Contact us

The Museum Exhibition Design project brings together scholars, designers, and practitioners from across disciplines to explore how exhibitions have been conceived, built, and experienced through history. Rooted in the study of design histories and futures, the initiative examines both permanent displays and temporary interventions, from national museums to smaller community spaces. Central questions concern how collections are interpreted, how spatial narratives are constructed, and how audiences are invited to move through and make meaning from curated environments. The work draws on archival research, oral histories, and material culture studies to illuminate the decisions behind the scenes of exhibition-making, while also asking what new forms of display might emerge in the years ahead.

A key theme running through the project concerns the relationship between exhibition design and broader social and political currents. From colonial displays and orientalist framing to decolonising methodologies, the research interrogates how museums have represented peoples, places, and histories across different eras. The project also considers how designers have responded to moments of war, crisis, and reconstruction, adapting spaces and objects to shifting public expectations. Collaborative work with institutions in Britain, Taiwan, the Netherlands, Australia, and the Commonwealth enriches these conversations, allowing comparative perspectives on how different national contexts have shaped exhibition practice and how contemporary makers are rethinking inherited conventions.

The project places significant emphasis on the people who design, build, and inhabit exhibitions. Interviews with practitioners, studies of working methods, and attention to the craft of model-making, sketching, and spatial planning reveal the layered labour behind any display. The role of the exhibition designer is considered alongside curators, conservators, fabricators, and technicians, each contributing specialised knowledge to the collaborative process. Teaching and learning are central concerns too, with materials developed for students and emerging designers exploring both established techniques and experimental approaches. By documenting these practices, the project aims to preserve valuable expertise while also encouraging reflection on how design education might evolve to meet future challenges.

Public engagement forms an important dimension of the project's activities. Conferences, panel discussions, keynotes, and plenary sessions bring together international voices to debate pressing questions in museum practice. Noticeboards and programme listings keep audiences informed of upcoming events, while discussion boards and live sessions create spaces for dialogue beyond the formal presentations. The project also documents exhibitions themselves, from the foyer to the tea bar, considering how the visitor experience unfolds across an entire building. Questions of accessibility, wayfinding, and inclusive design are woven throughout this work, ensuring that the future of museum exhibition design is considered with diverse audiences in mind.

Looking ahead, the project considers how emerging technologies, environmental concerns, and changing institutional priorities will reshape exhibition practice. Digital tools, immersive environments, and interactive media offer new possibilities for engaging visitors, while commitments to carbon-neutral operations and sustainable materials are prompting fresh approaches to construction and layout. The afterlives of exhibitions, including their documentation, reuse, and reinterpretation, also invite ongoing study. By connecting historical research with forward-looking experimentation, the project seeks to contribute to a richer understanding of exhibition design as both a craft and a field of knowledge, supporting practitioners and scholars as they imagine the museums of tomorrow.