A challenge ignited the research outlined in this thesis. Design is increasingly being framed (across academia and industry) as an integral method and strategy for social, cultural and economic innovation. How is this value to be communicated within the museum context, which is more commonly rooted in an object-centric tradition? Temporary exhibitions are a primary means of communication and engagement for museums. The presentation of contemporary design has followed traditions of display stemming from fine art practices, as well being influenced by those in commercial environments. Consequently the thesis argues that there is a prevailing tendency to display the outcomes of design activity, to celebrate aesthetics and functionality, and to concentrate on the personality and talent of the designer. A key concern underpinning this research is that many museum design exhibitions arguably struggle to reveal the complexity of design activity: the intellectual and material processes driving innovation. This arguably risks limiting broader interpretation, and stifles the opportunity to extend audience understanding of design. The aim of this thesis is to question and explore key concepts that constitute the communication and exhibition of design in the museum. Design, innovation, curating, exhibition, audience: in the dynamic, transitioning contexts of design and the museum, all concepts must be scrutinized. In order to navigate this territory, a core method of design inquiry is adopted: prototyping. In this research, prototyping actively puts concepts to work through a dialectical investigation. This involves actively engaging in design to examine the concepts of curatorial practice, the exhibition, and innovation, whilst concurrently exploring concepts of design and innovation through the process of curating exhibitions. This dual-focussed research approach that has been developed, can be described as a hermeneutic, practice-led methodology. Hermeneutics supports a belief in contextually situated, practical action as a basis for developing understanding and knowledge (Bolt, 2011; Heidegger, 1962). The method of exhibition-making is framed and employed as a practical prototyping process: curating exhibitions in order to reflect on the construction of design narratives from within. Prototyping becomes a way to reflexively explore, analyse and question the practice of framing, mediating and communicating design as innovation. Three iterative practical projects act as case studies for the thesis, situated in three concrete contexts: the industry sponsor – V&A Museum of Design Dundee; design in Higher Education; and a national innovation festival. Each can be seen as the exploration and delineation of a design space (Heape, 2007), with all three forming part of the wider design space that is the thesis as a whole. Through reflecting on the acts of evaluating, selecting, editing, juxtaposing, connecting, framing and presenting design practice through exhibition, the research has formulated a curatorial strategy that aims at attending to the complex nature, changing priorities and values of particular design contexts. The thesis names this approach ‘the constellation’: adapting this term from the work of critical theorist Theodor Adorno (1973). The constellation takes the form of a series of visualisations that draw on, combine and develop research on design theory, design processes, and prototyping, by a number of key design researchers (e.g. Buchanan, 1998, 1995a; Dorst, 2015a, 2008; Heape, 2007; Lim et al., 2008; Sanders and Stappers, 2014, 2008). Operating at two levels, the constellation is the manifestation of the reflexive research process, illuminating both design and curatorial practice. It makes an original contribution to knowledge in two ways: firstly as the visual delineation of a prototype curatorial strategy for researching, framing and communicating narratives of design; secondly it offers a conceptualisation of concept development in design practice, shown as the continuous exploration of a design space. This articulates how prototyping, as a key design method, can encourage innovation through the exploration and analysis of concepts at varying levels of detail, with the aim of developing new perspectives. This thesis also makes an original contribution on a methodological level by extending the practice and discourse of prototyping to the method of exhibition, framing it as a strategy for innovation in design research. This adds to current discourse surrounding practice-led research within art and design. It also contributes to nascent discourse in relation to curatorial practice for design, and the growing interest in the specificities of design curation, in the context of the museum.

