Investigating Design Research Landscapes through Exhibition

What characterizes a design research exhibition compared to a traditional design and art exhibition? How do you show the very materialities of the design experiments as a means for communicating knowledge of research and of practice? How do you present, review and utilize such an exhibition?
With those questions in mind, the intention and challenge for the Nordes 2013 Design Research Exhibition was to expand on current notions of staging research enquires in design research conference contexts. Artefacts, installations, performances, and other materialities that relate to the theme of the conference - Experiments in Design Research – were displayed as tools to express and communicate different design research enquires. Through this paper we will describe the Nordes exhibition as a specific case that renders questions visible in relation to how to utilize a design research exhibition. Furthermore, we suggest ways of inviting participants to explore what role exhibitions and all their materialities can play in design research through a ‘design-research kit’.