Researching the Visual Qualities of Exhibition Design through Experimental and Cross-

Abstract

This paper is based on my ongoing PhD research, particularly on the questions of practice-based research combined with theoretical analysis. In this paper, I will try to briefly clarify and give some examples of the use of experimental and cross-disciplinary methods in design research. I will start by analysing the relationships between museum objects and cultural history museums based on the assumption that the practices used for representation create meanings. I am particularly interested in how meanings are built into such visual elements of exhibition design as light, colour and materials. The process of meaning creation is semiotic in nature and exhibition design always contains several layers of meanings, which exist simultaneously in a spatial construction. In this paper I will focus on spatial meanings in exhibition design.