The Matter of Space: Bodily Performances and the Emergence of Boundary Objects During Multidisciplinary Design Meetings

Abstract

Prior research has identified the importance of embodied action in establishing representational infrastructure during disruptions in interdisciplinary work. This study expands on such research by examining meetings of interdisciplinary museum design teams—including educators, designers, researchers, and museum professionals. In these meetings, the museum space (exhibition room) emerges as a boundary object as it is presented through diverse material artifacts including floor-plans and mock-ups. The authors’ analyses identify and describe bodily and discursive practices of place-making and place-imagining that the participants perform as they attempt to maintain continuity across these shifting material forms and occasions.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the Research Council of Norway, and the MIRACLE and CONTACT research projects. Special thanks to Ingeborg Krange and Palmyre Pierroux for the guidance and support in organizing these research projects. We also thank the anonymous reviewer for her/his useful comments and suggestions on a prior draft of this article. Finally, we are most grateful to our museum partners at the Teknisk Museum and the National Museum of Art Architecture and Design.