Vitrine
(vit’ren) n. A glass showcase for art objects
Every year 1000’s of artifacts are de-accessioned from museums
and art galleries. What becomes of them? In an attempt, to provide
for this inevitability, the Manchester Letherium competition called
for the design of a museum for de-accessioned artifacts. Vitrine,
side-stepping the museum requirement, proposed to design only the
museum gift shop - a glass building where de-accessioned artifacts
are displayed, reproduced and/or transformed (insects as key chains,
shrunken heads as T-shirts designs etc.) and put out for sale as
collectables. By conflating the visitor experience - the consumption
of the artifact as event and the need to take away some memento
of having done so, Vitrine fulfills the expectation of continued
storage, by de-accessioning, yet again, the artifact or its likeness
into the homes of the visitor who chose to mark their visit with
a purchase.
Vitrine was awarded the Henry Withcombe Prize for Design and Innovation,
and was exhibited as part of the Letherium exhibition at the Cornerhouse
gallery in Manchester, U.K. in 2005.
Collaborators: Steffanie Adams, Sarah
Bonsall, Kim Heppler, Angela Iarocci, Claire Ironside, Darlene Montgomery,
Robert Shortt
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