A creative inquiry: how context affects design

The following thesis looks into the fine line of art and design from the perspective of an artist trying to be a designer. This essay is intended for exhibition designers, installation artists, design educators and museum/gallery directors. Using various methods of exhibition design, I create work with the intention of bringing joy, humor, nostalgia, and reflection while studying how perceptions of artifacts change when crossing the threshold of an art gallery. I create installations that act as interruptions, disruptions, and interventions to the spaces that go unnoticed and are considered mundane. I find inspiration in the opportunity that these informal, everyday spaces provide for a spontaneous response. The results are direct observations of the visual representation and conceptual changes to these serendipitous installations. The implications of this research will offer new and novel approaches for designers, artists, and employees of museums and galleries to rethink how their exhibitions are affected by the space that surrounds them. This thesis will also inspire future designers and artists to see their work be able to change and adapt to its surroundings. The fine line of art and design questions where design and art merge and can be seen as interchangeable concentrations in the field of exhibition design. Using both art and design to analyze various artifacts, installations, interventions, disruptions and exhibitions the fine line of art and design embraces the blurred lines of two polarizing concentrations that are not able to exist without each other. This line asks how the same imagery showcased around the world in different environments and global contexts changes its narrative based on its location and audience. Design in collaboration with: Kristine Matthews, Audrey Desjardins, Jill Randerson.