This thesis addresses a gap in scholarship by centering curators at often-overlooked university art institutions in the Appalachian region in order to analyze the practical applications of feminist curatorial methodologies in comparison to established feminist curatorial scholarship Three case studies focus on the Reece Museum at Eastern Tennessee State University, the Art in the Libraries initiative at West Virginia University, and the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University. This study uses qualitative and anecdotal data collection methods, such as surveys and one-on-one interviews to demonstrate how feminist methodologies are employed as a theoretically informed curatorial practice, following the framework originally developed in feminist curatorial scholarship. An analysis of feminist curatorial scholarship reveals three core principles of feminist curating: institutional critique, collaboration and engagement, and inventive exhibition strategies. Data analysis found that staff at these three university institutions utilize various intersectional methodologies under the umbrella of feminist interventions when creating exhibitions in their respective institutions. The concept of "feminist curating," as understood and expressed by the staff, has evolved from traditional gender-centered approaches to address a broader scope of socio-economic inequalities as well as power dynamics within museums It is intended to serve as an entry point for further critique of self-described curatorial feminist methods and their practical implementations, in order to analyze what these strategies and practices look like, and how they are intended to affect the university community. / Master of Arts / This thesis explores the feminist practices of curatorial staff from three university art institutions in Appalachia: the Reece Museum at Eastern Tennessee State University, the Art in the Libraries initiative at West Virginia University, and the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University, and connects their work to the larger landscape of feminist curatorial scholarship. The self-described feminist interventions in these curatorial practices aim to disrupt power hierarchies present in museums and other exhibition spaces. A tradition of feminist curating initially served as a method for highlighting women artists and questioning the underlying societal systems that led to their exclusion from the art world, however, this thesis found that contemporary iterations of feminist curating now have an expanded focus to include other historically marginalized populations. Despite the change in scope, both contemporary and historic feminist curators utilize three primary feminist approaches that are common to a variety of curatorial methods: institutional critique, collaboration and engagement, and inventive exhibition strategies. These three methods are continued threads that link feminist curatorial methodologies over time and provide a basis for analyzing distinctions between traditional feminist curatorial methods, feminist curating in scholarship, and how feminist interventions are implemented in a practical sense at university institutions in the Appalachian region.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2015-12-03T14:19:01Z No. of bitstreams: 1 talissonmelodesouza.pdf: 5159280 bytes, checksum: 518577b5946c28a4a28d6be6120c76c2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2015-12-03T14:21:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 talissonmelodesouza.pdf: 5159280 bytes, checksum: 518577b5946c28a4a28d6be6120c76c2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-03T14:21:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 talissonmelodesouza.pdf: 5159280 bytes, checksum: 518577b5946c28a4a28d6be6120c76c2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-03-05 / A partir do contexto de emergência e consolidação da atividade do curador de exposições de arte contemporânea na esfera artística internacional, esta análise direciona-se a duas edições da Bienal de São Paulo (as 18ª e 19ª, promovidas em 1985 e 1987, respectivamente) para compreender as condições e desdobramentos dessa profissão no Brasil. As curadorias da crítica de arte Sheila Leirner são estudadas aqui em sua singularidade e em relação com diversas exposições realizadas em instituições congêneres. Colocamos em perspectiva a historiografia já estabelecida acerca dessas duas propostas curatoriais (“O Homem e a Vida” e “Utopia versus Realidade”), e esquadrinhamos o debate crítico suscitado por elas dentro e fora do país. Seleções de obras artísticas e artistas, expografia, discurso teórico e poder de legitimação são articulados com a trajetória crítica da curadora e as transformações nas políticas públicas para a cultura e no status das instituições culturais na década de 1980, em diálogo com a os processos de globalização da arte e redemocratização política no Brasil. / From the context of emergency and consolidation of the curator’s activity of organizing contemporary art exhibitions in the international artistic sphere, this analysis focuses on two editions of the Sao Paulo Art Biennial (the 18th and 19th ones, promoted in 1985 and 1987, respectively) to understand the conditions and consequences of this profession in Brazil. Here we study the curatorial projects of the art critic Sheila Leirner in its uniqueness and in relation to other events held in similar institutions. Questioning the approach already established by the Brazilian historiography about these two curatorial proposals ("Man and Life" and "Utopia vs. Reality"), this research scrutinizes the critical debate raised by them within and outside the country. We also link selections of art works and artists, expography, theoretical discourse and legitimation power to Leirner’s critic production and the transformations in public policy for culture and cultural institutions status during the 1980s, connecting them to the processes of globalization of art and political redemocratization in Brazil.