Exhibition practices in design education

This article explores the knowledge-producing potential of exhibition practices in design education. Through the conceptualisation of five display principles – cosmos, series, table, milieu and staging – we explore how different types of spatial organisation can produce different types of knowledge about artefacts in an exhibition context. These display principles are initially conceptualised by drawing on museological theory on museum display and are then used for analysing four examples of exhibition practices within design teaching at the Royal Danish Academy – Architecture, Design, Conservation. Through these case analyses, the conceptualisations of the five display principles are further developed and their potential for investigating, advancing, and communicating design processes and outcomes within design education is discussed.