Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture - 'Collections' - September 2019

“Here, indeed, lies the whole miracle of collecting. For it is invariably oneself  that one collects.”[1]

“Perhaps the most deeply hidden motive of the person who collects can be described this way: he takes up the struggle against dispersion. Right from the start, the great collector is struck by the confusion, by the scatter, in which the things of the world are found.”[2]

The interior is a repository for collections, whether curated as a body of work for a museum or the personal possessions of an individual. Collections can be thematic, nostalgic, scientific, artificial and natural, ranging in scale from large to small, physical to ephemeral, critical or superfluous, from the obviously curated to seemingly random. Collections convey knowledge of heritage, culture, society and evolution, protecting specimens and objects of material culture for generations to view. They allow for comparison between objects and create relationships between them where there were none.  These can be viewed in large institutional museums that have not been without contention with works pilfered from original sites.  In juxtaposition, everyday objects are celebrated and curated in unexpected locations such as the MmuseumM housed in a converted elevator shaft.  As subject matter, collections can range from decorative to the obsessive, or challenge conventions to curatorial statements about truth and fiction as found in the Museum of Jurassic Technology.  The interior is the site for collections which are given a descriptive and physical framework through the lens of curators, exhibition designers, interior designers and architects who set the stage for objects and viewers.

Interiors: Design/Architecture/Culture seeks submissions that address the topic of collections.  Submissions can take the form of essays, design work, visual collections, musings, alternative interpretations to collections, all the while situating them within the broader context of interiors.  Emphasis will be placed on non-traditional content in order to open up the opportunity for new insight on how collections are viewed and interpreted.

[1] Jean Baudrillard, “The Systems of Collecting”, in Cultures of Collecting edited by John Elsner, Roger Cardinal, (Reaktion Books, London, 1994) p.12.
[2] Walter Benjamin, “The Collector”, in The Arcades Project. (Harvard University Press, 1999) p. 211.

Phase 1: Note of Interest – 30 September 2019

Phase 2: Full Submissions – 1 March 1 2020

For more information see the Interiors call for papers site.