The design culture: actions and narratives between archives and exhibitions

Abstract

The article is focused on the value of design archives as resources to be enhanced through exhibitions, and as heritage for innovation based on process of knowledge re-use, especially for creative industries. Starting from the background of the debate on the new dimension of the archive (especially the one focused on the relation between art and design practices and the archive), the article will focus on a specific context as the one of design archives which have been in recent years particularly vivid realities. Focusing on designer’s archive (in between the broader system of design documentation), and through a case study such as CSAC of University of Parma, we will examine how these archives are not merely repositories of drawings and how they can be connectors for creative industries, through exhibitions and other programs. In the second part of the article, we will focus on three exhibitions devoted to design which are expressions of a huge patrimony organized in structured archives, analysing different curatorial practices and narratives paradigms. In these cases, design exhibitions are ‘active’ representation of design archives.