Collecting myself

Abstract

This paper reflects on an interior design practice developed within the specialist area of exhibitions and museums. Re-examining discussions around the contested territory of interiors, the paper argues for taking up perspectives and processes outside of the familiar, being unfixed whilst remaining inherently ‘of the interior’. Using exhibition design as a distinct lens, ‘the collection’ and its mediation are examined through a personal creative research project Mitteleuropa: A Story of Lust & Furniture. The project’s ‘design fiction’ nature expounds ‘what I’m drawn to, what I do, and how I do it’ within the context of the discipline. This is a personal journey constructed through a process of assembling learning and seeking to disrupt settled conditions, in which ‘collecting’ has come to be understood as a research technique that underpins an expansive interior design practice.