Event

International Conference, Co-Organized by Design Faculty, Tim McNeil
“Chaos at the Museum: Infiltrating the Urban Fabric”

Dates: November 17-20, 2016
Located in Buenos Aires, Argentina

In November 2016, delegates from around the world will convene in Buenos Aires for “Chaos at the Museum: Infiltrating the Urban Fabric,” which will feature four days of re-envisioning exhibition design, focusing on the global trend to turn the museum “inside out” and extend it beyond its walls into the public realm. Designers, architects, students, artists, and museum professionals will collectively tackle the question of what it means to stage interventions/exhibitions in civic environments, with a critical eye on considering “sense of place” in relation to public and community engagement.

The second summit in the international series Re-envisioning Exhibition Design (launched in 2014 with “Chaos at the Museum: Designing for Audience Participation” in London), this event is organized by University of California, Davis, USA; Fundación TyPA, Buenos Aires, AR; University of the Arts London, UK; and George Washington University, USA.

It will be a singular opportunity for learning and exchange around design strategies and tools—covering topics ranging from robotics and sensory perception in space to graphic wayfinding and reprogramming civic infrastructure. Guided by leading practitioners from the Americas, Europe, and Africa, participants will gain knowledge and skills that will shape the future of the museum experience. In addition, the summit’s tool kits will be accessible worldwide via robust online resources.

The summit underscores the emerging role of the exhibition designer as a critical mediator in exhibition teams where events and installations outside the museum are reshaping curatorial models of practice. Here the designer emerges as a strategist providing creative direction for “front line, open source” participatory public engagement in civic space.

Buenos Aires is an ideal site to consider and advance new models for the museum’s infiltration of civic space. The city, like other cosmopolitan Latin American cities, is renowned for cultural resources, artists, and citizens that respond actively and creatively to the region’s challenges, such as the aftermath of political unrest. Still, these constituents need to encounter and explore new design tools and formats to expand that creativity, in order to reshape museums as sites of social engagement, civic participation, and dialogue with communities.

We understand the museum to be part of a wider range of institutions that share a collective responsibility for creating a robust civic life. Expanding beyond its walls, the museum engages not only intentional visitors but also those unfamiliar with its resources. This summit will examine the museum’s potential as a public space for civic engagement, a generator of inclusive community, and a contributor to the development of multi-layered cities.

For more information about the conference and its speakers, please go to this website, chaosba.com, which was designed by M.F.A. student, Tory Baird.

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