Design to Disrupt
Framing Exhibition Designers as Catalysts for Change
A thesis and project in completion of the Masters in Fine Arts in Museum Exhibition Planning and Design at the University of the Arts.
Museums are in a critical moment of recalibration - reimagining how they can be socially inclusive spaces that reflect and can be reflected in the communities they serve. As historically exclusive institutions, museums are sites of pain for many communities.
This thesis explores how exhibition designers can be active agents of change in disrupting the reproduction of oppression in the process of creating exhibitions. It examines design frameworks that center equity, justice, and liberation in the design process and advocates for integrating critical race theory, trauma informed lenses, ecological perspectives, and critical reflexivity to museum praxis.
Research Question
How can exhibition designers be active agents in disrupting the reproduction of white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, ableism, and colonialism in the process of creating exhibitions?
American Alliance of Museums
Poster Submission 2022
My poster titled, Design to Disrupt: Framing Museum Practitioners as Catalysts for Change, dives into the process of creating Design to Disrupt - why it was developed, how the project came about, how the toolkit functions, and what I learned from prototyping with teams.
AAM Poster Talk
Listen to my talk at the American Alliance of Museums 2022 Annual Meeting. Thanks to all who attended!
