of the Design Culture and Contemporary Thought modules of the Master's Degree in Research in Art and Design (MURAD) during the The par(l)ament of things. Exhibited objects workshop, carried out jointly by Martí Guixé, Oriol Pibernat and Octavi Rofes, which, in six sessions, revolved around the different objectives and procedures for the care, repair and remediation of material culture.
The starting point was twofold. On the one hand, the discussion on the different stages through which some of Martí Guixé's long-term works - such as Spamt, Park Life or the Ex-Designer Project Bar - have passed; and, on the other, the contrast between the analysis of the curatorial criteria of Oriol Pibernat's exhibition Common Objects and the visit to the Museu del Disseny's reserve collection. From there, an exercise of assembling five objects in interaction with a network of significant relations has been proposed, a collection that constitutes a dimension of reality.
Cover photo: Felipe Román, Do nothing or something
Inside photo: Berta Ribaudi, Tecno-fòssils
